IOT can help you live better and smarter without breaking the bank

IOT can help you live better and smarter without breaking the bank: Learn how to adapt The Internet of Things(IOT) to your day to day life in a purposeful way…without running out and buying every IOT gadget that comes on the market and ruining your financial stability.

What is all the hype about the Internet of Things (IOT) and what does it mean?

In the past The Internet of Things (IOT) may seem like a pipe dream to most businesses and consumers alike. However in recent years, interest in it and preparation for deployments have been proliferating like a high speed wave, promising to wash over all things analog e.g. the traditional light switch and bulb. While pushing and moving along a digital age that is accustomed to being isolated from each other, think Microsoft Office Products and LED lighting, to a connected digital age. Where data and lighting and many consumable products that are already connected and digitized (e.g. Microsoft Office365, Google +, Adobe Online, LED lighting) or will be connected to the internet, will be built smarter, become more integrated and connected, while leveraging the elasticity and openness of the Cloud.  This defines the Internet of Things, a network of both industrial and consumer smart devices that will come online and make the Cloud their home.

What is possible with IOT?

It is hard not to get caught up in the possibilities that IOT has to offer. For consumers, IOT promises to provide businesses and end customers with better usage and oversight of what goes on in their environment and lives. These endless possibilities will extend to monitoring, more control, product and services optimizations, data analytics and a more autonomous lifestyle. Businesses stand to benefit from higher product quality, improvement in operational effectiveness, new product and service offerings and better decision making.

IOT Adoption, a new wave, some researchers, technologists and investors say will be bigger than the Internet

Organizations are planning to invest in IOT

According to Gartner, IOT momentum adoption will take less than 10 years to be integrated as a mainstream adoption. As a result investment by organizations are to increase “somewhat” or “significantly over three years.

For example, Oil and Gas (91%), Utilities (89%), Manufacturing (86%), Transportation (86%), Retail (79%), Metals and Mining (77%), Public Sector (76%). In the Americas region alone the increase will be 81%.

Consumers referred to as Early-Adopters are planning to invest both money and time in IOT

If you are an early adopter, or trying to be…like me, kudos to you on both fronts. You not only most times catch the first worm, as the early bird. But you also help to innovate, while testing products and services in their infantile stage, long before others dare to try. Helping to shape a product and/or a service or industry into what it could be, instead of what it is, thus propelling it forward to live well or expire quickly.

With that said, since IOT is new in many ways and it encompasses a lot of products and services that want to set themselves apart in this new space. This can invite many unscrupulous businesses and services promising the IOT dream, since they may not be expected to have a long business history. So before signing on or signing away your hard earned dollars. Or allowing an unchecked service provider to take you to the cleaners.

Here are a few tips to sidestep pitfalls in this new wave, and enjoy the ride, while not going bankrupt in the process.

• Investigate the business before you buy or try their products.
• Get involved in Tech hubs or attend technical conferences, for example, Cisco Live with reputable industry leaders that will educate you more on the possibilities of IOT and introduce you to reliable IOT vendors.
• If you are deciding to invest in IOT through stock purchases of new, burgeoning and established companies, sign up for free investment educational guides from Fool.com. However, if you become more serious about it, you can go to next level by purchasing a Fool.com yearly membership subscription for a small nominal fee that is worth its price in gold.
• Also be mindful of what you will be giving up, in terms of privacy, when you start using an IOT product or service.
• Get upfront information on Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) when you start using an IOT service.
• Lastly, forgo the urge to buy or try every IOT product or service that becomes available that you may fancy in passing. Only signup or purchase IOT products and services that you really need and will use. This will ensure you do not end up spending excessively on a connected product that makes you less connected, because you have nothing much to show for it but a hole in your bank account and disassociation from real connections that include family and friends. For family and friends have distanced themselves from you, because you keep betting on IOT products that go nowhere.

In conclusion, the Internet of Things (IOT) also referred to as the Internet of Everything (IOE) depending on how big your perception gets, may be an unstoppable trend that will eventually be embraced by everyone. However, enjoy the technology and use it to better your life, but don’t allow it to overtake it. Instead use my tips to make smart decisions and still stay ahead of the wave, or at least stay on top of it. There is no reason not to enjoy what may come, as long as you wear your life jacket, pay attention, try new things that make your life better not fill it with more clutter and put you in debt. And last but not least, continue to stay connected to your trusted circle of family and friends and enjoy the novelty and new experiences of IOE with them.

Credits: All Images courtesy of CiscoLive.com, except the first image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About the Author:

Kaylaa T. Blackwell is an IT Professional working @ Itron, Inc. and a student @ Southern New Hampshire University with a penchant for writing, researching and helping others resolve real world issues. She has a great interest in technology, business and psychology and how they impact each other. Learn more about Kaylaa here.