Let us
start with some insights in historical need of machines. When human power was unable
to meet the demand and supply, inventors started to look forward for machines which
can help human power to speed up the delivery of the items. It was applicable
in all industries. Eventually, Evolution of machines was triggered where innovators
started thinking to improve the quality of deliverable and speed to market
with heavy utilisation of machines.
It was further fuelled with the introduction
of computer and forced the traditional business operating models to adapt the
technology. Policy makers were worried about the replacement of the labour and
unemployment which could be triggered by computer evolution. But, Computer
industry had turned on a lot of new opportunities and created multiple jobs in
high tech industry. Same way, people are
afraid of automation. But how much IoT area has contributed to this fear
directly. NO, it has not contributed
directly. While IoT is quite helpful in
speeding up the solution, improving the quality and reducing the turnaround
time. Additionally, it is not new concept. Sensors are already in market from
decades. So, it brings me to discuss about what is IoT.
Let us
discuss what IoT is not? IoT is not end to end solution. It is not a data
server and it has nothing to do with decision making. It is not Robot also. It is
not going to replace human power directly.
Then, what is IoT – IoT is backbone system for data gathering and
triggering the automatic actions as per machine decisions. These decisions are
coming from Artificial intelligence algorithm , and to take decisions machine
learning concepts are used where used data is collected using IoT Sensors, actuator
etc. This data is used to feed the data visualisation tool which helps business
people in taking decisions. IoT is part of an eco-system of decision making and
triggering the automated actions which is resulting in improving productivity,
decreasing downtime and speedy decisions.
Then what
the impact of IoT on job market. The eco-system in which IoT is playing a key
role will automate the multiple processes like software update, data
visualisation, reporting, simple and moderate decisions of machine actions, manual
diagnostics processes will be replaced by automated, onsite repair will be replaced
by remote monitoring and providing fixes wherever applicable.
Yes, this
ecosystem is going to reduce the number of jobs in redundant and repeated
process areas, while on the other hand, industry is facing huge shortage of the
digital skills like IoT developer, AI, machine learning, automation etc.
To conclude
the words – when IoT is helping industry in improving the quality and response
time, it is also significantly contributing in automation which eventually makes
the organisation to skill up their resources on latest technologies. People who will be flexible and ready to learn
new technology will not be impacted by this IoT or IoT ecosystem thread. As of
now, IoT is directly impacting the transformation of the industries.
