Making the most of internet and cloud

That it can offer solutions in real-time will have an impact for industries

The Internet of Things is today playing a starring role in the digital transformations of companies and governments.

“IoT has the potential to unlock up to 11 per cent in incremental GDP [across the GCC], driving growth and prosperity for the next decade,” wrote AT Kearney analysts in a 2017 report.

That growth is set to generate revenues for the regional IoT segment of $11 billion (Dh40.40 billion) by 2025.

In the regional space, DWTC is one example implemented a cloud solution, which uses cloud-based IoT services to connect sensors to their back-end system. Because of real-time insights into the location and usage of equipment, DWTC was able to optimise a range of functions, from equipment allocation to inventory management.

The intelligent cloud and IoT go hand-in-hand. Sensors relay their data to cloud stores and business intelligence emanates from powerful analytics engines that are also cloud-based. Consumption of insights can be pushed to dashboards on any device, so the architecture of a solution gives flexibility to the workforce, allowing decisions to be made in the field or at base.

This model is of particular interest to manufacturing, which is now Dubai’s third largest, and the emirate’s Department of Economic Development (DED) expects around $19 million to be spent on R&D by manufacturing companies, as the sector expands from a current value of $11.2 billion to $16.1 billion by 2030, and creating more than 27,000 specialised jobs.

Because of IoT, connecting machinery and other equipment in a service ecosystem is now more affordable.

Decreases in the costs of cloud data storage and advances in AI also mean access to extremely powerful analytics. That means manufacturers can gather and store data more cheaply, and act on it more effectively. This model cuts costs and improves customer retention, because it can deliver predictive maintenance.

Cloud architecture protects data at rest and in transit. IoT is set to form the nervous system of the secure, smart society and play a central role in the digital transformation of several GCC industries.