Innovation in a Post-Pandemic World: Four Industries Profoundly Changed by IoT Innovation

As we cautiously enter a post-pandemic latter half of 2021, resilience and our ability to evolve project us forward as a global community. Since last year, we have forced ourselves to migrate our daily lives to a digital world, transitioning to a virtual workplace or classroom, rethinking production and supply chain processes, what is sold and how it’s being delivered.

Every time we have to go out, we carry with us new habits. We use hand sanitizer, keep distance between people, learn to use new technologies, and plan things differently. Whether it's receiving groceries from the nearest supermarket or planning a new transportation route across the city to avoid crowded spaces – IoT and network technology play a role. As we trepidatiously consider what life will look like in a post-COVID future after more individuals are vaccinated, we begin to recognize the value that IoT technology plays. We view the potential to use IoT for a more equitable, connected future and understand just how much it can revolutionize industries.

Understanding IoT in connection to people

Technology can help us understand why we do what we do, recognize the consequences, improve, and apply tools to make better future decisions. Consumer economies worldwide depend on servicing the individual, then on the group, then on the community, and finally on society as a whole. But what sets us apart from generations past is our ability to streamline these processes by using better, more intelligent, never-before-seen technology. This optimization is directly related to the use and application of unique tools we have available. The goal of using them is to become more productive, transparent, and communicative; not just with one another but also with the things surrounding us.

From agriculture to healthcare, IoT has brought to life a new ecosystem in which connected devices allow us to see data in real-time, improve processes and recognize patterns. Below are a few examples of industries that have been revolutionized by IoT technology.

Agriculture

One of the most prominent industries in the LoRaWAN ecosystem is agriculture. The aim of continuing sustainable production for all human beings is a tremendous challenge. Several things essential to include in this point are:

• Monitoring the soil composition, the state the crops are in and potential weather changes can help prevent damage to crops.
• The management and control of irrigation on the field aimed to preserve the land and control its state to optimize the crop’s growth and its future use.

Energy and Manufacturing

Multiple industries manufacture, manage essential resources, extract and process fossil and renewable fuels. In these industries, measurement is vital to avoid waste of the product or service. Some examples are:

• Control and monitoring of lighting in urban areas and large plants.
• Pressure measurement in live oil and gas extraction.
• Real time monitoring of power consumption

Healthcare

This vertical is one of the industries with the most demand for IoT applications today. The need for medical and human resources to continue taking care of people’s lives has unquestionably grown. We can apply it to the following situations:

• Panic buttons for medical staff to attack critical situations, movement of life-saving items in minutes.
• Control and monitoring of medical resources to supply the required items on time to avoid their absence.
• Close monitoring of vitals and life support stats from patients to hospital staff

Logistics

In the pandemic, as people were quarantined at home, eCommerce deliveries increased considerably. However, due to staffing issues and closed factories, the traditional supply chain structure was disrupted, as we’ve never before observed. As we move towards a more stable supply chain, we can see how having IoT technology in place can better prepare companies for disruptions like these, making it so they can plan and adapt more efficiently.

• Track and reload inventory of any product worldwide
• Track the progress of vehicles carrying large quantities between critical points
• Monitor factory and manufacturing equipment, understand which part of the machinery may need maintenance

As the physical infrastructure of our world converges with the digital, IoT empowers us to reimagine the future of consumer and industrial products. Innovations like internet-connected smart doorbells, adaptive farming technology, automatic plant and factory monitoring, intelligent street lighting, smart trash disposal, smart parking, are just a few examples of what IoT will bring to market in the near future. Implementing these solutions can be done quickly with a wide range of connectivity, sensor, and actuator technologies. These products are often created using affordable parts, making them more accessible to a more significant number of end-users. IoT promises to bring many benefits, including a new generation of intelligent, connected products to the forefront, many of which will revolutionize stagnant industries.