The Internet of Things, or IoT for short, is a system of connected devices, computers and digital
machines with unique identifiers that transfer data over a network. Mobile phones, smart watches,
laptop and smart thermostats all fall under the IoT umbrella as long as they’re connected and sharing
data. (What is IoT (Internet of Things) and How Does it Work? - Definition from TechTarget.com,
2022) Beyond that, IoT also includes heart monitor implants, farm animals with chip transponder or a
car alerting the driver that the ABS system is dysfunctional. In a business sense, IoT supports smarter
working with more control over the environment. Across multiple industries, IoT enables, but not
limited to, process automation, insight and analysis and performance monitoring. For example, airlines
use IoT sensors for real-time data reporting on airplane engine status and equipment conditions. Theme
parks even uses IoT to track visitor locations for insight into popular attraction and traffic flow. This can
help park better address bottleneck long lines, and even waste management. Businesses are increasingly
adopting IoT to improve efficiency, customer service and probably the biggest motivating factor,
generating more revenue through deep insight.
Implementing a ton of tiny machines for everything has its downsides as you could imagine. As the
number of connected devices and share information increases, so does security and privacy concerns.
Also, any bugs in a single device can potentially affect an entire IoT system. In addition, and this is true
especially for an enterprise, these connected devices produce a ton of data, which can be difficult to
collect and manage, let alone glean business insight.
Having an on-premise datacenter which can be vulnerable to attacks if not properly secured, this can
also be very expensive for a company to implement. Many companies choose to outsource their IoT
information to the cloud like Azure IoT Service. Here the communication between the IoT devices are
encrypted and sent directly to the cloud database where the data is safe and sound. The Azure IoT Hub
can connect, monitor and manage billions of IoT assets. Enabling highly secure and reliable
communication between your Internet of Things applications and the devices it manages through cloudhosted solutions. (IoT Hub | Microsoft Azure, 2022)
IoT Agenda. 2022. What is IoT (Internet of Things) and How Does it Work? - Definition from
TechTarget.com. [online] Available at: <https://www.techtarget.com/iotagenda/definition/Internet-ofThings-IoT> [Accessed 1 April 2022].
Azure.microsoft.com. 2022. IoT Hub | Microsoft Azure. [online] Available at:
<https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/iot-hub/#overview> [Accessed 1 April 2022].