Top IoT Trends To Follow In 2022
Intelligent connectivity has become a necessity for 2022. Especially since COVID-19 throttled the traditional working environment, demanding organizations to stay connected and maintain productivity while working remotely. It is a key reason behind the online digitization of today’s industry, opening a runway for next-generation IoT applications and sensor-driven analytics.
Ericsson predicts that by 2022, there will be around 29 billion of these devices connected to the internet globally. Everything from self-driving cars and autonomous manufacturing robots to remote medical devices relies on this interconnected network of things. It not only connects businesses to communicate with one another but also helps them to improve business operations efficiently.
This is why business leaders and IT specialists need to be aware of upcoming IoT trends and how they will affect the market in 2022. This article brings you some of the most important drivers and innovations in the IoT space to move forward this year. Here’s a quick list:
- Internet of Medical Things (IoMT).
Since the beginning of the pandemic, healthcare has been one of the most active industries of IoT adoption. This is due to the rising demand for hands-free health technologies and IoT devices’ ability to gain high-quality data. In 2021, 64 percent of U.S. households reported using these services, with 43 percent saying they want to keep them after the pandemic. These statistics are proof that IoMT has a lot of growth potential in 2022.
IoT devices are used in every realm of the medical industry – right from covering public areas to monitor social distancing to fitness bands and trackers to monitor lifestyles. With the increase in the adoption of telemedicine and remote healthcare, IoMT when combined with AI is used to analyze patients and their healthcare needs. It can also analyze blood samples and genetic information to find diagnoses and create new drugs.
Even as pandemic subsides, these IoMT trends will only grow to make healthcare more accessible and improve user quality of life.
- 5G and IoT
5G is driving the growth of IoT devices as both technologies go hand in hand. 5G provides hyperconnectivity and minimal latency – the two things that successful IoT solutions require. There are already 48 billion internet-connected devices, pushing current networks to their limits.
With 5Gs faster data transfer and increased coverage, businesses will be able to expand IIoT into broader areas. Entire factories could become cohesive and operate as a single unit with minimal human involvement.
5G enables businesses to develop services that would have previously been too expensive and logistically difficult. Moving forward in 2022, it will be a primary catalyst of IoT growth and advancement, reshaping the way we will operate in the future.
- IoT Security
The huge growth of IoT devices will inevitably bring new vulnerabilities for business security. More number of connected devices means an increase in the number of ways IoT devices can be hacked or exploited. Moreover, cyber-attack cases are only rising every year.
Security researchers at Kaspersky say there were 1.5 billion attacks against IoT devices during the first half of 2021 – and 2022. As per Trend Micro and GSMA Intelligence report, 15% of businesses that have deployed IoT for their operations have not updated their security protocols.
Also read: 7 Biggest IoT Security Challenges and How to Fix Them
Even with one device compromised, the other devices connected can face an equal amount of damage. Hence, IoT security is becoming a major concern for business leaders. To solve this problem, they are looking to invest in cybersecurity tools, evaluate the points from where these risks are emerging and follow best practices to secure IoT systems.
Information collected using these devices on network traffic and usage helps to predict cyber attacks and eventually prevent them. It’s high time for business leaders to start addressing cybersecurity as an essential part of their organizational growth and start investing in IoT security.
- Supply Chain
Over the past two years, the Covid-19 pandemic has largely disrupted global supply chains. In response, more and more delivery and fulfillment companies are applying IoT to their logistic operations and changing the way they conduct business. With the combination of mobile computing, analytics, and cloud services, all of which are fueled by the Internet of Things (IoT), the supply chain industry is becoming more resilient.
One of the biggest trends brought by IoT in supply chain management is asset tracking. Companies can overhaul their supply chain and logistics operations tracking the movement of inventory between a business, its suppliers, and its customers. This helps them to anticipate the delays, make better decisions, save time, and money.
IoT is also used in monitoring tools to track the movement of the staff around facilities. This way, companies can monitor the efficiency of the workforce to better understand the workplace churn, predict and react to disruption, and better manage business operations.
According to the Gartner supply chain survey, 59% of respondents had partially or fully deployed IoT across their organizations, while 15% planned to invest in IoT within two years, and 22% had established pilots. That data is also consistent with recent inputs from the 2020 IoT Adoption Survey by IoT World, which indicated that 51% of respondents identified a greater need for digital initiatives, including IoT.
- Edge IoT
IoT and edge computing combined can solve many bandwidths, security, and cloud reliability challenges. It helps in building edge devices with onboard analytics capabilities so that the computing is carried out as close as possible to the sources that are being analyzed.
The obvious advantage is that computation can take place more quickly, it reduces the amount of data being transmitted to the cloud and back, reduces the latency between IoT devices and the central IT networks, and avoids network congestion. With advancements in IoT security and processing power, edge computing will become more reliable and scalable.
In 2022, as more organizations are looking to adopt a hybrid cloud ecosystem to deliver IoT services to their customers, edge computing will play an important part to deliver fast and secure insights.
- Wearable Technology
Wearables are one of the most popular trends of IoT and with 2022 and this segment will only rise. Though most of the wearables today consist only of smartphones and wristbands, they’ll become far more diverse e.g. smart rings, smart glasses, virtual reality headsets, connected fabric, and IoT ID tags.
Moreover, they’ll become a primary source of interaction. 43 percent of surveyed consumers believe smartphones will be replaced by wearables, while 40 percent of smartwatch users already interact less with smartphones today. Apart from this, wearables will help improve accessibility for people with disabilities. It will expand augmented reality (AR) apps, help businesses reduce workplace injuries, and more.
Advances in wearables will lead to improvements in areas like healthcare that help doctors monitor patients’ data in real-time. Other industries like transportation, manufacturing, oil, and gas are also leveraging a variety of logistics-related tasks. GlobalData’s report, ‘Tech, Media, & Telecom (TMT) Predictions 2022 – Thematic Research’, reveals that wearable tech will generate $97.5 billion in revenues in 2022, representing both the largest and fastest-growing segment by revenue in consumer IoT by 2022.
- Industrial Internet for business and industry
As digital transformation has become a business priority for many organizations, the term ‘Industrial Internet’ has become a business priority for many organizations. Also known as ‘Industrial Internet of Things, it describes the industrial transformation in the connected context of machines, cyber-physical systems, advanced predictions and perspective analytics, AI, cloud, edge computing, industrial workers, and so on.
Industrial Internet is driving unprecedented levels of efficiency, productivity, and performance in industrial sectors like manufacturing, aviation, oil & gas, utilities, etc, delivering operational and financial benefits. Smart factories and automated logistics plants are increasingly being adopted. With the availability of robotics and IoT infrastructure “as-a-service”, even smaller companies are taking advantage of IoT potential.
Other use cases of IoT in business and industry include the use of wearable devices for training, maintenance, and stimulating processes. Use of sensors into machinery to measure performances and predict breakdowns. 3D printing to innovatively create products and allow a greater level of product customization, minimizing waste.
Also read: How is Industrial IoT Making Manufacturing Safe?
How you can stay ahead of these trends?
If you think, your business will benefit from incorporating IoT technology, iLink Digital is here to help. We offer IoT solutions that aim to enhance operational efficiency, safety, and sustainability for an array of industries. Right from the design to development, we assist you with critical decisions so that you can do, what you do the best.
Check with our experts for more details.
Endnotes
3. https://www.trackyourtruck.com/blog/bluetooth-and-the-internet-of-things/
