“In god we trust. All others must bring data,” said statistician, professor and author W Edwards Deming.
Internet of Things (IoT) is integrating the digital world with the physical one through real-time data available from digital systems linked together. Any device that can be connected to internet can be a part of IoT and thus a network is formed for exchanging real-time data.
IoT has the capability to change our lives and the world though it is still at too nascent a stage for us to experience its full impact. This is just the beginning of a great transformational journey. Reports say that around 60 billion devices will be connected through IoT by 2020.
Impact on IT sector
Why do we need to connect so many devices? What value does it add, professionally or personally, to the businesses or to the economy as a whole? IoT is much more than devices notifying each other to help ease our lives. It is set to be a trillion-dollar industry by the end of this decade, which is why it is often referred to as the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’.
Let us first understand how IoT is changing the business landscape worldwide. IoT can be used to store data via cloud that can be used to make business decisions. This is where data analytics comes into play. It’s the next big leap in productivity because major advantages can be derived from the acquisition and organisation of previously unthinkable amounts of data.
The automation systems and applications available today are complex and cumbersome to develop. Each new device requires a high level of customisation and maintenance just to perform basic tasks. Connecting disparate devices and systems entails engineering complexity because of diverse networks where data is stored, incompatible IP address schemes, different data formats, innumerable operating systems, and more. This is why companies see a lot of benefits in using IoT.
According to a report by Infosys and consulting firm Zinnov, Indian IT firms are likely to lose about 70,000 jobs until 2021 even if they corner a large chunk of the market for services related to IoT. This is apart from the thousands of jobs that experts in the industry expect will be lost due to automation in IT, which will predominantly impact unskilled and blue-collar workers. To quote Robert Cannon, internet law and policy expert, “Everything that can be automated, will be automated”.
Though the advancement of the IoT economy and automation is likely to cut jobs, it will also lead to the emergence of new hybrid verticals. These will create jobs that every business is already familiar with, such as product managers, data scientists, maintenance engineers, user experience designers, product specialists and sales managers. Other positions that will also flourish include marketing specialists, product designers, researchers and business experts. The jobs that will thrive in the near future are those that rely on certain human attributes such as the ability to interact and adapt to various situations and problem-solving skills.
At what cost?
From a macroeconomic perspective it seems far more dangerous, but it’s still too early to tell whether automation will replace or replenish jobs. According to McKinsey Global Institute, about five per cent of total jobs could be wiped out. Mining workers, drivers and factory workers will be affected the most but those who have computer skills will be retained.
Also, the tech industry is hiring talent at a growth rate of three per cent every year. Changes due to IoT will create macroeconomic disruptions but, as we’ve witnessed in the past three industrial revolutions, new jobs will be created to absorb this labour, especially as a result of the innovations and revolutionary changes. This will create a shift in the demand curve of the labour force.
Everyone must hope that the cost of losing jobs isn’t too much as there are many benefits to IoT and automation such as lower cost and enhanced functionality, automated adjustment, reduced troubleshooting, streamlined commissioning, maximised uptime, and modular integration, which will lead to the better utilisation of resources at organisations.