Most people associate the Internet of Things (IoT) with “Smart Home” solutions, such as light bulbs, watches, camcorders and earphones. In fact, as an emerging technology, the IoT has a vast range of applications, including household appliances, smart cities and business fields. Although there are only a few IoT solutions available for business at this stage, over 80% of enterprises have recognized this technology, by bringing great positive benefits to their operations.
IoT and Cold Chain Logistics
The Internet of Things not only connects people and devices, but also enables devices and machines to coordinate and cooperate with each other through the network. This technology creates significant commercial value for various industries and realizes intelligent management.
Let’s take the rapidly rising cold chain logistics as an example. Due to increasing public concerns about food safety and the popularity of online shopping, this industry needs a stable, reliable and comprehensive control system. Thus, the enterprises can ensure the process of frozen food delivery is carried out under specific low temperature environments, including production, storage and transportation.
Furthermore, the daily throughput of the cold chain industry is quite large, making it difficult to ensure the efficiency and quality of the cold chain with manual monitoring alone. Meanwhile, transferring to electronic systems without interconnectivity could result in “data gaps” and increase the workload of employees.
The key to improving the efficiency of cold chain logistics lies in data circulation. Based on the IoT technology, all food should be affixed with RFID tags, and the environmental data regularly recorded and collected through IoT sensors. As a result, relevant managers can check the shipment’s status and location at any time on the one-stop cloud platform. This allows for convenient real-time monitoring and system scheduling of commodities, while also minimizing temperature errors.
IoT and electric vehicle
With the climate change issue getting increasingly serious, various industries have taken part in the green movement by implementing carbon reduction measures. Meanwhile, the participation of the business sector is very crucial in this regard.
New energy cars, like electric vehicles, provide an essential direction for the green development and low-carbon transformation of the global automotive industry. Compared to traditional fuel cars, electric vehicles are more environmentally friendly with producing less exhaust and having simpler internal parts. In this case, the maintenance expenses can be saved, such as oil changes and transmission repairs.
Furthermore, electric cars can be smartly connected to the IoT, allowing drivers to perform actions such as locking and unlocking their vehicles, adjusting the ventilation system, and remotely tracking their cars’ location through mobile applications . Automobile manufacturers are also capable of sharing data to understand the vehicles’ operating status. If any abnormal situation is detected, owners will be immediately notified to troubleshoot or arrange for subsequent repair. Meanwhile, they can receive more personalized services based on their car conditions.
In recent years, the government has actively promoted the usage of electric vehicles. Therefore, the business sector can establish collaborative relationships with electric vehicle charging stations and manufacturers by uploading data of different vehicle models’ battery life and power consumption to the central cloud command center. This enables monitoring of energy consumption, reducing waste, adjusting the charging current according to the model, as well as setting the priority order for vehicle charging. Not only does this improve the management of charging stations, but also helps create a more comprehensive electric vehicle ecosystem and promotes further development of smart cities.
The importance of an All-in-one IoT solution
Even though IoT has created new business models and endless opportunities, operational efficiency can be impacted negatively if every IoT system works independently.
To fully harness the benefits of IoT, it is significant to establish a wide-coverage and low-power IoT network, which enhances the management and connectivity of IoT devices, enabling real smart business.
NineSmart has been actively expanding the commercial usage of IoT technology in Hong Kong since its establishment. The company is constantly researching and developing innovative solutions to break the limitations of inconsistent IoT communication protocols and unleash the unlimited potential of IoT and big data.
To enhance your company’s competitiveness with innovative technology, contact NineSmart technical specialists immediately to plan your business upgrades and transformation.