Is IoT Valuable? Advantages And Disadvantages Of IoT Explained

In the year 1964, a renowned German scientist, Karl Steinbuch quoted - "In a few decades of time computers will be interwoven into almost every industrial product", quite a futuristic statement considering that decade, isn't it?

Well, scientists do have a rather strong sixth sense for any upcoming technological advancements as the last 10-12 years have indeed witnessed a rapid integration of the internet and computers with almost every gadget known to mankind, be it Smart street lights, SmartTVs, Voice assistants, Smart Air-conditioner, Smart health Monitoring, Smart irrigation system, and many more such 'Smart' gadgets! Such innovations have indeed improved our quality of life manifolds.

This brings us to define the term IoT- Internet of Things- that is the interconnection via the internet of computing devices embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data. It makes it easier to connect things and work on the same thing without involving multiple people to do it. There is also a feature to control things remotely.

For the first time, the term Internet of Things (IoT) was coined in the year 1999 by Kevin Ashton, a British Technology pioneer, as the title of a presentation for one of the largest MNCs, Procter and Gamble. Any guesses for the content of the presentation? It was about linking RFID tags in P&G's supply chain to the internet.

As the internet moved from IPv4 to IPv6 in 2011, Steven Leibson, a marketing pro gave the following remarks:

We could assign an IPv6 address to every atom on the surface of the Earth, and still have enough addresses left to do another 100+ Earth's!

Launching back to the present scenario, the year 2020 saw 50 billion devices connected to the internet, which is a whopping USD 19 industry. Hop on the bandwagon to learn about the major advantages and disadvantages of IoT.

What are the advantages of IoT?

1. Real-time data collection

The most important benefit of IoT is the real-time collection of data which means you get all the information at once instead of waiting till the end when everything has already happened. For example, if there is a power outage, then we won’t know until the next day whether our appliances were affected or not. With IoT, this problem gets solved instantly. You don’t need to wait for someone else to tell you what went wrong; you just check yourself.

2. Better customer service

Another great advantage of IoT is better customer service. If something goes wrong with your car, you would want to know immediately so that you can fix it right away. But how does one find out where exactly the fault lies? Well, thanks to IoT, you no longer need to ask anyone because they will automatically inform you through their mobile app or website. So, whenever anything happens, you will always be informed.

3. Improved productivity

As mentioned earlier, IoT allows you to monitor your products/services 24x7. In case of a malfunctioning device, you can take immediate action to rectify the issue. Also, since you are getting instant feedback, you can make changes accordingly before the situation worsens further. Thus, you save both money and resources.

4. Increased security

Since IoT collects huge amounts of data, it becomes very easy to hack into these systems. However, with IoT, hackers cannot access any personal details like credit card numbers, etc., as they only get raw data. Therefore, security is increased significantly. Also, we can make the system more secure and efficient if we have a system with all these things interconnected.

5. Reduced labor costs

One of the biggest benefits of IoT is reduced costs. When you use IoT, you don't need to hire additional staff members to manage your operations. Instead, you can automate many processes using smart apps. All you need to do is set up rules and let the system run itself. By making their devices communicate with each other in an efficient manner, the internet of things aids to be helpful to people in their daily lives-saving energy and costs. Our systems are more efficient when the data is communicated and shared between devices.

6. Expedient operation

All the data pouring in empowers us to do numerous jobs with astounding velocity. For instance, IoT makes automation easy. Brilliant ventures mechanize dreary undertakings, in this way permitting representatives to put their time and exertion into more challenging things.

7. Adjusting to new standards

As IoT is a steadily evolving point, its progressions are negligible contrasted with the other technologies of the innovative world. Without IoT, it would be muddled for us to monitor each one of the most recent things.

Whirlpool, the globally leading manufacturer of home appliances, has been spearheading IoT for years. Their next-generation Internet of Things program has transformed their business model in myriad ways, including failure detection, predictive maintenance, supply chain management, warranty management, and many more. All this has been assisting Whirlpool to focus, disrupt and win in a progressively jammed and complex global appliance market.

Some of the IoT applications are:

Personal assistance can be provided by the internet of things (IoT) apps, that alert you to your regular plans.
It is useful for safety because it warns users of potential dangers. For instance, GM OnStar is an integrated device that can be used to identify a crash on the road. If an accident is discovered, it makes a call.
Real-time patient care can be done without a doctor's visit.
The right tracking system can make asset tracking, traffic or transportation tracking, inventory control, delivery, surveillance, and customer management more cost-effective.

What are the various disadvantages of IoT?

1. Privacy concerns

Although IoT provides numerous benefits, it comes with its own share of problems too. First off, it gives rise to privacy concerns. A lot of people feel uncomfortable sharing private information online. They worry about who might see them and misuse their data. To tackle such issues, companies must ensure that users' data remains secure while providing maximum convenience.

Most of these technologies collect personal information about users without their consent. For example, smart meters use radio waves to transmit user location data to a central server. In addition, many IoT-enabled products track your movements through sensors embedded.

2. Lack of standardization

There isn’t much standardization among different manufacturers. Each company develops its own proprietary solutions. Hence, it makes things difficult for consumers to choose between various options available. Also, there are no common standards for data collection or transmission across different devices. This makes it difficult to integrate multiple systems into one network.

This allows these devices like Bluetooth Low Energy, ZigBee, or Wi-Fi Direct to share data without any human intervention. It means each product needs to have unique hardware and software features. Thus, it increases development time and costs.

3. High production and maintenance cost

Most of the current IoT implementations cost around USD 100 per unit. Moreover, some of the components used in IoT aren’t cheap either. These high prices discourage small businesses from adopting IoT technology.

4. Inadequate data storage capacity

Another issue associated with IoT is inadequate storage capacity. The data generated by the sensors are huge in size, which makes it difficult to store them on a single device or server. This problem can be solved using cloud computing technology that allows storing large amounts of data in one place for easy access from anywhere.

Cloud-based solutions also provide security features such as encryption and authentication. However, this solution requires an internet connection, which may not always be available. Moreover, there will be additional costs involved if you want to use these services.

5. Inter compatibility issues

As gadgets from different makers will be interconnected to one another, there is issue of similarity in tagging and monitoring increments. There is a chance that the technical problems may still persist, even if manufacturers make a common standard. Compatibility problems still exist despite the fact that we have wireless devices. Compatibility issues might bring about individuals purchasing gadgets from an alternate producer, prompting its imposing business model on the lookout.

6. Lesser employability of unskilled workers

The non-instructed laborers and aides might lose their positions as an impact of the mechanization of daily life activities, thus prompting unemployability of workers in the society. This is a persistent issue with the overexposure of any technological advancement and can be solved with optimum education and skill training. With the automatization of everyday activities, it's quite obvious that there will be fewer requirements of human labor, primarily, workers and a less-educated workforce.

7. Disruption to social order

IoT is a disruptive technology that will change our lives forever. It has been predicted by some experts that it could disrupt social order if not handled properly. The disruption may be caused due to the fact that people are now able to access information at any time from anywhere using smart devices such as smartphones or tablets. This means that they can get instant updates on what’s happening around them without having to wait for news media outlets to report about events.

Other disadvantages or limitations of IoT include:

The designing, developing, and maintaining of large technology for the internet of things is complicated.
Personal information may be stolen by hackers. Our information is at risk since we have so many devices on the internet.
The interconnected devices rely so much on the internet that they can't function without it.
We will be dependent on technology and lose control of our lives.

Is IoT valuable?

IoT projects and product development involves the use of complex development stacks with a large number of protocols and different hardware modules and software. The time and cost of development become significantly high depending upon the level of expertise and the familiarity a developer has in the given stack.

IoT ceases to be valuable when it doesn't empower associations and businesses to focus, disrupt, and win. For some, this implies contending all the more viably and effectively. For other people, it implies an absence of optimum data administration. Assumptions for the guarantee of IoT run high, and specialized arrangements can be long, troublesome, and exorbitant.
However, when you proceed to build any project for some industry, it's not about how you build the system, but majorly about what problem are you solving using IoT technology.
The value of the internet of things can be seen in the data produced by the devices, and the data must be integrated and analyzed at high speeds in order to create value from the volatile, large-scale internet of things. IoT yields value whenever intelligence improves the industry and makes operational insight actionable.

So, IoT is absolutely valuable - IoT enabled with refined AI can bring down costs, drive higher labor force efficiency, increment worker commitment, advance higher consumer loyalty, and also boost monetary execution. The future is the Internet of Things, not exactly in its present manifestation, but rather unquestionably in some significantly more progressed AI-empowered structure.

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Shivangi Vatsal

Sr. Associate Content Strategist @Unstop

I am a storyteller by nature. At Unstop, I tell stories ripe with promise and inspiration, and in life, I voice out the stories of our four-legged furry friends. Providing a prospect of a good life filled with equal opportunities to students and our pawsome buddies helps me sleep better at night. And for those rainy evenings, I turn to my colors.