I tend to agree with my colleague Odipo that Internet of Things if developed in Kenya can raise the economy higher by about 25 percent. Internet connected devices are efficient when it comes to work and since it’s the trending way of life the economy grows as a result of increased market. Samsung is planning to invest about US$100 million in some countries this year by strengthening its accelerator programs and further expanding its international developer events in the breath of making all Samsung hardware IoT ready, further accelerating the expansion of IoT devices available in the market.
A new data from Juniper Research revealed that the number of IoT connected devices will number 38.5 billion in 2020, up from 13.4 billion in 2015: a rise of over 285%. This is a sign that people are creating a big market share for devices that have internet connections hence the increase in percentage.
Many people are adopting the ‘smart home’ choice by buying home appliances that can use electricity and internet. The new trend has made headlines in many media houses as the tech companies including Samsung invent advanced ways to attract the ‘smart market’. Some public service sectors like retail, agriculture, smart buildings and smart grid applications will also form the majority of the device base.
It’s hard to believe that a tractor in the rural areas will have internet connection but Michelin and John Deere, for example, have successfully transitioned their businesses towards being service based companies through the use of IoT, as opposed to their previous incarnations as product vendors. I have no idea how that will work but I have a feeling it will increase Agricultural production in the country since that is the main source of revenue in Kenya.
Internet of things is still in its early stages despite the fact that the number of connected devices already exceeds the number of humans on the planet by over 2 times according to The Internet of Things: Consumer Industrial and Public Services 2015-2020 research.
“We’re still at an early stage for IoT,“ noted research author Steffen Sorrell.”Knowing what information to gather, and how to integrate that into back office systems remains a huge challenge.”
Additionally, interoperability hurdles owing to conflicting standards continues to slow progress. Nevertheless, there are signs that standards bodies and alliances are beginning to engage to overcome these hurdles.
Juniper Research provides that Internet of Things represents the combination of devices and software systems, connected via the Internet, that produce, receive and analyse data. These systems must have the aim of transcending traditional siloed ecosystems of electronic information in order to improve quality of life, efficiency, create value and reduce cost.
The consumer segment (composed of the smart home, connected vehicles and digital healthcare), represents a high ARPU (average revenue per user) market segment. Meanwhile, the industrial sector (composed of retail, connected buildings and agriculture) will enable high ROI (return on investment) through IoT projects, owing to more efficient business processes.
