By 2020, up to 50 billion devices will connect to the IoT, generating data and analytics in support of automated and policy-based decisions. These business decisions will become crucial, shifting the conversation from, “Is the data secure?” to “Is the data correct?” It's this nuance—the Internet of Trust—that will enable tremendous gains in IoT in 2018.
As part of this, blockchain technology will boost IoT in the financial-services industry by inherently resisting data corruption. The stakes are going to be much higher, and companies are going to begin to differentiate around trust. While security will continue to be important, the Internet of Trust will become the key enabler for adoption and, ultimately, success.
The era of convergence: business, social, political
Edge computing will become more prominent
What happens when real-time context is too late for determining consumer behavior patterns—even enterprise-behavior patterns? This is where edge computing’s predictive capabilities come in, and why use cases will pop up everywhere in 2018. In just two years, 45 percent of all data created by IoT will be stored, processed, analyzed, and acted upon close to or at the edge of the network. And in just three years, 5.6 billion devices will be connected to an edge computing solution.
Data assets will be the key to success
IDC reports that worldwide revenues for big data and business analytics will grow from nearly USD 122 billion in 2015 to more than USD 187 billion in 2019. However, most companies today don’t own or have access to the data they need to solve the most critical and high-value problems. Companies will invest in building out and owning data assets, and once they own the data, they’ll know things about their customers that no one else does. Imagine the power these organizations will have to deliver exactly what their customers want and need!
Creating value by asking the right question—from Siri to AI
There’s been a phenomenal growth in computing power over the last 60 years, and U.S. corporations are investing $350 billion annually in education, mostly centered upon STEM. While these disciplines are important, 2018 will be more than just about figuring data. In a world where all the answers are known, value is found in knowing what questions to ask.
Joseph Bradley is global vice president—digital & IoT advanced services with Cisco.
