Old products will be re-invented and whole new ventures will emerge overnight to focus on the analysis part, and define service on top of it.

Software AG has released its picks for the top trends for the Internet of Things (IoT). The overarching theme highlights the need for better regulation and security for widespread adoption.

The Internet of Things is a revolution. There will be serious threats to those who are not prepared and profitable opportunities for those who are. Issues such as security and governance will need to be addressed as IoT begins to impact more and more of our daily lives.

Software AG’s Top Internet of Things (IoT) Trends:
1. Don’t Gamble with IoT: Untrustworthy Things will be treated like gamblers in a casino – under close surveillance and approved until they misbehave. Traditional methods of on-boarding Things using explicit authorisation will be insufficient as IoT proliferates.
2. Intelligence on Things gets up close and personal: As intelligence on the Internet of Things becomes critical to decision-making, it will become necessary for analytics to reside close to the Things being analysed. Analytics will evolve both in the cloud and on the “outer edge”— either on the Thing itself or on a gateway nearby.
3. Say hello to your virtual assistant: IoT will enable consumers to adopt a “virtual assistant,” which will act in a semi-autonomous manner in the home — monitoring sensor-enabled Things to replenish light bulbs, order prescription medicines or buy groceries online. But consumers will demand assurances of security and privacy before embracing the trend.
4. Pay-as-you-go Things: The Internet of Things will accelerate the pay-as-you-go model for products. All products will be sold with something “smart” embedded within them. For example, a washing machine could be offered cheaply, or even for free, with the consumer only having to pay as it is used.
5. Wanted: mathematics teachers: As graduates are increasingly snapped up for Big Data analytics, the market will headhunt math teachers and professors out of schools and universities. Government offices of Innovation, Employment and (Advanced) Education need to wake up and take action.
6. Regulation will evolve: Regulators will learn that security attacks can come from any point in an IoT system and in unexpected ways; a bank could be breached via its smart building’s control system, or a city brought to its knees by someone infiltrating their smart city transport systems. They will have to evolve compliance and governance to provide a legal framework for IoT.
7. Smart cities tackle IoT risk: As cities get smarter with IoT, municipal governments will have to enact new regulation to ensure adequate risk management. For example, who is responsible if a smart traffic light fails and there is a multi-car accident? The city? The technology provider? The car manufacturer? Insurance risk will need to be considered in the connected world.
8. Prepare for data doomsday: Organisations will have to start building out robust, advanced solutions on specialised digital business platforms or they will perish in the inevitable data onslaught. Although 95% of companies expect to experience benefits due to the emergence of IoT in the next two years, a majority (65%) find that analysing big data in real time is very difficult to achieve and nearly 75% are struggling to get proper analytics from their current data flow, according to recent survey.

IoT is a real-time challenge; it is Big Data analysis in a pressure cooker. Old products will be re-invented and whole new ventures will emerge overnight to focus on the analysis part, and define service on top of it. Innovators and market leaders that are in the midst of this digital transformation will come out as the winners.