The Step(s) Before Predictive Analytics in IoT

There is no doubt that “Internet of Things” or IoT is the buzz word in technology – destined to change our future forever. And yes I do believe that IoT will change our future or rather the change has begun, and only accelerating. However another buzz word that marries IoT with Big Data – is Predictive Analytics. It is all about how all the sensor and machine data can help find patterns, and be beneficial for use cases like predicting equipment failure. IoT Analytics, I feel, at times is a bubble within a bubble.

Is Predictive Analytics important? Yes it is but not at the cost of how IoT can change the present – not just the future. I see the following steps before you can get into a predictive stage for the mass market (i.e. some use cases probably have crossed several of these steps):

1. Reliable connectivity of sensors, and reliable transfer of data – example did the temperature spike because it actually became hot or it was anomaly because of loose connections or software glitch?

2. If already connected in the world of instrumentation such as SCADA or other legacy proprietary protocols – migrating either the connectivity or the data from the sensors over to the world of IP & Cloud Computing

3. Making present, and the near present better than before: actions that can be taken without the need for predicting the future such as shut down the equipment right now because the temperature has actually spiked.

Predicting the future is one of the many benefits of IoT.

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IoT: Where do you begin?

Kevin Ashton, the father of IoT, has a simple advice for companies looking to leverage and benefit from IoT – “Begin”. In Why the Internet of Things isn’t like the Big Bang Kevin says, and I quote:

In what Ashton calls “the wild frontier of IoT,” the best advice he can give is “Begin.”

“There’s too much sitting around in meetings, staring at PowerPoints, waiting for someone to tell you the answer. When someone else knows the answer, you’ve already lost.”

But where to begin? Pick an internal project, and enable it with IoT. Roll it out to a limited set of customers, learn, tweak and update the solution. Analytics is supposed to be the big killer app – the data coming in from these sensors, and things that would unlock the potential of Big Data or Small Data. But to begin – collect the data. Or if you are already collecting the data (and many industrial companies have been doing “IoT” for a long time) – figure out a way of putting a wrapper around that system, and APIfy it.

That’s how to begin…