Author:
Nexval Infotech
Every time you see the acronym IoT, I’m sure you ask yourself this question – does this even concern me? Most of us interact with IoT objects on a daily basis; and we are oblivious to their impact on our lives.
The Internet of Things is comprised of networks of physical items. Each item is embedded with software, sensors and other types of technology that enable our “things” to talk to other “things” and “data” to interact with other “data” throughout the universe.
Let’s start with the IoT in our homes:
The baby monitor has become a must-have for every new parent. You can watch your baby sleep as well as listen for the cries or laughter. This simple technology has taken a new twist. Today, you can receive real-time alerts that let you know of changes in your baby’s sleeping pattern by sending an image of your child’s breathing waveform. Also, it requires no wearable device.
How about those smart kitchen appliances? You can now talk to your refrigerator with a “smart” shelf called PantryOn Frio. Its slim design goes unnoticeable while it monitors up to 6 items on each shelf. Need more milk, eggs, and cheese? This device will track it for you and add it to your mobile phone grocery list.
Remember when auto manufacturers programmed your vehicle to work with your garage door opener? By pushing a small switch on your windshield visor, you could now open the door without that remote control device. What about closing the door? How many times have you driven a block down the road before asking the question, “Did I close the garage door?” Now, you can actually shut your garage door from 600-1000 feet away…or ask your voice assistant to do it for you. And, if you don’t already own a smart garage door, guess what?…they make an add-on accessory for that.
When you walk up to a house, how often do you see a smart doorbell? Yes, it’s smart. It can tell you who’s at your door, allow you to exchange dialogue with the visitor, and play detective when porch pirates have highjacked your Amazon boxes.
Technology in our personal lives is moving so quickly that we lose track of how much we are actually benefiting from it. Banking has been greatly simplified by using e-bill and ACH transfers, but it doesn’t stop there. Move over Western Union…make room for peer-to-peer payments like Venmo, Zelle and PayPal, all real-time applications designed to streamline the transfer of funds.
And, we have waited for this for quite some time…5G. IoT growth will be further fueled by the use of 5G technology. When Verizon said “we’re going there,” we never imagined the implications it would have on connecting even more things to even more data.
IoT & The Office
First, we have to recognize how IoT has enabled us to spend most of 2020 and 2021 as remote workers. What COVID did to our lives is devastating; but what it did for the workplace was to trigger out-of-the-box solutions that resulted in no loss of service level delivery. Not only did we embrace existing technology, but we gained exposure to a list of other devices and software to help us work smarter and faster, all while sitting in our homes.
Without the Internet of Things, it would not have been possible to connect our enterprise environment to our workers. Technology enables us to rely on software, apps and programs to gain access to everything we need to work securely and efficiently. One could say that Covid-19 became the Beta Test grounds for Security in Remote Working.
When Gartner Group lists its top technology trends for 2021, included on that list was The Internet of Behavior (IoB) in the Workplace. Gartner suggests that protocol monitoring is nothing more than using available data to change behaviors. The increase in these types of technology, coined by Gartner as “digital dust” will include all aspects of our daily lives that connect the digital and physical realms. As we have witnessed, our behaviors are tracked via social media, spilled out to other loops of data, and then used as direct advertisements to influence our behaviors. The same principle is about to be applied in our workplaces.
What IoB means to those in the workplace is that Privacy Laws will need to be strengthened. Technology developers will need to closely monitor how information is shared and for what reasons. As companies embrace these types of technology, ethical implications will come to the forefront, requiring expanded regulation and protection for employees.
How about IoT in Business?
Gartner reports that in 2022, revenue from ‘endpoint’ electronics will total 21.3 billion globally, a 22% increase over 2021 predictions.
“An endpoint refers to a device that exists at the end of a network connection. It uses the network to communicate and transmit data with other endpoints, including desktops, laptops, smartphones, and other IoT Devices”
By 2025, the estimate of IoT devices available will exceed 30.9 billion units. With all the new connection points, businesses will open themselves up to increased threats of phishing, viruses, worms and other malware. Taking safety precautions to protect our sensitive and private information will lead to additional third-party vendor due diligence and stricter data policies and procedures.
IoT is simplifying almost every task in our lives. However, the simplification comes at a high price. Businesses need to limit their risks by providing the highest level of security in regards to data breaches, data authentication, malware and ransomware, and side-channel attacks.
Last, but not least, what has IoT done for financial services?
According to the Deloitte Center for Financial Services research, there are near- and long-term opportunities for the financial services industry to see the benefits from IoT.
Banking CIO Outlook offers:
4 Ways IoT is transforming financial services and banking:
- Optimized Wealth Management:
Many new forms of payment types such as smart cards, biometric tokens, and others will be supported by IoT in financial services. Today’s marketplace is driven mainly by ATM and credit card-based payments. These types of payments are likely to be phased out and replaced by smart card-enabled devices.
- Personalized Wealth Management:
In financial services, we depend upon IoT to improve the validity and velocity of data collection, while increasing the scale of available insights. Personalized wealth management uses data processing algorithms to produce wealth management insights. And, if your financial security is compromised, IoT-enabled solutions will alert you to any foreseen risks.
- Enhanced Transparency:
What does the IoT in banking mean? Access to a wide range of data about borrowers, that includes debt and credit history, and details of borrower assets. For companies with agricultural investments, banks gather the yield of commodities these companies generated to provide loan services.
This transparency provides banks with better credit-granting decision-making mechanisms. IoT-induced transparency also reduces the likelihood of doing business with unqualified debtors in the future.
- Transaction Automation:
IoT technology will eventually become the foundation for the ‘Internet of Value,’ that will be created to establish “a stable and monitored international trading network” surrounded by a system of smart sensors and connected apps to manage payments. Internet of Things will assume the role of a safety regulator where each payment transaction will be technologically regulated.
It’s still a little early to predict what IoT will continue to do to enhance the mortgage services industry. We already see the interactions of AI, Fintech, and non-Internet related tools, such as OCR, Machine Learning (M2M Communication), and RPA. But the real progress made to date is on the borrower side of the services. Algorithm-based mortgage comparisons are available for borrowers to aid them in selecting the right product for their needs.
Jim Eckenrode with Deloitte offers some additional insight:
“Google’s acquisition of Nest suggests the potential for combining home automation and analytics into the ‘conscious home.’ These technologies could benefit Financial Services Institutions as well: Lenders could better understand a home’s condition and thus its value during the mortgage origination process (for appraisals and underwriting), and insurers could improve risk management and provide more accurate pricing for homeowner insurance, as they do today for auto coverage.”
If the prediction of more than doubling our IoT devices by 2025 becomes a fact, then we will undoubtedly see more change in the industry. We are moving at lightning speed and there is every reason to believe the entire world as we know it will become more embedded with internet devices that touch literally every corner of the world and every aspect of our lives. Looking from the outside in, it’s exciting to be part of this journey. However, looking from the inside out, buyer beware. What we once had control over maybe controlling us in the near future.