Office Document Strategies Blog

Business Operations Are Part Of Internet Of Things

Posted by Lee Kirkby on Wed, Nov 21, 2018 @ 07:11 AM

When we hear about the Internet of Things we usually think about video doorbells, electronic locks, Alexa, Google Home, automated lighting, connected appliances and the many other ways that the world wide web has impacted consumer life styles. IofT Internet of Things Smart City

Every new car has multiple ways to connect to various smart phones and other mobile devices.  You pay for things in stores with your cell phone payment app or by tapping your card without any need to input credentials or pins. Cameras are now WiFi enabled and able to automatically upload to network connections with massive picture sizes now the norm rather than the exception.

These rapid changes in connectivity are all part of the Internet of Things the massive network of billions of individual devices and components that make it easier and faster for transactions to be handled and small incremental activities carried out.

If you want an interesting personal adventure, just take the time to think BOUT or record each one of those interactions for a single day.  I expect you will be astonished by just how often you make use of one of these conveniences.

This is the expanding world of consumer interaction today.

Business has its own ways of using Internet of Things

For business the growth of this type of connection has not been as obvious and perhaps not explained using the same kind of language, but the parallels to the consumer transaction and device impacts certainly are there.

  • Banking interaction has become virtual for most businesses with online balance management, account analysis and monthly balancing all being norms.
  • Electronic funds transfer for payables and receivables is common.
  • Payroll management has become an online service industry that is very common.
  • Security management for building access and control is a 24/7 process which permits remote monitoring and management.  
  • Likewise for personnel access and control.
  • In the business hardware field remote and internet connectivity is changing the way that service planning and supplies management is undertaken.  New tools are giving fleet managers better data to help make better equipment matching choices.

IT management has long been a field where remote connections and outsourced services have been well established.  Virtual IT departments provide full levels of operational support for many industries.

IT security software for malware management, spam control, network intrusion protection and for offsite remote backup is well entrenched in the industry.  All of these are areas where the omnipresent internet connectivity has enhanced the ability for the products to work and helped to keep the costs associated with them under control.

In workflow management the ability for relatively low cost software packages, often offered on a hosted basis, to streamline transaction processing in a variety of ways helps keep business processes running.

Document control and management through interconnected services also helps deal with the massive amount of information that even a small business can generate.  Services like the DocuCapture service offered by Leppert have helped many businesses solve small and large challenges with low overhead and limited need for IT sophistication.

The Internet of Things is a continuously expanding range of tools, devices, connections and solutions which offer the means for small and large problems to be addressed.  Businesses who look to these kinds of solutions find that they can effectively enhance their operations with lower investment costs than they might expect.

What is your nagging challenge you might like to solve?  Take a look to see what the IofT might offer you.

Lee K

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Topics: business processes, Multifunction Printer support, IT connectivity, automation, malware, it security