Mobile phone manufacturer Ericsson estimates that 22 billion devices will connect to the internet by 2022. The vast majority of them, 18 billion, will connect to the Internet of Things, or the IoT. Smart speakers, appliances, and other home IoT devices are already changing the lives of consumers around the world.
At the same time, however, companies are only just beginning to harness all the data coming out of the industrial robots, assembly lines, sensors, and other equipment they operate. The payoff for doing so is potentially enormous as it can lead to better products, more efficient businesses, and a lot more.