Enterprise IoT: Real-World Use Cases and Benefits

Enterprise IoT (Internet of Things) has been gaining significant momentum, with companies leveraging its power to enhance operations, improve decision-making, and optimize various aspects, such as supply chain management, asset tracking, and predictive maintenance. It has revolutionized how we live & work and has become an integral part of leading enterprises. They are leveraging the power of IoT to increase efficiency, improve safety, and reduce costs. IoT devices, sensors, and networks enable businesses to collect and analyze large amounts of data while providing valuable insights to optimize operations and make informed decisions.

If you’re a business leader looking to stay ahead of the curve, it’s crucial to understand the potential of enterprise IoT platforms and explore how they can be leveraged to drive growth and success. This blog post will dive deep into what enterprise IoT is, exploring real-world IoT use cases and business benefits. So, let’s get started!

Key Contents

• What is Enterprise IoT?
• Enterprise Internet of Things: Trends Shaping the Market
• Enterprise IoT Examples and Use Cases in 2023
• Business Potential & Benefits of Enterprise IoT Platforms
• Top Data Platforms for Enterprise IoT
• How We Can Help Leverage IoT for Enterprise Growth

Enterprise IoT, also known as Industrial IoT (IIoT), refers to the use of IoT technology in the context of business and industrial operations. In an enterprise IoT system, various devices, sensors, and machines are connected to a network, enabling the collection and exchange of data with enterprise software systems. This data can then be analyzed and used to optimize operations, improve efficiency, and reduce costs. Enterprise IoT can be applied to various industries, including manufacturing, transportation, healthcare, retail, and more. Some common examples of enterprise IoT applications include smart factories, logistics and supply chain management, predictive maintenance, asset tracking, energy management, and smart buildings. The critical difference between consumer IoT and enterprise IoT is the focus on industrial applications and the scale and complexity of the systems involved. In each of these areas, IoT technology is used to improve operational efficiency, reduce waste, cut costs, and enhance the customer experience.

To ensure a successful IoT solution for enterprises, it would include the following components:

• Devices and sensors: IoT devices and sensors are the physical components that collect and transmit data to the network.
• Network connectivity: IoT systems require reliable and robust network connectivity to transfer data between devices, sensors, and the cloud.
• Cloud infrastructure: The cloud infrastructure is required to store and process large volumes of data generated by IoT devices and sensors.
• Data analytics: Data analytics tools are used to analyze the data collected from IoT devices and sensors and generate actionable insights.
• Security: IoT solutions must have robust security measures to protect against data breaches and cyber-attacks.
• Integration: IoT systems should be able to integrate with existing enterprise systems and applications to ensure seamless operation.
• User interface: A user interface that is easy to use and provides real-time data visualization is crucial for successful IoT deployment.
• Maintenance and support: Enterprises require ongoing maintenance and support for their IoT systems to ensure optimal performance and minimize downtime.

A successful IoT solution for enterprises requires a comprehensive approach that addresses all of these components to deliver a reliable, scalable, and secure system that meets the organization’s unique needs.

• The implementation of IoT technology is revolutionizing small businesses, with 83% of organizations reporting improved efficiency.
• Predictive maintenance (PdM) can reduce maintenance planning time by 20 to 50%, increase equipment uptime and availability by 10 to 20%, and reduce overall maintenance costs by 5 to 10%.
• 78% of companies have seen improved IT team effectiveness, and 75% have experienced increased profitability by introducing IoT technology in the workplace.
• By implementing IoT policies, an estimated 43% of businesses have reported increased agility in their operational processes.
• The emergence of low-code solutions has led 90% of IT leaders to believe that the flexibility and speed of these development environments have enhanced customer experience. With IoT devices ubiquitous in almost every customer’s pocket or backpack, businesses can always be readily accessible.

Now that we have discussed the phenomenon of enterprise IoT let’s dive into some of the use cases and applications of IoT in the enterprise. In the following sections, we will explore some of the most promising Internet of Things use cases and discuss how they transform businesses.

There are various ways in which IoT technology can add value to businesses worldwide. Listed below are the leading enterprise IoT applications across industries:

Healthcare

• The Internet of Medical Things enables remote patient monitoring for chronic disease management using fitness trackers and wearables. It also helps reduce readmission rates while improving treatment outcomes.
• Smart beds and movement trackers empower older adults with chronic conditions to live independently, ensuring a better experience with real-time waiting, exercise or drug management monitoring.
• Remote monitoring of hardware ensures optimal performance of medical devices and equipment with timely maintenance and periodic repairs and replacements.
• Indoor mapping and navigation application enable quick and easy access to medical services for facility visitors while allowing medical staff to track assets.

Explore the importance of IoT in healthcare through trends, benefits, use cases, used technologies & much more to learn how IoT helps optimize workflows for healthcare providers and doctors.

Public Utilities

• Monitoring the generation of wind and solar energy to detect potential failures, optimize the location, and maximize the production of power
• Tracking power levels to ensure backup, avert service breakdown, reduce cost, and lower the risk of disruption
• Employing connected meters and circuit breakers to prevent blackouts, detect leaks and potential failures, remotely activate and disable services, reduce cost, and enhance customer experience
• Equipping field officers with connected hardware and IoT-based ticketing app to issue fines and ensure a clean and green community.

Explore the Applications of IoT in Smart Cities with practical IoT smart city examples, including utility management, to learn why municipalities are turning to innovative city solutions.

Transportation and Logistics

• Using a fleet management mobile app to monitor the vehicle location and condition of essential parts such as tire pressure or coolant level. You can also track truck loads, driver behavior, and performance to make real-time business decisions that will help improve operational efficiency. By using this type of system, you can lower maintenance costs, reduce fuel consumption, ensure regulatory compliance, and speed up accident response times.
• Leveraging a smart warehouse management app to gain real-time visibility across inventory storage and distribution center to optimize space, reduce manual errors and locate packages.
• Optimizing logistics, tracking assets, monitoring storage, and identifying theft or shipping delays with an asset tracking app.
• Monitoring compliance with safety protocols, such as wearing protective equipment and following safety procedures, businesses can reduce safety violations and the risk of workplace accidents and injuries.

Explore the role of IoT-based fleet management for transportation & logistics companies with specifics on how it helps automate processes, optimize costs & improve decision-making.

Retail

• Integrating the checkout process into the shopping experience through smart store and shelf sensors, connected cameras, and AI. This approach enhances the shopper’s experience, improves staff efficiency, prevents theft, increases peak-hour conversions, and reduces labor costs.
• Leveraging data from smart sensors, connected cameras, and AI to organize store layout, predict wait times, optimize time spent at fitting rooms, and provide intelligent suggestions.
• Connecting vending machines or other consumer-facing dispensing devices to predict restocking needs and adjust pricing more frequently.
• Automating packaging services, tracking stock-keeping units, and monitoring inventory levels to reduce shrinkage, locate inventory faster, and improve overall store efficiency.

Explore the role of IoT in the Retail Industry and how the application of IoT can address significant challenges & drive unprecedented benefits.

However, to fully leverage the potential of enterprise IoT, it’s crucial to have a modern data platform that can meet IoT applications’ data consistency and latency demands. This is why hyper scalers like AWS and Azure have become the linchpin of most IoT initiatives. Made up of numerous services, they are designed to enable seamless connectivity and include the capabilities to store and analyze IoT data.

The advent of IoT technology offers Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) an opportunity to enhance their digital capabilities and improve their operations to increase productivity and profitability. The potential for enterprise integration with the Internet of Things (IoT) is enormous. By connecting devices and systems, IoT provides businesses with unprecedented data and insight into their operations, enabling them to make better decisions, improve efficiency, and drive growth. Here are some specific ways that enterprise integration with IoT can create business value:

• Operational Efficiency: IoT devices can automate and optimize various business processes, from inventory management to manufacturing and supply chain management. By integrating these devices into existing systems, businesses can streamline operations and reduce costs.
• Predictive Maintenance: IoT predictive maintenance is a smart way of managing industrial assets and reducing operational costs. IoT sensors can be used to monitor the health and performance of equipment in real time. By analyzing this data, businesses can identify potential problems before they occur and schedule maintenance proactively. It can help minimize downtime and extend the lifespan of the equipment.
• Improved Customer Experience: IoT can personalize customer experiences and provide better service. For example, retailers can use IoT sensors to track store customer behavior and offer personalized promotions. In contrast, hotels can use IoT devices to adjust room settings based on guest preferences.
• New Revenue Streams: IoT can enable businesses to create new products and services, such as subscription-based monitoring services or data analytics solutions. By leveraging the data generated by IoT devices, companies can create new revenue streams and expand their offerings.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: IoT provides businesses with unprecedented data and insights into their operations. Companies can make better decisions and drive growth by integrating this data into existing systems.

Overall, enterprise integration with IoT has the potential to transform businesses and industries, enabling them to become more efficient, innovative, and customer-centric. However, it’s essential to approach IoT integration with a clear strategy and a focus on the business value it can create.

Now that we have explored the potential benefits of enterprise IoT platforms let’s look at some of the top data platforms available for businesses to leverage. These platforms are designed to help companies to manage and analyze the vast amounts of data generated by IoT devices, enabling them to gain valuable insights and make data-driven decisions. Here are some of the top data platforms for enterprise IoT:

• Microsoft Azure IoT Hub
• AWS IoT Core
• IBM Watson IoT Platform
• Google Cloud IoT Core
• Oracle IoT Cloud
• SAP Leonardo IoT

Each platform offers a range of features and capabilities for businesses to leverage, including device management, data analytics, and machine learning. Let’s explore some use cases of these platforms in action.

In this section, we will delve deeper into the top data platforms – Microsoft Azure and Amazon AWS for enterprise IoT, their features, and how they can be used to manage and analyze data from IoT devices. These platforms offer various capabilities, such as data ingestion, storage, processing, analytics, and visualization, to help enterprises derive insights from their IoT data. By leveraging them, enterprises can make informed decisions, optimize operations, and create new revenue streams. Let’s look at two of the top data platforms for enterprise IoT.

Microsoft Azure IoT Hub

Microsoft Azure IoT Hub is a cloud-based service that enables the secure and reliable communication and management of IoT devices. It provides a centralized hub for managing and monitoring devices and allows developers to build and deploy IoT solutions quickly and easily. Azure IoT Hub offers a range of features for managing IoT devices, including device-to-cloud and cloud-to-device messaging, device management, and telemetry data ingestion and analysis. It also supports multiple protocols and platforms, including MQTT, HTTP, and AMQP, and includes built-in security features to ensure data privacy and integrity.

With Azure IoT Hub, developers can easily connect and manage IoT devices at scale and build sophisticated IoT solutions that leverage real-time data insights. This makes it ideal for various IoT scenarios, from industrial automation and predictive maintenance to smart buildings and asset tracking.

AWS IoT Core

AWS IoT Core is a fully managed service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that enables customers to connect and manage IoT (Internet of Things) devices securely and reliably at scale. It allows devices to communicate securely with cloud applications and other devices, enabling customers to collect, store, and analyze data from IoT devices. AWS IoT Core offers features such as device management, security, and connectivity, making it easy for customers to manage and monitor their IoT devices. It also provides advanced features such as a rules engine, device shadow, and machine learning to enable customers to build sophisticated IoT applications.

AWS IoT Core supports many devices and protocols, including MQTT, HTTP, and WebSockets. It also offers integrations with other AWS services, such as Amazon S3, Amazon Kinesis, and AWS Lambda, to enable customers to build end-to-end IoT solutions. Overall, AWS IoT Core simplifies the process of building, deploying, and managing IoT applications, allowing customers to focus on their core business needs.

We enable enterprises to build comprehensive & secure applications that meet their business needs. We partner with organizations, from startups to mid-size & giant corporations, to offer custom IoT mobile app development services and solutions. It would include IoT device integration and management, configuration, data collection, and security. We support enterprises with data storage and processing using cloud platforms like AWS IoT Core & Microsoft Azure IoT Hub.

We cover the entire lifecycle of the IoT initiatives from requirement engineering to architecture design and platform & app creation to testing & support. It would include custom IoT applications and dashboards for enterprises to visualize and analyze their IoT data. They can also help with predictive analytics and machine learning models to enable enterprises to make informed decisions based on their IoT data. Our team has experience working with various industries, such as manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, and retail, and can tailor their IoT solutions to meet the unique needs of each sector.

We can help you leverage IoT for enterprise growth in the following ways:

• IoT device integration and management: Involves integrating IoT devices with enterprise systems.
• Data storage and processing: For vast amounts of data generated by IoT devices using cloud platforms like AWS IoT Core & Microsoft Azure IoT Hub
• Custom IoT application development: Involves building custom applications and dashboards that enable businesses to visualize and analyze their IoT data
• IoT platform selection and implementation: This involves selecting the right IoT platform that meets the business’s unique needs and implementing it to ensure it is integrated with existing systems and workflows.

Success Stories

Case Study 1: IoT-Based Beer Line Cleaning & Monitoring App Development

An Ireland-based provider of beer-line cleaning equipment was finding it difficult to manually track cleaning schedules and service activities. Additionally, inaccurate synchronization of recorded data from the cleaning process was hampering staff productivity and impacting sales. This was when they turned to us to digitize their beer-line cleaning operations for improved efficiency.

Our team developed an easy-to-use mobile application and integrated it with flow sensor hardware to capture data points from the cleaning process. The sensors were attached to the cleaning equipment to monitor the water flow during the cleaning process. The data points are then collected and processed in real time, providing a comprehensive view of the cleaning process. We ensured the hardware compatibility with the app by developing firmware to support the sensors.

Benefits Delivered;

• Over 12,000 beer-line cleaning visits per month were efficiently monitored and validated.
• Real-time data monitoring helped improve operational efficiency, reduce costs, and optimize staff work schedules.
• The IoT solution’s low ownership cost led to increased business profitability.

Read more about how the IoT-Based Beer Line Cleaning & Monitoring App helped the client streamline the line cleaning process resulting in consistently excellent beer quality.

Case Study 2: IoT-Powered Solution for Fluid Management with Advanced Data Analytics

A leading fluid control system manufacturer with IIoT devices faced several challenges in collecting and transferring data from multiple sensors, instruments, and other devices. This lack of visibility across business operations and an error-prone manual mechanism for liquid management resulted in significant wastage of costly liquid, causing financial losses for the company.

Our team analyzed their existing operations and defined a business process that included tenant registration, subscription, management of master data, user management, and ultimately the generation of reports through analytics. The solution had a predictive analytics mechanism, a fluid management solution dashboard, a liquid-level monitoring application, and a unified platform that brought transparency to the overall process. The business and end customers forum had five modules as part of the integrated portal.

Benefits Delivered;

• Up to 75% reduction in time spent by resources on routine processes leads to a performance improvement
• 30% cost savings with predictive analytics for early detection of issues and maintenance requirements
• 40% rise in sales revenue with an increased customer base

Read more about how this IoT-Powered Solution for Fluid Management helped clients improve their operations, save costs, and increase their customer base.