IoT and Business during Covid-19

It is no wonder that the recent pandemic,  COVID-19, is transforming the way businesses operate. However, what is remarkable is that the outbreak has intensified the speed at which these businesses are implementing IoT and digital approaches. Many companies are now dependent on these methods to continue to operate while they prevent partial or complete closures.

Many discover that IoT, digital tools, and touchless solutions can increase performance and maximize potential strategies in this process. Moreover, it can also improve product consistency, enhance safety, and create real value. 

It is worth remembering that innovative apps are not just to provide savings on short-term costs simply. They are transforming the way businesses operate.  That is expected to continue to do so even after the pandemic. It has also created a dramatic shift in most business models. 

Industries are now relying on data and analytics to forecast acute problems and track results in actual environments. Online tools boost merchandise consistency and output. Water and energy conservation are aiding businesses to achieve their corporate sustainability objectives and strengthen their brand image.

How Businesses Cope-Up With The Wake Of The Pandemic

1.   Supply Chain

The supply of materials and products has been interrupted due to a shortage of labor at work. Companies with a labor-intensive supply chain will incorporate IoT-based technologies. That will create a seamless and precise movement of products and parts with fewer human resources. 

For example, several businesses are switching to IoT storage devices, GPS paths, and digital paper-process distribution forms. IoT is strategically positioned to help enterprises eliminate the supply chain workforce and fill the widening demand-supply gap.

2. Remote Employee Collaboration

The IoT-based virtual collaboration process allows workers to work together remotely. It also encourages activities to be carried out with fewer employees on site. These modern applications offer useful output used by administrators for critical conversations done over conferences. There are also other IoT-based solutions available to leverage personnel team work remotely.

3.   Physical Distance

Sadly, some jobs cannot be accomplished without being around, such as construction, factories, plantations, retail stores, or transportation systems. It is essential to have managed settings where you know who the workers are and where they should be. Technological innovations present a way to track and help guarantee that the physical distance is by having wearables. 

These modern innovations may include smartphones, smart belts, gloves, or even intelligent footwear. These devices may have location details and background on where the employees are. It can also track how significant physical distance and safety measures are applied. 

The wearable may also send a quick alarm or soft sound and vibration to the worker when he is less than two meters away. Many of these wearables can also help to determine if a worker is experiencing a high fever.

Top management should take data-driven steps and assessments that can support workers’ well-being and productivity. Of necessity, both of these steps should help workers maintain safety while fulfilling their duties. 

4.   Changing Market Needs

Artificial Intelligence is now being used to assist with the hunt for vaccinations and therapists. It has relieved the logistical pressure of rising telehealth facilities with 5G to facilitate these initiatives further. That allows quicker access to remote meetings and telehealth visits. Moreover, what you are seeing, IoT-enabled technology can do a lot for society and in changing the world for the better.

5.   Robust Supply Chains

In the past years, supply chains have grown increasingly multinational. In the 1980s and 1990s, the European Union’s establishment, North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),  Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN, World Trade Organization, and other regionalist institutions reorganized the world economic system developing new supply chains.

Yet, long before the current pandemic, de-globalization was ongoing. They are pushing firms to intensify their transition to more local manufacturing and distribution markets. Corporations are strategizing ways to get their goods to the global market using IoT technologies. That is to offset localized costs by additional exposure and reliability in these emerging supply chains.

6.   Contactless Transaction

Smart buildings’ development is perhaps one of the best examples of how IoT in a business can aid with contactless communications in a closed environment or structure. The ideal scenario for this is the use of smart lights. You don’t need to touch the switches with your finger to turn it on as it detects movement. 

Like other motion-activated devices, businesses, and towns, smart lights can save lots of energy and budget. The light’s data can also allow better building management during the pandemic and after, making investment return more appealing. Moreover, with room occupancy sensors, smart locks, and access controls, it is easy to restrict access to any room if so many individuals or places get too crowded. 

In addition to IoT automation, voice-activated systems are another means of enabling contactless encounters. Smart speakers like Alexa and Google are becoming prominent at homes, but you will see this innovation in commercial buildings. More and more workplaces or public offices integrate voice control capabilities into their processes, such as smart elevators, coffee machines, and other tools. Connecting these machines and adding voice capabilities can create new advertisement and brand engagement opportunities and enable remote maintenance. 

7.   Manufacturing

IoT-based technologies can be used by manufacturers to restart the operation after the recession. Many of them have been shut down worldwide due to a shortage of workforce at work. 

Companies can deal with the situation by implementing various solutions, such as remote monitoring of production facilities and machinery. They can also rely on video conferences for efficient real-time teamwork, deep learning tools for virtual projects, and more. These IoT technologies allow manufacturers to guarantee the stability of operations by keeping social-distance values in action.

Final Thoughts

Many businesses have been tremendously affected by the recent Covid-19 outbreak. Luckily,  IoT technology is a crucial enabler of digital change. Businesses can use IoT technologies to transition towards an integrated work model to ensure the staff’s well-being, continuity, and versatility. It is similarly essential for companies to ensure the vulnerabilities of cyber threats. 

These threats are emerging due to the spread of IoT-based automated systems. IoT solutions are not only beneficial for businesses to restart after a pandemic.  It can also be useful after things return to normal.