As several industries are benefiting from and continue to implement IoT technology into their workforce management initiatives, automation, and customer experience, including industries from retail, healthcare, and automotive manufacturing, the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) continues to be in high demand and growing at a rapid rate.
So how are experts predicting the future of industrial IoT in the coming years?
Here are 5 Industrial IoT Trends To Watch:
- The Rising Popularity of the IIoT Digital Twin
- Developing an Intelligent IIoT Edge
- Improved Functional Safety for IIoT Equipment
- Addressing the Expanded IIoT Cyber Attack Surface
- Working with Persona-Based IIoT
The Rising Popularity of the IIoT Digital Twin:
In manufacturing today, digital twins are largely used to improve remote workforce flexibility and provide real-time status updates on field devices as part of the IIoT.
It is thought that IIoT digital twin technology will continue to mature quickly because of the demand, both in manufacturing as well as within the remote needs required by pandemic workforces. As sensor technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, digital twins will be adopted more widely in the IIoT environment.
Developing an Intelligent IIoT Edge
IoT technology continuously generates and transmits data, meaning that industries that use IoT technology must store, manage, and analyze a large amount of data. In order to get the performance results that industrial IoT users demand, there is not always time to transmit data back and forth from a cloud data center. It is thought therefore an intelligent ‘IIoT edge’ is the most strategic data management approach for the future of industrial IoT.
IoT experts are predicting that industrial users will need to hire more tech professionals who can manage new IIoT, as well as an IIoT edge infrastructure where they are operating.
Improved functional safety for IIoT equipment
Corporate leaders have always looked for ways to improve workplace safety, both for employees’ overall health and safety and for more efficient production in the manufacturing sector. One of the best IIoT technology benefits is that it offers workers protection from unsafe working conditions by tracking, alerting, and warning them in real-time. It is expected that industrial users will have to consider more carefully the safety of IIoT platform-powered systems as they apply to functionality in the future.
Addressing the expanded IIoT Cyber-Attack Surface
Mobile devices, in particular, are key to the development of the IIoT. However, these devices, IIoT applications, and their users increase the attack surface for cyber threats at a pace that’s hard for most companies to keep up with. Consequently, it is not unusual for many industrial IoT components to not receive the same degree of cybersecurity safeguards as other enterprise solutions. It has been acknowledged that industrial IoT has cybersecurity vulnerabilities and many developers and users are working to fix them.
Working with Persona-Based IIoT
Using IIoT sensor technology, employers can assess and improve their workforce by tracking environmental conditions. In addition to supporting existing workers in industrial roles, the IIoT will provide leaders with the workforce assessment and automation needed to identify worker needs and shortcomings. The IIoT is being deployed as a way to obtain more detailed worker metrics, especially when many industries are experiencing a skilled worker shortage. The use of digital solutions also solves the predicted shortage of skilled workers by offloading routine tasks from existing workers, and also by allowing new workers to get up to speed quickly with expert assistance available all the time.