Advantages And Disadvantages Of IoT
In this article, we will go through the advantages and disadvantages of IoT. We all know that IoT is growing exponentially and being used in many fields like IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things), IoMT (Internet of Medical Things), CIoT (Consumer Internet of Things), and countless more domains.
IoT is constantly improving our quality of life by providing simple, efficient, and reliable solutions. Today, let us discuss the benefits and limits of this marvellous technology.
What are the Advantages of IoT?
The market for IoT is skyrocketing. The reason for this is the sheer capabilities IoT has to offer. Let us look at the various advantages of IoT:
Monitoring
One of the most dominant reasons IoT is being used in healthcare and industrial sectors is because of remote monitoring. For example, IoT devices used in remote monitoring of patients can collect various health metrics like heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, etc, from patients who are not physically present in a healthcare facility.
These IoT devices collect the data of the patient and forward the data to a software application where healthcare professionals and/or patients can view it. When you pair these devices with AI and ML algorithms, they can even analyse the data in order to recommend treatments or generate alerts.
Accessibility
IoT gives users real-time information about their devices from anywhere in the world. IoT lets users connect to the application and get information about their devices.
A perfect example of this is a smart home. For example, you may be in another country, and you can access the main door of your house through your smart doorbell with an IoT camera. Another example is when a person can switch on the AC when they are near home to cool the room before they enter.
Automation and Control
This is another mind-boggling feature of IoT is automation, where a set of preprogrammed tasks automatically begin when all the conditions have been satisfied. For example, by the time you wake up (say 7:00), your smart coffee machine can prepare your coffee, the curtains can be automatically drawn, the thermostat can be turned off, etc., you name it, and IoT can do it.
With the connection of physical objects to each other with wireless forms of technology, automation plays a huge role in IoT as it allows these devices to work without human intervention. Furthermore, IoT devices can also communicate with each other to send and receive information.
Minimising Human Effort
IoT devices perform various tasks with much ease as compared to human beings. It reduces the dependency on manual labour. In fact, the very definition of IoT is the connection of smart devices that constantly exchange and analyse data with the cloud and other systems over the internet “without human intervention”.
Time management
Time is a crucial resource, and it would be wasted when you are doing boring, repetitive tasks. Therefore, it is best to let machines take over such tasks while we focus on much more productive and intuitive ideas.
IoT is already leading various industries to quicker narrowing of organisations and numerous other domain applications. In short, IoT reduces the time factor.
Efficient Resource Utilisation
Another reason for IoT’s dominance in the industrial sector is because of its capability to utilise resources efficiently. IoT manages and optimises the usage of resources, such as raw materials, time, and minerals, which are excellent for reducing waste and offering cost-effective and feasible methods for complicated problems.
Reduction in Technical Equipment
We all know that IoT devices can easily connect to a smart system. Therefore, this reduces the usage of large technical equipment. It allows companies to reduce the number of computers, smartphones, and other technical equipment while reducing e-waste.
Traffic System
IoT cameras and sensors can also look for various traffic violations. If these sensors find any, they will run the plates of the vehicle obtain the contact information of the driver and send a notification to pay a fine. This increases road safety and decreases deaths due to accidents.
When an accident occurs, the cameras can automatically call the nearest hospital and send the accurate location of the accident sites along with pictures. Healthcare providers can process these images and even reserve an operating room if needed.
Healthcare Industry
Even in healthcare organisations, IoT devices perform various tasks like loading biometric data, robotic surgeries, billing, streamlining access to patient charts and treatment data, research, and improving patient care.
Smart Homes
A smart home is essentially a network of connected smart devices and home appliances that improve the consumer’s quality of life by offering simple, reliable, and efficient solutions.
These connected smart devices can be any device used at home: TVs, refrigerators, thermostats, microwave ovens, washing machines, dishwashers, geysers, doorbells, security cameras, lights, fans, air conditioners, and so many more.
The best part is that you can control these devices through one unit. Most of the time, it is a virtual assistant or a simple application on your phone. All these devices are connected through IoT and constantly send and receive information about the surroundings.
Tracking
Using IoT, we can reduce the number of stolen or lost assets (smartphones, bags, pets, and other valuable items) by enabling GPS trackers and tracking lost or stolen gadgets.
The same applies to pets and personal belongings. One example is Apple’s airbags. When combined with an App on our smartphone, these trackers can track down whatever is lost or stolen. In addition, we can track these objects with LPWAN technologies such as LoRa, NBC, and SigFox.
Data Collection
It is clear that IoT IoT systems constantly send, receive, store and analyse data. Using all this data, IoT creates reliable data collection with the help of access to real-time information about the surroundings. Using this data, IoT allows organisations to understand and serve their customers better.
Cost efficiency
Just like time efficiency, IoT can handle money pretty efficiently, too. IoT makes people’s lives easier by offering solutions to compact problems. IoT helps cut down additional costs and develop smart and inexpensive solutions to help industries gain a substantial profit margin.
Information
IoT easily detects problems, errors, and bugs and fixes them before the situation goes out of control. It also helps companies gather information and details about personal appliances and assets to identify their customers’ needs and improve customer satisfaction and service.
Disadvantages of IoT
Everything on planet Earth has disadvantages. In fact, it is our job to identify mistakes and limitations and make new and better products. With that said, let us take a look at the disadvantages of IoT:
Security
Since IoT stores a lot of sensitive information, hackers can attack the IoT system to access this data and maybe even expose it. Security has always been IoT’s number 1 problem disadvantage. To avoid security breaches, we can use various preventive methods like end-to-end encryption, NAC, patch management, security gateways, and more.
Dependence on the internet
IoT depends way too much on internet connectivity. IoT devices fail to work without a stable internet connection, and the tasks are incomplete. This is a huge disadvantage for people who want to implement IoT in rural places.
Complexity
Even though IoT creates simple and efficient solutions, the IoT devices themselves are very complex to handle and operate. In fact, they must always have an IT team to constantly check on these devices.
Malware
If a cybercriminal puts malware in one IoT device, the entire system becomes corrupt because they are all interconnected together in a network. This means that even if one device is hacked, your entire data from every single device in the network will be compromised!
Unemployment
With IoT devices slowly replacing humans, the rate of unemployment is increasing. Humans used to supervise and diagnose machine problems, but today, IoT is replacing even them as it has the capability to constantly motor devices and send notifications to the person in charge if there is a problem.
No International Standards
Since there is no set of international IoT standards to match compatibility, there are problems in communication between manufacturers of different domains. This is why creating an IoT ecosystem is recommended by using devices from the same company.
Reduced Physical and Mental Activity
With the overuse of IoT devices, humans are becoming lazy and lethargic as IoT makes our lives easier. It could also create health issues as there is less physical movement. This can increase stress levels in the human body.
Summary
As you have seen, even though the advantages of IoT outweigh its limitations, security remains one of the biggest problems of IoT. However, these are only a few of its advantages and disadvantages, and these limitations of IoT will not stop it from continuing to boom in the market.