IoT Integration: A New Era of Digital Transformation

Early adopters of the Internet of Things (IoT) are more likely to stay ahead of the competition with enormous data that they can act upon before the competition understands what’s at stake. A rising shift towards edge computing is a revolutionary opportunity that can potentially prove to be a substantial competitive advantage. Organizations in today’s world operate with data and advanced business solutions within the enterprise, in the cloud, and at customer touchpoints using edge devices. These devices often create new technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT). To enable a quick and reliable decision-making process, integrating IoT devices with conventional cloud-based enterprise data is becoming increasingly crucial for small, medium, or large organizations.

The projected to reach USD 8.21 billion by 2027, according to Emergen Research, which is why it’s not surprising that numerous organizations are engaged in developing applications that support these devices. IoT integration essentially means generating a mix of new IoT devices, IoT platforms, IoT data, and IoT applications in combination with IT assets that work seamlessly in the context of implementing end-to-end IoT business applications. Most businesses have plans to deploy IoT shortly, with 82% already connected to IoT. If Google’s acquisition of smart thermostat, Nest, for USD 3.2 billion is anything to go by, IoT is set to be the next big disruptor in technology.

Internet of Things – An Abstract

IoT or Internet of Things is a suite of smart connected devices that transmit data over a network without needing any human intervention. In the consumer market, IoT technology is synonymous with products related to the concept of smart homes, such as devices and appliances that support one or more ecosystems and can be accessed and controlled via devices related to that ecosystem such as smartphones or smart speakers.

Kevin Ashton of Procter & Gamble and later of MIT’s Auto-ID Center coined the term “Internet of Things” in 1999. At that time, he considered Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) as an essential aspect to the Internet of Things, allowing computers to handle thins independently. Some of the most popularly used IoT devices are smartwatches, Fitbits, smart televisions, electric meters, smart lights, and voice assistants, among others.

The Crucial IoT Integration Scenario

Businesses are extensively relying on IoT technology with organizations now focusing on cloud-native technology that is a perfect fit for the IoT technology as it allows rapid and precise integration of applications and cloud for driving better decision-making solutions and actionable business insights. Such quick integration capabilities are incredibly beneficial in the rapidly developing world of device data generation for several industry verticals such as healthcare, transportation, manufacturing, energy, hospitality, etc.

According to the Perficient guide ‒ “The Why, What and How of IoT,” “Integration enables capturing data from smart devices and moving it into business applications to automate processes, support real-time monitoring, and apply analytics for insights.” IoT and integration are two peas in a pod. With IoT, companies are now shifting towards cloud-based systems to enable the digital transformation of the business sphere.

IoT Integration is about application programming interfaces (APIs), the logical connectors that allow applications to communicate with IoT devices. APIs access data that will enable devices to transmit data to the applications, essentially acting as a data interface or enable the application to control the device, and acts as a functional interface.

Connecting Conventional Systems and IoT Devices

Large enterprises are revamping their product portfolio and customer experiences using IoT platform devices. From edge devices, such as point-of-sale (POS) systems and retail sensors to portable devices like medical devices and wearable devices, all devices can be transformed into one giant integrated system. This deep integration can allow firms to mine the big data generated to comprehend the customers’ preferences and alter the portfolio to efficiently deliver the products and services in demand.

Challenges associated with IoT Integration

While the enterprises are actively starting their IoT journeys, they still don’t
fully comprehend the integration challenges it will give rise to in the future.
For instance, the large volume of data generated by IoT devices can be
overwhelming at times. Additionally, the cost associated with developing an integration platform to address complicated IoT projects can be financially stressful on an organization.

Businesses often face a plethora of challenges when integrating data and devices on an IoT platform. One of the significant challenges faced is the integration of operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT). It is, however, imperative that there is minimal loss of data and security vulnerabilities during the process.

Security

The majority of the firms using IoT devices in the United States have faced a major security breach leading to massive revenue losses. This is one of the crucial challenges faced by firms during IoT integration. This can be because IoT systems often fail to get periodic security updates, thereby increasing their vulnerability to a data breach and malware attacks.

Data Integration

Enterprises struggle to cope with the enormous amount of data generated by the disparate sensors and devices. With each IoT system equipped with numerous sensors, the need to clean the data by eliminating redundant or unusable data is more challenging. API-based IoT networks come to play here. They enable easy communication between smart devices and minimize data discrepancies.

Combating the IoT Integration Challenges with iPaaS

As the business landscape expands, the number of IoT devices also increase exponentially. The Internet of Things covers numerous devices, a wide range of APIs, and an enormous amount of data. This data needs to be gathered, processed, analyzed and distributed efficiently. However, traditional platforms are not equipped to deal with these needs. This is where the iPaaS platform plays an integral role.

Integrated Platform-as-a-Service (iPaaS) offers a cloud service for application, data process, and is a set of automated tools that connect software applications to be deployed in varied environments. iPaaS provides organizations access to advanced integration capabilities that allow them to incorporate multiple workflows and IoT projects. It enables enterprises to facilitate data integration amongst sensors, devices, and enterprise systems, in a way that the “things” can be used to maximum potential to automate processes to enable rapid exchange of data.

iPaaS solutions offer other advanced features like multiple-user management, usage audit logs and granular monitoring that enables seamless and real-time communication between IoT services, devices and other applications. The demand for iPaaS is predominantly driven by the need for agile platforms, fast deployment, enhanced scalability, minimal costs, and optimum resource utilization. In conclusion, iPaaS provides comprehensive flexibility while simultaneously catering to the progressive nature of the digital transformation needs of an organization.

Bottom Line

IoT has a plethora of benefits and abilities, and integration works to keep the IoT on a forward path. Capturing IoT’s complete ability needs a flexible ecosystem with integration at its core to gather and distribute data for automation and analysis.