The daily life of billions of individuals worldwide has been changed forever in 2020. The Coronavsirus Pandemic has brought a halt to the entire world, resulting to the loss of businesses, lives, and education. Businesses who are aware of the Internet of Things and its potentials, were hesitant to fully integrate it, due to security, cost and lack of clear understanding of its ROI.
But the global pandemic acted as a catalyst that forced businesses and governments to adopt digital transformation. Today, we follow a smarter, safer and productive lifestyle that’s enabled by smart devices and smart cities connecting better healthcare, education and communities.
The Pandemic's Impact on Business: A Catalyst for Change
The coronavirus pandemic disrupted conventional business models. eCommerce on the rise, remote work became the new normal and healthcare faced unprecedented challenges in terms of handling data and providing customized patient care. But businesses who have already invested in IoT were better equipped to navigate these disruptions.
The period of lockdown has exposed various vulnerabilities to traditional business models and highlighted the advantages of an interconnected world. As a result, we have witnessed an unprecedented surge in IoT devices across different industrial sectors. This trend is expected to grow and create immense opportunities for Internet of Things development services in the post pandemic world.
How Crucial is the Role of Mobile Apps in IoT Landscape?
Mobile apps are the bridge between the users and the massive network of connected devices in the Internet of Things Ecosystem. These user-friendly apps offer an engaging interface when combined with smartphones supporting 5G technology. From a business point of view, IoT mobiles app is very helpful for collecting data, analyzing user psychology and buying persona.
Here’s how mobile apps contribute in the IoT landscape:
a. Remote access and control
Mobile apps enable users to internet with IoT devices remotely. For example, healthcare professionals can monitor patients’ health, check important health parameters, and suggest patient care in a remote location with no medical facilities. Besides, advanced wearable devices can analyse baby’s sleep pattern and alert parents after detecting unusual patterns.
b. Data collection and insights
The best use of mobile apps is to collect data from the connected devices and social media. As a business you can leverage the collected data and make an informed decision for your organization. You can plan marketing strategies, target user behavior and gain valuable insights through your collected data. Data collection and insights have already offered its significance role in marketing and outperforming competition in different domains.
c. Personalized User Experience
For businesses, mobile apps offer a seamless and intuitive way to interact with their customers by delivering an improved user experience. Businesses embed push notifications, personalized settings and uninterrupted access to their mobile apps that encourage customers to take actions. Thus, mobile apps help businesses to retain customers by delivering personalized user experience.
Post-pandemic IoT Networks that are Reshaping Industries
Since the epidemic, the Internet of Things market has become stronger. Expert forecasts indicate that the worldwide IoT industry would rise from $336 billion in 2024 to $621 billion by 2030, following a fall in demand. It's anticipated that the IoT industry will enhance business management, create new avenues for service delivery across industries, and open up new business prospects and revenue streams.
Manufacturing
Manufacturing is the industry with the biggest market potential for IoT development. IoT networks and devices will be utilized to improve management-employee communications, streamline asset management in daily operations, and increase the efficiency of manufacturing processes. IoT networks can be used in the manufacturing sector to address persistent supply chain problems that emerged during the epidemic.
Healthcare
The Internet of Medical Things, or IoMT, has become more valuable since the pandemic. Medical practitioners can immediately gather and share data with patients through the Internet of Things. Remote patient monitoring enables healthcare providers and doctors to quickly diagnose patients and decide on the best course of action in real time.
The imaging and MRI scans can be integrated with Augmented Reality that can be used in complex surgeries. For example, Medivis is an AR headset specially designed for surgeons to provide visual guidelines to ease different surgeries like removing brain tumors. You can learn more about AI in healthcare with our recent post Key trends in healthcare software development.
Infrastructure for Remote Work
Since the epidemic, traditional in-person offices have mostly been supplanted by remote and hybrid workspaces. Employees and staff are able to communicate over great distances and time zones thanks to IoT-enabled equipment and systems. IoT devices make it simple for remote workers to work together on group projects and monitor changes made to shared documents in real time.
Agriculture
IoT is revolutionizing agriculture by providing data-driven insights that optimize resource usage, improve crop yields, and enhance overall farm management. Sensors monitor soil moisture levels in real-time that allows farmers to irrigate only when necessary. This conserves water, a precious resource in many regions.
IoT wearable devices track animal health, activity levels, and location. Besides, IoT devices integrated with VR technology can enhance milk production in livestock. For example, Russian farmers put on VR headsets to their livestock to make them feel less stressed and increase milk production.
Smart Cities
Since the post-pandemic restoration of regular urban infrastructure, the development of smart cities has increased. The widespread adoption of IoT development in smart cities is indicative of a broader movement away from concentrating solely on individual IoT devices and towards networked IoT systems.
Several multibillion-dollar contracts to build new smart cities employing cutting edge technologies are presently in progress in Saudi Arabia. The Line, a hyperconnected megacity with zero carbon environmental impact, is one of its kind.
IoT and Mobile Apps: Decoding the Connection and Benefits
Imagine a world where your coffee maker starts brewing your favorite drink as you wake up, your thermostat adjusts based on your presence in the room, or your car alerts you to a potential maintenance issue before it breaks down. This is the power of the combined force of IoT and mobile apps.
Here's how you benefit from this powerful duo:
Recently, a new wave of mobile apps has emerged to take advantage of the massive connected device tsunami for the consumer Internet of Things, which makes it appropriate for us to talk about the benefits of developing an IoT mobile app.
Automation
Automation is one of the main benefits of IoT adoption. In many aspects, the world is shifting towards IoT-enabled automation. IoT app development makes it possible to automate procedures and jobs, which boosts productivity and lowers the need for human intervention. Devices are able to interact with one another, exchange real-time data, and optimize operations through decision-making.
Predictive Analysis
Another benefit boosting the development of IoT mobile apps is predictive maintenance. The practice of continuously monitoring systems and detecting critical signs of issues before they cause downtime or system breakdown is known as predictive maintenance.
Cost saving
IoT mobile apps that reduce expenses can benefit businesses as well as consumers. IoT-enabled building management systems, for instance, may keep an eye on and regulate heating, cooling, lighting, and other utilities in accordance with occupancy and consumption patterns.
Data collection
IoT (Internet of Things) apps are revolutionizing how consumers and organizations use information to make informed decisions by playing a critical role in data collecting and analysis across a range of industries.
IoT app development makes it possible to gather data in real-time from devices that are connected, which supports data-driven decision-making. Companies that examine this data can learn important things about the success of their products, operational effectiveness, and consumer behavior.
Industry-wise Data Collection and Analysis Applications
Real-time data collection and analysis are core functionalities of IoT apps, and their applications vary across industries:
- Healthcare: IoT-enabled mobile apps can analyze patient data to identify potential health risks and personalize treatment plans.
- Manufacturing: Sensor networks monitor production lines, track equipment performance, and gather data on product quality for processes to improve supply chain efficiency.
- Agriculture: Gain insights into soil health, crop performance, and water usage to optimize agricultural practices.
- Energy: Smart electronics and appliances can track energy consumption patterns, identify areas for improvement, and optimize usage for energy conservation.
- Infrastructure: Sensors embedded in bridges, roads, and buildings collect data on structural integrity, environmental conditions, and traffic patterns to enable preventative maintenance and optimize resource allocation.
New market opportunities in IoT Mobile App Development
To outperform rising competition, enhance efficiency and focus on productivity, businesses are leveraging IoT app development services.
Here’s how IoT has created massive demand in different industrial sectors.
a. Predictive maintenance in Manufacturing
With the help of IoT app development, you can analyze and predict maintenance for industrial plants. This saves downtime and labor costs. Furthermore, here are the top use cases of IoT in manufacturing.
| Industrial Process | IoT Use Cases |
|---|---|
| Supply Chain | Track raw materials, unfinished and finished products through the supply chain. |
| Quality control | Monitor quality products, identify defects, ensure consistent quality through IoT enabled cameras. |
| Inventory Management | Track real-time inventory, stockouts and overstocking through mobile apps. |
| Shipping and transportation | Track logistics with the help of last mile delivery apps |
| Asset management | Track location of useful goods, vehicles for improved asset utilization and reduced loss. |
b. Comprehensive Healthcare
When it comes to healthcare, you will find tons of use cases of Internet of things. Right from patient monitoring to advanced diagnostics, custom software development for IoT covers entire healthcare. Let’s have a closer look at the new opportunities in this sector.
| Healthcare process | IoT Use Cases |
|---|---|
| Pharmacy | Barcode-enabled IoT apps can help pharmacists to track medicines and expel expired medicines. |
| Imaging | AR supported headsets can help doctors, surgeons and students to identify complex issues in an easy virtual world. |
| Data handling | Hospitals deal with tons of data, medical reports. IoT apps can help collect and store important patient’s data for future references. |
| Remote patient monitoring | With the help of virtual chats, doctors can provide accurate care in remote areas with no health infrastructure |
| Fitness apps | Gym owners and dietitians can reach their potential customers by launching fitness apps |
c. Smart Agriculture
IoT in agriculture has gain huge momentum in terms of productivity, time management and enhanced life-span of crops. By building IoT applications, farmers can assure optimal harvesting and improved management. Here are the use cases of IoT devices in Agriculture.
| Agricultural process | IoT Use Cases |
|---|---|
| Crop Monitoring | By using IoT-enabled sensors, drones, farmers can monitor areas with less humidity, temperature and rainfall. |
| Pest Control | With the help of IoT-enabled software, farmers can identify the presence of pests and dispose of the required amount of pesticides. |
| Irrigation | Farmers can schedule automatic irrigation based on their crop pattern, landscape and weather, saving water and time. |
| Weather forecasting | Based on IoT-enabled weather forecasting apps, farmers can know the right time to plant seeds, and apply fertilizers. |
d. Retail
Retail industry has drastically changed post pandemic, as the consumer buying behavior was switched to convenience online shopping. Clothing, footwear, and grocery are some of the areas where online retail is giving a tough fight to brick-and-mortar store owners. Besides, here are a few use cases where IoT app development is ruling the retail market.
| Retail operations | IoT Use Cases |
|---|---|
| Self-checkouts | McDonalds has installed self-checkout points to prevent customers from queues and place orders at their convenience. |
| On-demand mobile apps | On-demand mobile apps like quick delivery apps are ruling these days, to help customers buy their desired grocery, medicines in just 15 minutes. |
| Security | IoT-enabled cameras can detect thieves, and deny unauthorized access. |
IoT Mobile Apps and User Experience
User experience is extremely important for any IoT mobile apps. Right from creating compelling content to actionable buttons, a user should have an uninterrupted experience on your IoT mobile apps. Here are a few criteria that you should follow to deliver smooth UX while building IoT applications.
- Minimal design: Try to design the Mobile app with minimum designing elements. Just focus on core elements like buttons, images, content. Avoid jargons, as jargons may confuse the user.
- Ample use of white space: A mobile app should be pleasing to the eye and for that you should use ample of white space, especially around the content and images.
- Easy navigation: Try to keep the navigation simple. Add a search button or bar to help users find what they are looking for easily.
- Typography and fonts: Use suitable typography and fonts related to specific industries.
- Use appropriate color: You should use a branding color palette for clients looking for seamless branding. For other apps, you can select colors as per the industry consumer psychology. For example, select purple or pink color for apps related to women, and select rustic colors for apps related to industry. Similarly, you can select red for food delivery apps as red is related
Thus, user experience holds a prominent role in the success of any IoT mobile app. Make sure you should partner with the right IoT app development company that understands the importance of designing in this digital realm.
Cybersecurity Risks of the IoT
Just like any digital device, IoT based mobile apps are also vulnerable to cyberattacks. With the rising cyber threats, it is vital for your business to invest in cybersecurity along with the robust IoT app.
Here are few cybersecurity risks that are associated with IoT app development services:
- Data theft: Data theft is the most common cyberattack these days. The attackers can hack your data and in return ask for a hefty ransom to restore the data.
- Privacy issues: The IoT app users are dealing with privacy issues, as the service provider has to share the data with third party apps.
- In-vehicle security breaches: According to a recent study, over 50% of US drivers are vulnerable to cyberattacks, many of which take place without the driver's knowledge.
- IoT device tampering: Changing the firmware of an IoT device is a popular method of exploiting it, leading to the loss or corruption of data.
- Unsecured internet connections: IoT devices may be vulnerable to hacker attacks and other security flaws due to a lack of standards.
To secure your IoT mobile apps, you must invest in cybersecurity technologies like SSL, End-to-End encryption and multi-factor authentication. Connect with a top-notch IoT app development company in India that knows the importance of cybersecurity in the interconnected world.
Conclusion: Protecting A Growing Market
Although IoT apps simplify our lives, they are loaded with much more complexity and cybersecurity behind the development. Peerbits is the leading IoT app development company in India to deliver robust IoT based solutions to different industries. Right from IoT app designing, device selection, architecture development to cybersecurity, we provide comprehensive care for your IoT apps.
We build fully optimized IoT products for agile development, quality testing, troubleshooting and maintenance. Connect with our sales representative to discuss how we can upgrade your business through IoT apps.
