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Being Buzzy

Nice analysis of what's next for IoT. The author points out to one of the many flaws in thinking that caused this business to be over-hyped

Many believe that the real value of IoT is in the data, but conveniently ignore the fact over 80% of that data is processed in the devices themselves. The accuracy and duration of hardware such as sensors is a critical factor in IoT applications, and undervaluing it is a key reason for so many IoT projects falling at the first few hurdles.

I’m all the more puzzled by this ignorance of the importance of hardware when looking at IoT projects in air or water quality, the next big verticals in environmental IoT. Where projects are deployed there, IoT devices are closer to expensive meteorology equipment, with the added capability of analysing and integrating data in the cloud.

This brings to mind conversations I used to have with clients 7-10 years ago. Everyone was talking data monetization as if it were magic and pixie dust to sprinkle over that sensor and SCADA stuff that was too complicated and even boring to talk about. The nerds would figure out a way to create an abstraction layer and provide data that was pristine and monetizable. The cringe-worthy phrase "data is the new oil" headlined many a presentation of the day. 

The data players in the mix would run with things from there - they would make the most of the "new oil" and eco-systems would get made and controlled thanks to the power of said data. Very little of that fairytale has materialized from what I saw over the years. The numbers that were tossed around in business cases would be considered supremely ridiculous in just about any other context of the technology business. But in this instance, they were taken seriously and the most specious projects got funded no questions asked. Even today, IoT is buzzy and gets noticed but there are more skeptics in the room than there once used to be.

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