News

Cisco identifies five sectors to benefit from IoE

Healthcare, retail, transport, energy and manufacturing are likely to benefit first from the internet of everything

Caroline Baldwin
By
Published: 10 Apr 2014 16:00

Healthcare, retail, transport, energy and manufacturing are the five verticals likely to benefit first from the internet of everything (IoE), according to Cisco.

Cisco’s The internet of everything: Bringing the future to life report highlighted the five sectors in the UK which are embracing the potential of connecting people, processes, data and things.

By 2020, 50 billion "things" will be connected to the internet, creating a market of $19tn. Cisco also identified that global private-sector businesses are set to generate $613bn in global profits – with $28.4bn to be generated in the UK.

The UK government is rising to this opportunity by investing £73m in IoE technology to make the UK a digital world leader.

The report was launched in the CiscoCREATE Internet of Everything innovation centre in Greenwich by a panel of industry experts and IoE watchers.

Phil Smith, chief executive of Cisco UK & Ireland, said: “The internet of everything provides the platform from which an ever-increasing number of connections will ‘wake up’ the world around us. With just 1% of the physical world connected at this time, this is just the beginning of an amazing future. As connections become smarter, faster and more insightful, we will only see more imaginative and ambitious applications of the IoE, which will, quite literally, change the world.”

The five sector opportunities

Healthcare: Cisco states that by using reliable and trustworthy communications technology, patients will be able to manage their own healthcare conditions and medical staff will be able to keep track of recovery remotely.

Retail: According to Cisco, retailers are too stretched to put the internet at the core of their strategies, but the IoE has the power to encourage consumers back to the high street. Retailers will be able to hyper-locally promote and market their business in a time-specific, targeted way, while also gathering intelligence about customer behaviour.

Transport: Smart cities will be transformed by connections and the intelligent engineering of railways, stations, vehicles and roads. Smart city and IoE technology will be able to remotely monitor infrastructure conditions through digitally connected tracks and roads, as well as gain real-time data for journey-planning applications.

Energy: Cisco believes that using smarter devices will allow us to conserve more energy, so networking our thermostats to sensors to monitor homes will help the UK become more productive with energy in the future.

Manufacturing: According to Cisco, manufacturers need to put the same efficiency into the manufacturing process as they do sales, and use IoE technologies to make disposable items the renewables of the future.

Ian Foddering, chief technology officer at Cisco UKI, said: “UK organisations, in both the public and private sectors, need to take a closer look at their current business models if they want to take advantage of the opportunities generated by the IoE.

“Three factors are key to tapping into these opportunities effectively. First, an ambition and willingness to be open-minded and realise how the IoE applies to the business context. Second, to hire and invest in the right skills to manage connections. And third, to explore what new partnerships will allow new ground to be broken for everyone involved to benefit.”

Read more on Network software