The Internet of Things – why the hype?

The Internet of Things was the topic for the November Executive MBA Alumni event co-organised by GU School of Executive Education and the enterprise software provider IFS.

Johan Lundblad, IFS Sourcing Manager and Executive MBA graduate 2015, hosted the event together with Fredrik vom Hofe, IFS Group Senior Vice President Business Development. After an introduction to IFS, Martin Gunnarsson, Director of Product Strategies & IFS Labs, held an inspirational lecture on the Internet of Things. So, why the hype around the Internet of Things? And why now?

Martin Gunnarsson explained that the Internet of Things is at the very peak of the Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, a graph illustrating the visibility of new technology and applications over five key phases of a technology’s life cycle.  The Internet of Things is right now at the very peak of expectations of the hype cycle, which implies that now is the time for companies to explore new business opportunities and possible competitive advantages. Is it possible to make money on the Internet of Things and, if so, how? According to Martin Gunnarsson, there are three main reasons why the Internet of Things is so relevant right now:

1. Devices are constantly getting cheaper and becoming accessible to everyone, generating massive amounts of data
2. Internet provides standardised connectivity for communication between devices and systems
3. Cloud services are available at very low cost, providing processing power and algorithms to process data for e.g. decision support purposes.

After showing a few hands-on examples of the use of Internet of Things, such as an “Anticimex SMART” system of connected rat traps, , and mentioning the all-new Raspberry Pi Zero computer, priced at only 5 USD,  Martin Gunnarsson concluded that the current challenge is not to develop new technology, rather to be creative and use existing technology in innovative and profitable ways.

Many of the Executive MBA alumni had own experiences from the emerging use of the Internet of Things in their home organisations. This led to vivid discussions, and also to knowledge sharing, both between the Executive MBA alumni and with representatives from IFS. The event was wrapped up by a networking dinner with a fantastic buffet meal.

Thanks IFS for co-hosting this event!