Enterprise IoT – Benefits, Common Use Cases, and Challenges

21 May, 2024

10 min read

The Internet of Things (IoT) has turned into a pervasive term, enveloping everything from shrewd home gadgets to wearable fitness trackers. Nonetheless, inside the modern scene, an unmistakable subset is quickly transforming businesses for the better: Enterprise IoT (EIOT). Dissimilar to consumer IoT, EIOT centers around interfacing modern machines, sensors, and other actual resources for a private organization, making a strong environment for data collection, analysis, and automation.

A recent study by McKinsey & Company estimates that the value of the IoT in manufacturing alone could reach $3.7 trillion by 2025.

This stunning figure highlights the groundbreaking capability of EIOT, and as a software development company with expertise in building custom IoT solutions, we’re seeing this firsthand.

In this blog, we’ll dig further into the universe of EIOT, investigating its key advantages, normal use cases across different enterprises, and the difficulties organizations need to consider prior to carrying out these applications.

What Advantages Enterprise IoT Brings to Industries?

One of the most convincing advantages of EIOT lies in its capacity to upgrade functional proficiency and efficiency. Organizations can gather continuous information on different parameters by preparing machines and production lines with sensors, like machine health, temperature, and energy utilization. This information can then be broken down to distinguish regions for development, prompting a few benefits:

Reduced Free time: Predictive maintenance, empowered by sensor information and investigation, permits organizations to predict equipment failures and schedule maintenance proactively. This limits impromptu downtime, keeping production lines moving along as planned.
Improved Asset Distribution: Constant information on resource utilization, similar to energy utilization or unrefined components, allows better allocation and optimization. Businesses can differentiate between regions where their resources are being squandered and make acclimations to improve general productivity.
Robotization and AI: EIOT prepares for expanded computerization in assembling processes. By coordinating sensor information with AI calculations, dreary errands can be mechanized, further supporting efficiency and opening up human resources for more perplexing assignments.
Exploring New Revenue Avenues: Introducing IoT in business provides a company with multiple revenue-generating opportunities. Consequently, companies can tap into real-time insights from the IoT device for the introduction of various innovative business models—for instance, usage-based or subscription services.
Gaining a Competitive Edge: IoT technologies offer the basis for acquiring a sustainable competitive advantage. Businesses gain unique data insights from IoT devices to uniquely differentiate in offering hyper-quality products, personalization of offerings, and predictive capabilities.

This shift towards information-driven navigation is a foundation of computerized change in the undertaking scene. By utilizing the bits of knowledge from EIOT, organizations can gain the upper hand by upgrading their tasks, further developing asset use, and, finally, driving productivity.

The survey reveals that there will be about 25 billion IoT devices within the upcoming six years. However, the number of present IoT devices (14 billion) may seem staggering. But thanks to 5G and other technologies, because of these devices, the figure is expected to grow almost 2x to 25.44 billion total IoT devices by 2030.

Common Use Cases of Enterprise IoT

The uses of EIOT stretch out a long way past the factory floor, changing processes and creating additional opportunities across different industries. Let’s investigate some of the more common use cases of Enterprise IOT:

Manufacturing

As the birthplace of EIOT, manufacturing keeps on receiving colossal rewards from these interconnected frameworks. The following are a couple of key models:

Machine Health Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance: Sensors implanted in the apparatus can check parameters like vibration, temperature, and energy utilization. This information takes into consideration the continuous checking of machine health, empowering predictive maintenance. Businesses can expect likely failures and schedule maintenance before problems occur, minimizing downtime and related costs.
Automated Quality Control: EIOT can alter quality control processes by incorporating machine vision systems and sensors into production lines. These frameworks can consequently distinguish defects in items with high accuracy, guaranteeing consistent quality and diminishing manual inspection requirements.
Inventory Tracking in Real-time: By outfitting stock with RFID labels or other tracking arrangements, businesses can gain constant visibility into stock levels across distribution centers and production lines. This information considers streamlined stock management, decreased stockouts, and improved just-in-time (JIT) stock practices.
Smart Warehousing and Logistics Management: EIOT can advance warehouse tasks by incorporating automated storage and recovery systems (AS/RS) with constant tracking. Also, sensor-equipped vehicles can streamline delivery routes and track shipments continuously, upgrading logistics efficiency.

FinTech

EIOT plays a bigger role as it provides fintech companies with a lot of information about customer behavior, preferences, and needs. Here are the significant key factors:

Personalized Financial Services: EIOT financial platforms enable banks and financial institutions to offer customized services tailored to individual customer needs. FinTech companies can provide customized financial recommendations by accessing extensive customer data, enhancing the overall user experience.
Enhanced Security Measures: IoT provides for increased security measures within FinTech due to alertness to atypical behaviors and proactive identification of fraud activities at any given time. This kind of approach helps in detecting threats to security and taking action toward their mitigation beforehand, securing sensitive financial information and transactions.
Smooth Payment Processes: The IoT is able to help in making secure and efficient transactions, thereby creating seamless experiences of payments. FinTech companies can use such methods to make payment streamlined, that easily and conveniently a customer can make with their IoT device.

Aviation

The integration of IoT in aircraft, airports, and aviation infrastructure enables real-time data collection, analysis, and communication. This is the way it is improving the overall aviation operations:

Flight Operations Optimization: IoT changes the way flight operations are conducted by the fact that it includes sensors around the aircraft, which can monitor real-time parameters. Such data makes flight route optimization, thereby improving fuel efficiency for better operational performance.
Predictive Maintenance: Through IoT, predictive maintenance can monitor components and aircraft systems and predict—hence prevent—likely problems before they occur. Such proactive repairs thus significantly minimize downtime, cut maintenance costs, and raise levels of aircraft safety.
Enhanced Passenger Experiences: IoT enhances passenger experiences by providing real-time updates on flight status, baggage handling, and in-flight amenities. Passengers benefit from improved communication, reduced waiting times, and personalized services. This enhances the overall satisfaction with the travel experience.

Supply Chain Management

The interconnected idea of EIOT is an ideal fit for the intricate universe of supply chains. This is the way it’s changing this basic part of business:

Upgraded Visibility and Proficiency: By furnishing products with tracking devices, organizations can gain real-time visibility into their location all through the store network. This considers further developed logistics planning, streamlined transportation routes, and decreased delivery times.
Stock Optimization Across the Chain: Real-time data on inventory levels at different phases of the store network takes into account better optimization. Organizations can recognize potential bottlenecks and proactively change stock levels to guarantee smooth product flow.
Item Quality and Counterfeiting Prevention: EIOT can become a significant part in guaranteeing item quality and preventing forging. Sensors integrated into packaging can screen natural conditions during transportation and identify potential aspects that can cause damage. Furthermore, serialized labels can follow items all through the inventory network, making it more straightforward to distinguish and kill fake products.

Energy and Utilities

EIOT holds huge potential for enhancing energy use and further developing grid management in a business’s energy and utilities sector. Here are a few significant applications:

Smart Meters for Continuous Usage: Smart meters furnished with two-way communication abilities help with consistent monitoring of energy utilization by individual consumers or businesses. This data can be used to recognize areas of intense usage and execute designated energy-saving measures.
Predictive Maintenance for Power Grids: Utility organizations can screen their health continuously by conveying sensors on power grids. This makes up for predictive maintenance and forestalls unforeseen blackouts, guaranteeing a dependable power supply.

Smart Agriculture

This sector of smart agricultural products offers automated irrigation systems, crop monitoring, and data-based decisions. Here are a couple of examples:

Precision Crop Monitoring: IoT technologies enable farmers to monitor crop growth, soil conditions, and environmental factors in real time. Sensors are fixed in fields and provide valuable data on crop health. This will allow farmers to make informed irrigation, fertilization, and pest control decisions.
Livestock Management: IoT devices such as smart collars and tags allow farmers to track livestock health and location. Real-time monitoring of vital signs and behavior patterns helps prevent diseases and optimize feeding schedules.
Automated Irrigation and Harvesting: The combination of IoT sensors with irrigation and harvesting devices helps automate the processes for resource optimization. These smart irrigation systems will schedule their watering based on prevailing soil moisture levels.

Retail

The IoT enables retail businesses to create better and stronger interactions between trust and satisfaction for long-lasting brand loyalties. Below are a few examples:

Automated Checkout: Enabled by IoT, checkout systems will be tailor-made for frictionless shopping with the customer able to interact with items and pay for them without queuing at conventional checkout counters.
In-Store Analytics: Retailers apply IoT sensors and cameras to collect data on shopper traffic patterns and behavior within stores to drive insights on ways to enhance the shopping experience and lift sales. This becomes essential for driving insights to increase the optimization of store layouts, product placement, and staffing levels.
Personalized Promotions: At the base of an IoT-based shopper engagement platform lies the data analytics capability, further enough to tell the retailers whom the promotion should be done for on a personalized basis, giving a shopper recommendations and promotions in real time. All this flexibility will allow retailers to drive their purchases and customer loyalties with personalized discounting and promotions based on purchase history and browsing behavior.

Facilities Management: Optimizing Buildings and Resources

The benefits of this EIOT extend beyond the confines of traditional industry and across borders to alter the way in which building management is approached and resource use is optimized. Some of the most significant use cases apply to facilities management:

Smart HVAC Systems for Energy-Efficient Climate Control: Buildings equipped with smart sensors and linked indoor regulators can automatically alter temperature settings based on occupancy and atmospheric conditions, maximizing the utilization of energy on HVAC systems that save a lot.
Sensors for Lighting and Resource Optimization: The sensors that recognize the presence of humans can be used to automatically customize the lighting system within workplaces or buildings. The presence-sensing sensors would ensure that the lights are off in deserted spots, hence saving tonnes of energy daily. Occupancy data can also be harnessed for cleaning schedules and asset allocation optimization within a building.
Leak Detection and Preventative Maintenance in Buildings: The sensor-based systems for leaking detection could be applied in buildings for early detection of leakages in the water plumbing systems in order to prevent or mitigate damage and related repair costs. It extends the service life of the infrastructure and therefore reduces the risk of costly downtime through proactive types of maintenance.

Challenges Enterprises Face in IoT Implementation

IoT journey offers immense promise for enterprises but is only possible with the hurdles and challenges. From juggling with data overflow to navigating legacy system integration, enterprises encounter many challenges in their IoT implementation. Let’s dive into the key obstacles and explore strategies to overcome them:

IoT Data Management

Managing the flow of real-time data pouring in from IoT sensors poses a formidable challenge. With robust data management systems, organizations can avoid drowning in a sea of data devoid of actionable insights. By implementing data management platforms, they can automatically analyze incoming data and streamline processes. In addition, regular training sessions can assist the staff in using these tools.

Legacy System Integration

Integrating new IoT solutions with existing IT infrastructure requires finesse to ensure smooth operation. Overcoming technical disparities and avoiding data silos is paramount for maximizing ROI. Legacy System Integration is bridging the gap between old and new technologies to unlock the full potential of IoT across digital infrastructure.

IT/OT Alignment

Coordinating information technology and operational technology teams is essential, particularly in industrial settings. Breaking down silos and fostering collaboration between IT and OT is key to building a cohesive IoT infrastructure. This leads to exploring strategies to promote alignment and drive organizational synergy.

Interoperability Issues

The lack of universal standards in IoT hardware and software poses interoperability challenges. Navigating the diverse landscape of proprietary technologies demands innovative solutions. This is how collaboration and advocacy for standardization can pave the way for smooth integration and interoperability.

Proof of ROI

Demonstrating tangible ROI is crucial for gaining buy-in from stakeholders. However, creating compelling use cases and aligning IoT initiatives with measurable KPIs is essential for securing investment. In this way, you can uncover strategies to quantify ROI and showcase the transformative impact of IoT on business outcomes.

Security Risks

Safeguarding IoT ecosystems against cyber threats is paramount in today’s interconnected world. Necessitating robust cybersecurity measures with increased connectivity comes heightened security risks. You must explore best practices for fortifying IoT infrastructure and protecting sensitive data from malicious actors.

Lack of Internal Expertise

The need for more skilled professionals proficient in IoT technologies poses a significant challenge for organizations. Building internal expertise or partnering with specialized vendors is essential for driving successful IoT initiatives. Organizations are discovering strategies for addressing the talent gap and building a capable IoT workforce.

Immature Technology

Navigating the evolving landscape of IoT technology requires adaptability and foresight. Adopting and holding on to emerging trends and technologies is essential for staying ahead of the curve. This will lead to exploring the latest advancements in IoT architecture and discovering how they’re shaping the future of enterprise IoT.

Cultural Resistance

Cultural shifts are inevitable in the IoT-driven workplace, yet they can encounter resistance. Overcoming organizational inertia and fostering a culture of innovation are important for driving IoT adoption. Implementing a comprehensive change management strategy and learning how to navigate cultural barriers will cultivate a receptive environment for IoT transformation.

The Global IoT Device Management Market is projected to grow to USD 45 billion by 2033, compared to USD 2.8 billion in 2024. Thus, the annual growth rate during the years 2024-2033 is approximately 32.0%.

A Step-by-Step Process to Develop an Enterprise IoT App

Developing an enterprise IoT application requires careful planning and execution to align it with the broader business goals. Let’s break down the process into manageable steps:

App Conceptualization

Start your development process by deeply understanding your business objectives and identifying potential IoT use cases. Consider how IoT can enhance existing processes and systems to align with your strategic goals.

Requirements Analysis

Conduct a thorough analysis to assess the technical and economic feasibility of your IoT project. You have to gather requirements from all stakeholders to ensure the solution addresses business needs, meets user expectations, and aligns with technical constraints.

IoT Platform Selection

Choose the right IoT platform that aligns with your project requirements. Factors such as compatibility with existing infrastructure, scalability, security features, and support for analytics must be evaluated to make an informed decision.

UI/UX Design

Design the architecture of your IoT system, including device selection, data flow diagrams, and integration with existing enterprise systems. Focus on scalability, security, and efficient data management to deliver a seamless user experience.

Prototyping and Validation

Establish a prototype to confirm your concept with stakeholders. This step assists in recognizing potential issues early on and refining the user experience based on feedback.

Development

Enter the development phase by focusing on building the IoT application and integrating it with selected devices. Utilize agile practices for iterative development and testing to ensure a smooth development process.

Testing and Quality Assurance

Conduct comprehensive testing to ensure the application meets all requirements and is free of vulnerabilities. Test at various levels, including unit testing, integration testing, system testing, and security testing.

Deployment and Launch

Launch the application in a suitable environment and monitor its aspects per performance. Do fix all the issues before the full-scale rollout. You have to plan out the deployment and planning carefully for the proper launching and minimize disruption to existing operations.

Training and Support

Offer training sessions to the end-users and IT staff to maintain the new system for efficient workflow. Develop the support processes to deal with the issues of post-deployment.

Continuous Maintenance and Optimization

After deployment, continuously monitor the system to optimize performance, address any emerging issues, and update the system as needed based on user feedback and technological advancements.

Getting Started with Your Enterprise IoT Development

Enterprise IoT offers a revolutionary approach to business operations, potentially significantly improving efficiency, productivity, and decision-making across various industries. From real-time data insights to automation and optimized resource utilization, EIOT is driving a new wave of digital transformation.

While security, data management, and integration challenges exist, these can be overcome with careful planning, investment in the right technologies, and collaboration with experienced partners. Businesses that embrace EIOT and navigate these challenges effectively will be well-positioned to gain a competitive edge and thrive in the data-driven future.

Ready to explore the possibilities of EIOT for your business? We at Cubix specialize in developing custom EIOT solutions tailored to your specific needs. Contact us today for a free consultation and discover how EIOT can transform your operations.