You may or may not be a fan of driverless cars, but one cannot help but admire the work of designers who make cars smarter and safer. Honda’s Safe Swarm allows vehicles in the vicinity to communicate with each other and pass critical information. Say, there’s an accident. Alerts will be relayed to cars miles back, enabling them to operate collaboratively and intelligently to mitigate traffic.
With connected devices becoming the norm, the next step in technological evolution is interconnected enterprises that are dynamic and integrated, rather than siloed. The idea is to connect customers, partners, and other key stakeholders to anything, anywhere, on any platform. By bringing together operational technologies (OT) and information technologies (IT), interconnected enterprises implement an interconnection-oriented architecture (IOA) approach that facilitates seamless data exchange and digital growth.
The number of interconnected enterprises is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years; essentially, because the major IT strategies that drive growth are all largely interconnection-dependent. Businesses that deploy interconnection solutions are certain to reap the benefits of value creation in terms of revenue opportunities as well as cost savings.
Same, yet different
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not a new find. Neither is the Internet of Things (IoT). They have been around much longer than other technologies like Virtual Reality (VR) or Augmented Reality (AR). However, recent digital advances have brought these hitherto theoretical and isolated technologies into the practical and interconnected realms of everyday life. That apart, AI, VR/AR and IoT also have the same set of dependencies—relatively sophisticated devices, excellent network connectivity, robust cloud infrastructures, and interconnection among systems, devices, applications and services for optimal performance.
Today, around 40 per cent of the world’s population has an internet connection. In 1995, it was less than one per cent. With high-speed network connectivity comes the promise of accessing data, applications and other services on demand via smartphones, tablets or wearables. Interconnected enterprises are able to deliver real-time performance, regardless of workload, and for less cost.
Similarly, with the availability of scalable cloud platforms, building machine learning into a device is no longer an exorbitant or complex proposition. Also, data is abundant, with billions of diverse, connected devices uploading information to centralized repositories. The challenge today is not to make smart devices that are convenient, but smart devices that are truly powerful.
Brave new world
AI brings a human element to IoT, making it relatable and valuable to individuals as well as enterprises. However, without interconnection, companies will be stuck backhauling data between their users, partners and data centers. Devices, clouds, business and digital ecosystems need interconnection that is close enough to each other and their users to fuel today’s technologies and scale digital business.
Gartner calls this entwining of people, devices, content and services the intelligent digital mesh. It’s all about combining the real world with the virtual world to create an environment that is immersive, digitally enhanced and connected, and delivers optimal outcomes. Let’s take smart manufacturing, also called Industry 4.0, as an example. With interconnected technologies, it has brought in a new age of responsive supply networks and custom-made products and services that strive to unite the digital world with physical action, through novel concepts such as the digital twin.
Similarly, the idea of smart cities has been gaining ground only because of the practical applications of these interconnected technologies. From smart lighting and smart parking services to energy conservation and garbage collection/recycling, the scope of an interconnection-oriented approach is immense.
The digital future
According to researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the combination of IoT and AI will translate into enhanced security, seamless and permeating implementation, and outcome-based applications; all of which will be of great value to the industry. As a result, we will have well-designed systems that are built to take into account security, data privacy, interoperability and resilience of all connected devices and services. Businesses stand to gain from these good technologies in their respective industries.
By instilling a degree of self-awareness in physical objects and their digital twins, AI is cultivating another IoT: the Intelligence of Things. Self-learning models (that allow devices to monitor themselves, their users, environments, processes and outputs) help enterprises to identify impending failures, minimize downtime, and optimize process efficiency. What’s more, these models are continually learning and evolving to become better with time.
And that’s exactly what new-age enterprises need to do to thrive in the ever-changing digital world. Be flexible enough to adjust, adapt, and learn constantly. Because technology, by itself, doesn’t really possess any value. How we use the technology is what makes it valuable. So, the question to ask is: What’s on the to-do list of interconnected enterprises?
