IoT = T2T + T2H

Since the dawn of history, humans have used tools to improve their lives. From sharpened stones on sticks that killed that week’s food to the flint that started the fire to transform raw meat into tastier fare, better tools make for a better life.

Over many millennia, human ingenuity created many new tools to make our lives better. In my daily life, I appreciate shrink wrapped meat at the grocery store and a gas stove.

We are in the early stages of an incredibly powerful suite of new tools. With these tools,

our physical and digital worlds are intersecting ever more, making "digital" and "enterprise" inseparable. This intersection of the physical and digital has many names: Internet of Things (IoT), Machine to Machine (M2M), Industrial Internet, Connected Enterprise, to name the more common monikers.

Riffing off the concept of M2M and even Business to Consumer (B2C), Human to Human (H2H) and all the other variants, I propose a new formula for thinking about the Internet of Things:

Internet of Things = Things to Things + Things to Human

or

IoT = T2T + T2H

The remainder of this post includes a quick overview of each of these concepts. For those readers who are well-versed in IoT, you might want to just skip down to the T2H section to catch a summary of H. James Wilson's excellent blog advocating the human in IoT. I recommend clicking on the link and reading the entire post! Great stuff!!

IoT

The Internet of Things (IoT) connects physical devices to the digital world using sensors to collect and transmit data than can then be analyzed for actionable insight. IoT is a megatrend that will reshape the business landscape. Goldman Sachs, for example, says this third wave of the internet may be the biggest one yet.

T2T

Much of the discussion about the IoT is about data transmitting from Things to Things (T2T). Business Insider says the IoT will have 9B devices by 2018. These devices, or “things”, will open new horizons for efficiency and innovative business models. For example, sensors on an airplane engine can transmit data to a server where predictive analytics platforms can digest large volumes of data as no person could possibly do. This capability opened a new market segment for airplane fleet optimization for Accenture and GE. Read about this new market segment and many more in a recent IoT report from Accenture.

T2H

A Harvard Business Review blog posted by H. James Wilson last week made a great case for thinking of the internet of things as a tool to help humans. While connecting things to other things is valuable, the real value comes when the distinction between the tool and person recedes. When pounding a nail, a hammer becomes an extension of my hand, making me far more effective than I can be without the tool. Similarly, “smart” devices eliminate barriers to people doing their jobs smarter.

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Contact Ann-Marie Johnson to explore how NeoBridge could help your business connect humans and things to drive innovation, efficiency, and greater prosperity.

703.855.1369 | amj@neobridgellc.com | Twitter: @annmariejohnson