Home How You Can Use IoT To Enhance Your Business Operations

How You Can Use IoT To Enhance Your Business Operations

IoT is growing as more smart devices, from light bulbs to vacuums, give us more control and automation capabilities. IoT can be a massive benefit to all kinds of business operations. If you want your company to enjoy the advantages of IoT, you’ll be well on your way by reviewing our tips below.

Increase Energy Efficiency

One of the most significant advantages of IoT is it can boost the energy efficiency of most companies, from FedEx delivery route businesses to those that sell baby clothes. How?

The market for smart home and business thermostats is expected to grow by at least 20% in the next several years. Being able to monitor the use of energy in a commercial building and tweak lighting, water, usage, and temperature can cut down on energy waste.

HVAC tends to use a lot of power in company buildings, so the grown of smart thermostats opens up a vital opportunity to reduce costs and increase ROI. It’s estimated that smart thermostats have cut electric bills by 25% in homes that use them across the US. And we can expect similar savings in commercial properties.

A smart thermostat can lower cooling and heating to a minimum when staff isn’t in the office, and optimize it when it is. Smart thermostats offer almost immediate ROI when you implement them in your offices.

Replace Custodians With Automatic Vacuums

Custodial staff can be anything from essential to a disruption to a severe security problem. They also can be costly. Your business can save money and stay clean with a few robotic vacuums from Roomba or Eufy.

You also can bring in your custodians for a deep clean each month and leave the rest to the machines. And don’t worry: With the fantastic powers of IoT, they will let you know when they need emptying.

Track Equipment

Asset management can be a major hassle for any business that doesn’t have employees bring their own devices. Giving out company phones, laptops, and other electronics means it all must be tracked in a database. Who has that laptop, when did they take it, and when will it be back? It can take days or weeks to figure out where a missing device went.

But with IoT tags such as the Aruba asset tracker, you can always find your devices, no matter where they are.

Boost Productivity With Smart Coffee Machines

Coffee is a mainstay for many people, and that’s never more obvious than in the office. Sharing coffee brewing duties, keeping everything stocked, and making sure there’s plenty of coffee in the cupboards usually is a shared job. But if you use a connected smart coffee machine, such as the ones sold by Keurig and Nespresso, you can do for your coffee quaffing what IoT printers have done for ink – it’s never out of stock.

Reduce Operating Costs

IoT solutions can help companies slash costs and stay competitive. In manufacturing, smart devices can be helpful to monitor equipment and reduce downtime. They can predict misalignments and failures in your production line.

Understand Consumer Behavior

Understanding how consumers think is vital to the success of your business. With IoT devices, companies can collect, monitor, and analyze consumer data from social media, mobile, video, and Internet usage. This lets business analysts predict consumer preferences so that companies can more effectively design products and services and offer value-added features for superior engagement.

Improve Productivity

IoT devices can help your manufacturing company assess demand and better manage production stages by doing real-time tracking of raw materials and parts. Companies can collect worker data to find their most productive work schedules and schedule vital tasks and meetings.

Smart devices also can enhance facility management by telling employees about technical disruptions.

Facilitate Administrative Assistance

Smart technology exists in many forms, and some of the biggest-selling applications are for automated locks, lights, and thermostats. More people are utilizing virtual assistants to connect all smart devices into one network.

For instance, it’s estimated that nearly 30% of Americans use virtual assistants Google Home or Amazon Echo. Most of us use them to use apps without using our phones physically. Companies can also share the benefits by using them to set up meetings, scan emails, and obtain critical information and data while doing other things.

For instance, rather than asking Alexa what the temperature will be in New York City tomorrow, you can ask what last year’s annual revenue was compared to the year before. While AI needs more development before it can mimic human-to-human conversation, it’s probably coming shortly.

Lowers Company Security Risks

Virtual assistants can be linked with security systems to give business owners access to more safety and remote monitoring. It’s estimated that at least 140 million home monitoring systems will be delivered to homeowners this year, which will double in five years. With smart security, homes and businesses can lock their doors remotely, turn lights on and off, and even operate window blinds!

As smart technology improves, we can anticipate a more cohesive future for smart homes and businesses. More smart tech devices will be linked to create a more consistent experience and add more services, such as security systems that enable remote monitoring.

Telecommuting is becoming more popular, so connected security technologies have severe implications for business executives and owners. Some estimates say that 70% of company employees work at least part of the week remotely. Because you and your workers probably telecommute sometimes, it’s vital to establish a business security system that you can monitor and adjust remotely. When you aren’t in the office, you can use smart technology to check for suspicious activity in the building, control locks, and get alerts for any security breaches.

The goal of smart tech is to make your home life easier, more comfortable, and efficient. But business owners also are discovering that the same line of smart devices can save their company money and increase efficiency and safety. We can expect smart technology and IoT to affect businesses more over the next few years, and we hope you’re a part of it!

About ReadWrite’s Editorial Process

The ReadWrite Editorial policy involves closely monitoring the tech industry for major developments, new product launches, AI breakthroughs, video game releases and other newsworthy events. Editors assign relevant stories to staff writers or freelance contributors with expertise in each particular topic area. Before publication, articles go through a rigorous round of editing for accuracy, clarity, and to ensure adherence to ReadWrite's style guidelines.

Frank Landman
Editor

Frank is a freelance journalist who has worked in various editorial capacities for over 10 years. He covers trends in technology as they relate to business.

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