IoT’s ENABLING OF CONTACTLESS SERVICE IN THE POST COVID WORLD
Consumers in 2021 put safety first when it comes to everyday life. IoT enables contactless service. One example of a company already putting I.o.T contactless service to use is Tata Consultancy Services (Rosencrance 2021). Regu Ayyaswamy, senior vice president and global head of I.o.T at the company quotes “We are seeing an uptick in demand for AI and IoT enabled products, which can be controlled from anywhere at any time. Tata Consultancy Services for example, delivered an IoT platform for connected pools. This IoT platform enables remote equipment monitoring, predictive and pro-active maintenance of pool equipment and helps pool professionals provide customer support from anywhere in the world” he said. It also owners to remotely control pool settings, temperature, lighting and so many more through voice commands. Through this initiative, services are able to be provided with less human contact.
Rob Moore, president of development solutions at Aridea Solutions, an IoT provider quotes “I saw someone created an app for the Apple watch that can tell when you raise your hands toward your face, to keep you from touching your face.” Aridea Solutions has also released its product, Fever Kit. Which is a no-touch, portable device designed to screen users for fever. This shows how IoT is playing a significant role in helping with COVID 19 safety measures. This poses a question, could IoT become an essential part of human life in the coming years?
IoT products like the Fever Kit, TCS’ pool management platform and Apple Watch’s new App are extremely helpful during the time frame of the COVID 19 pandemic. However, these technologies, according to Rob Moore are not going anywhere any time soon. “We think that this is going to be normal now,” he quotes, “we think most businesses probably should have been doing this even for flu season,” Moore said. “People come into work, they have a fever and they don’t realize it, and then they end up contaminating the office. There’s lots of sick days that the employers have to payout, just with the common flu.” IoT will, in the future, help lessen the intensity of these breakouts.
Limitless, is the word that comes to mind when speaking of the future possibilities of IoT. Through the advancement of IoT, new opportunities within remote learning, surgery, repair and so many more will emerge (ericson.com). The capacity of IoT platforms advances in cahoots with AI’s evolution. Service providers in the future will edge further more into IT and Web based markets. This will open new streams of income, new industries and new job opportunities. Three things will accelerate industrial internet. These are; integrated artificial intelligence (AI), increased network agility plus hyperscale capacity to automate, orchestrate and secure diverse use cases. In addition to this, immersive mixed reality (AR and VR) applications have the potential to become the next platform after mobile, bringing future IoT to life with close synergy to network platforms.
2021. Future IoT. [online]. ERICSON.COM. [12/03/2021]. Available from: https://www.ericsson.com/en/future-technologies/future-iot
BAYERN, M., 2020. How Iot is helping businesses navigate COVID 19. [online]. TECH REPUBLIC. [11/03/2021]. Available from:
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-iot-is-helping-businesses-navigate-covid-19/
ROSENCRANCE, L., 2021. How IoT can enhance the connected customer experience. [online]. IOTWORLDTODAY. [11/03/2021].
©Keren Obara Mar 2021
