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The internet of things

Trail Blazers
Oct 13, 2016
2 min read

Definition: internet of things is a system of interrelated computing devices mechanical, digital machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human to human or human to computer interaction.

IMPACT ON BUSINESS

Informate, for example, by gathering information through sensors.
Automate and prescribe activities, for example by allocating a function to a system or by supervising the fulfilment of an activity, and to BCS-OII Forum Report, March 2013 5
Transform activities, for example by redesigning a business process.
Determining who sets what standards will have major implications for business and industry and national technology-led industrial policies
• Governing devices that will know a great deal about their users, and actuators that can initiate a series of actions, such as in response to sensor readings.

As IoT applications become widely used we need to understand how they interact with organizations and people, and how their actions are variously enabled or constrained. Sensor-gathered data may enable informed decision-making by managers, but automated checks might also constrain a person’s freedom to act differently. Of course, in real-world settings, people may use a technology differently than intended, may influence its capacities by changing it, or not use it at all.

IMPACT OF SOCIETY

Organizational and institutional innovation is key to the viability of the IoT, as it will change the ways we do things.
Problems could result from generation of large quantities of data that are not necessarily valuable or needed, and that can be misused in ways that lead to invalid inferences; but data generated in the course of everyday life and work will also present great opportunities, for example in the design of more efficient transport systems.
Public attitudes, opinions and behavior will be critical if the public cares more about privacy, data protection, and other social issues of the IoT—as opposed to the potential benefits in terms of public safety, energy conservation, and lower costs.
Privacy and data protection will be tied to how people feel about giving away, trading, or enabling others to harvest information based on their behavior.
The IoT could lead to increasingly large-scale, highly coupled technological systems that can remove human intervention in order to increase reliability, but that also increase the potential for societal vulnerability, as a result of hacking or major system crashes.
Whether the IoT will lead inevitably to a higher quality in the provision of many services is problematic.
There may be inequality in access to data of value.