In the previous blog, I had covered the benefits for IOT for businesses. Carrying the thought to completion, let’s look at the benefits IOT is bringing about to end consumers – to We, the people.

Benefits for Consumers

Consumer IoT is all about convenience. It’s about doing more with less. Deep down, humans only want to do what they like doing personally or socially and want the chores to be taken care of. Humans also want to feel comfortable, whether it’s hot or cold, rain or shine.

From Smart Homes to Connected Cars to Smart Offices, to Smart Cities several IoT solutions are being built and adopted to help humans with their comfort, and shall we say, laziness. Let’s look at these in a bit more detail.

1. Comfort and Convenience

Did you ever hate climbing out of your nice and warm bed just to switch a light or TV off? IoT brings comfort. IoT fixes that.

Your home, based on various sensors knows your preferences and can automate itself to suit to them, whether it’s turning the lights, TV, Air conditioner or fans on or off, or playing your choice of music.

With IoT, your car can know when you are about to leave, start itself and start either heating up or cooling down.

As devices and appliances get smarter, a smart home can integrate their abilities as well, for example, your laundry schedule can be integrated using your smart washing machine. And as it has been dreamt about for long, your smart refrigerator can order groceries. But ideally, the refrigerator notifies you of the shopping cart so that you decide what you want, rather than the refrigerator – it should just suggest – let us put it in its place!

When you are away on holidays, your plants can be automatically watered, at the right level, by sensing the humidity of the soil.

And then there is preventive maintenance for your devices.

Smart home solutions can be made to work with any smart devices you have.

Must Read: IoT and Performance

2. Security

With everything connected, security itself is becoming a bigger challenge. However, there are 2 sides to the coin. If the devices are properly secured with authentication, authorization and encryption, IOT can make your life safer and more secure.

Smart locks for homes and car can warn of you unauthorized access. They can lock themselves if you forgot to lock, they can learn patterns.

Also, you can track your loved ones better, but you don’t always have to be in front of the screen, For example, you can have geo-fences, such that if your child is not at school or sports field, or wherever he is she is supposed to be, you get alerts.

3. Efficiency

With connectivity and the ability to get data, you get visibility and efficiency. The most common example is energy use. No one in the room and the electrical appliances still on? Do you want them to automatically turn off, or issue an alert? Do you want visibility into where was the energy wasted, which room, which device and by how much? IOT makes it possible.

Driving, route planning becomes more efficient as well, with smart cars. Smart cooking appliances further help with time and energy efficiency.

4. Predictability

While happy surprises are great, humans generally like predictability. With IOT instrumenting your home, car, office, city, there is more data available to make models, and take better decisions, improving the overall predictability of the day to day routine, both at an individual household and at a society level.

Must Read: Industrial IoT

5. Collective Social Benefits

While IOT provides the above benefits to an individual, to a collective society, the next spheres of IOT’s influences are Smart Cities and Smart Nations. At the city level, information from various homes, localities, buildings can be correlated for better energy management, traffic management, and city planning, further providing benefits to residents.

Smart homes, smart cars, smart cities depend on smart appliances. But to integrate them together, to make personalized meaning of them collectively and IOT platform is needed.

Thingsphere IOT platform has the components and capabilities to realize the above benefits. The Thingsphere team has the experience to deliver the platform to suit your budget, scale and timelines.

Author: Geeta Puri – Co-Founder and Director, Thingsphere Pte. Ltd