The Internet of Things – Disruptive Technologies that will Transform our Lives

A few years ago, I visited a commercial printing firm in the United Kingdom to conduct a Voice of the Customer site visit. While interviewing a senior executive, I introduced the topic of emerging technologies and the future of the “printed piece,” and started to listen.

Not surprisingly, he said the writing was on the wall for printers. The Internet was changing everything. With customers moving toward digital media in place of print on paper, demand for the “printed piece” was way down. Printers were scrambling to survive. The competitive environment was, in short, “scary.”

While listening to his story of low demand, reduced revenues, and layoffs, I was struck by the surprisingly positive energy in his voice. I probed. Our conversation turned to RFID and the possibility of using radio frequency to track products as they moved through their lifecycle. RFID was opening up a whole new world of substrates to print on. They were thinking of creating supply chain helpers by printing RFID tags on various products to facilitate routing, inventorying, and loss prevention. This executive felt RFID represented a growth business that would transform his company. He was right.

Since that time, technology has evolved. The trajectory and merging of technologies such as geo-positioning, miniaturization, power management, software, and sensor networks along with RFID tagging presents us with a fascinating scenario. A new buzz phrase, the “Internet of Things,” is being used to describe a world in which everyday objects are readable, recognizable, locatable, addressable and even controllable via the Internet.

According to the National Intelligence Council , the “Internet of Things” is one of the 6 disruptive technologies that will transform our world over the next 15 years. View the full report here.

So what are some possibilities when the Internet of Things becomes reality?

• Vehicles will collaborate with each other to avoid collisions.


• Prescribed medicines will detect when (or whether) they are consumed, providing feedback on compliance or the need for refills.


• Hospital beds will detect biological indicators in patients and alert medical staff as needed.


• Soldiers will rapidly determine maintenance needs on devices by scanning them.


• Foods will communicate their entire lifecycle, redefining quality and food safety systems.


• Smart golf balls interacting with smart golf clubs will help players optimize their shots.


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  Appliances, furniture, entertainment systems, machinery, and more will be networked, locatable, communicative, and controllable.

When will we see the changes?

We are starting to right now. We already have cell phones as geo-location web devices. They will morph into “windows on everyday things” and become our primary personal interface for control, monitoring, and locating things. By 2015, the ubiquitous positioning of people and everyday objects will be available. By 2020, we will monitor and control objects through the Web. By 2025, Internet nodes will reside in everyday things.

This new world will create vast opportunities in every industry. As innovators we need to ask, what are the possibilities? What new customer needs will emerge? How can we create advantage for our firm as these technologies evolve?

How will you take part?