How the Cloud/IoT/ML Convergence is Delivering Business Value

Big data is great. The problem is there’s too darned much of it. But artificial intelligence/machine learning and the cloud are making data more manageable and useful. And that’s enabling businesses to do some cool new things.

Connected devices and applications are collecting unprecedented amounts of data. Global mobile data traffic alone reached 7.2 exabytes per month at the end of 2016. That year, an estimated 429 million new mobile devices and connections entered the world. And by 2021, estimated monthly global mobile data traffic will reach 49 exabytes.

The proliferation of connected things beyond just computers, smartphones, and tablets is contributing to this trend. As you know, everything from elevators, home appliances, elevators, lighting systems, medical devices, oil well heads, shipping containers, watches and fitness bands is becoming connected.

The cloud is here to meet this growing demand with its elastic computing resources and massive storage capability. And analytics and machine learning can provide the sophisticated data processing needed to help people and organizations make sense of this data; enable businesses to manage their assets in new and more efficient ways; and even enable new revenue streams.

The cloud, IoT, and ML can work together to provide organizations with information on the state of their assets. As a result, they get a remote and real-time view of the health and longer-term performance of those assets.

This information means they no longer have to have personnel on site with all assets. And it helps them get a better handle current or potential performance issues with those assets.

So energy companies can more efficiently manage offshore oilrigs, for example. Grocery stores can operate with fewer personnel. Elevator companies can add proactive maintenance services to their product portfolios. And cloud service providers can locate data centers even in the most remote locations.


Edited by Mandi Nowitz