ATECH MSP Blog

In recent years, the Internet of Things (IoT) has emerged as a game-changer across various industries. One way that businesses can utilize these technologies is to understand how their businesses use their utilities as well as automate the control of some of them to cut costs and utilize these resources more efficiently. Let’s look at how businesses are using IoT tools to stabilize utility costs. 

In business, organizations that are able to automate processes have a leg up on organizations that rely on humans to do everything. Not only does it cost a lot less to run a business that has automated processes, it also helps improve organizational focus and efficiency by streamlining processes and removing the moving parts that can sometimes hinder operational progress. That’s not to say that there aren’t some places that a business can greatly benefit from a human touch. Let’s take a look at both sides of the argument.

By now you’ve probably heard the term Internet of Things (IoT). You may not completely understand what it is, but you know it has something to do with all those “smart” devices that you see popping up everywhere. Today, we’d thought we’d get into what types of things are on the IoT and how they can have an impact on your business. 

The difference between productivity and innovation is not always clear-cut, but the biggest one is that higher productivity naturally creates innovation… assuming it is supported by the right tools and mindset. How can technology help your business be more creative and innovative in the way it goes about its day-to-day operations?

Automation as a concept is on the rise, and so too is its practice. Even before COVID-19 created considerable problems for several businesses, it was in use, and there is no reason for it to fall out of fashion now. There are plenty of ways your organization can implement automation to improve operations moving forward.

Automation does nothing but help businesses, but can the same be said for the people that work at these businesses? With more systems relying on some semblance of artificial intelligence, smart automation could replace up to a quarter of the current workforce over the next ten years. Today, we will take a look at the importance of profitability and how AI is likely going to usher in a whole new era of human existence. 

One of the most important things that your business needs to do—especially now—is to communicate with the clients you serve. To guide you into doing so to the best of your abilities, let’s go over some tips for you and your team to keep in mind pertaining to your communications.

Most companies have some sort of human resources department. Some are bigger than others. Some are more effective than others. Typically, the HR department deals with a lot of the stuff that no one else likes to. Today, software is being created using artificial intelligence that will be able to complete many of these tasks. Let’s take a look at how automation is affecting the modern human resources department. 

Most companies lean pretty heavily on their technology. They typically invest in tried-and-true technology solutions to cover their operational problems, while trying to find innovative tools that return higher yields on their investments. For 2020, there are a few trends most SMBs are going to want to take head on. They include:

Remember when the biggest concern society had about car byproducts was regarding CO2 emissions? While reducing emissions from vehicles will always be a priority for the environmentally-conscious, on the horizon there looms an even bigger challenge that car manufacturers are responsible for. Namely, what’s to be done with the vast amounts of data to be generated by autonomous cars?

To give you an idea of what the near future of Big Data holds, consider that a single autonomous car can generate as much as 100 GB of data every single second, this according to Barclays analyst Brian Johnson. This could mean as much as 4TB of data generated by a single autonomous car each day. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich sees the immense challenge that this deluge of data presents to the automotive industry and says that it will require “an unprecedented level of computing, intelligence, and connectivity.”

Granted, autonomous cars are a novelty that few of us have encountered on the roadways, and far fewer actually own. However, this won’t be the case by 2020 when autonomous vehicles are expected to enter mass production, according to Topology. By the same year, 75 percent of the world’s cars will be connected to the Internet via embedded Wi-Fi.

While a human-controlled car that’s connected to the web is unlikely to generate quite as much data as its self-driving counterpart, these connected cars will nevertheless generate vast amounts of data in their own right--data relating to in-vehicle (such as fluid levels, speed and acceleration, GPS positioning, etc.), driver/passenger (use of infotainment systems, HVAC, seat preferences, driving styles, etc.), and environment information (such as LiDAR scanner, cameras, and sensors). All of this data presents value to groups like automakers, insurers, government agencies, marketing firms, and even makes for an improved driver experience, and therefore, must be stored and analyzed.

Contemplating just how much car-generated data this trend is on track to produce is an exercise that absolutely boggles the mind. Johnson has done the math and shared his findings with CIO:

“If extrapolated out to the entire U.S. fleet of vehicles -- 260 million in number -- autonomous cars and trucks could potentially produce about 5,800 exabytes. In other words, on a daily basis, there would be enough raw data to fill 1.4 million Amazon AWS "Snowmobile" mobile data center tractor-trailer trucks with 100 petabytes of storage each, for a convey reaching 11,000 miles long.”

Now consider that autonomous cars are just one “thing” of the Internet of Things; a trend where manufacturers are finding new ways to connect new devices to the Internet. Predictions vary widely as to just how large the Internet of Things will balloon to by 2020, being as much as 30 billion devices. In 2016 this figure stood at 6.4 billion devices (which doesn't include smartphones, tablets, and computers) and the number of new devices connecting to the Internet grows every day. The inconvenient fact remains that the sheer amount of data that will be generated over just the next few years will increase exponentially.

It’s also worth noting the glaring sense of irony to be had from generating mountains of data every single day, seen especially in the automotive industry’s push for connected cars. In that, these data centers that are constructed to house all of this information consume massive amounts of energy and leave behind no little environmental footprint. Therefore, going back to our opening example of cars historically having a CO2 emission problem, it would seem that purchasing an “environmentally-friendly” autonomous car is a misnomer, due to the simple fact that you would just be swapping out one problem for another.

What’s all of this mean for your business? At the very least, being aware of this trend means that you can better prepare your organization for the IoT revolution, already at hand. For example, if your IT infrastructure is currently at capacity, well, then your operations will experience a significant bottleneck because of it, sooner rather than later. Having accurate knowledge of this trend will also help you better plan for cloud services. By being able to gradually adopt more cloud services (especially data storage), you’ll grow your business in a way that keeps up with the deluge of data that society is guaranteed to experience in the upcoming years. This has the potential to be a make-it-or-break-it difference for your company, especially if your competitors are scrambling to keep up.

For assistance preparing your business for the upcoming data revolution, give Atech MSP a call at (888) 814-4843.

Chatbots aren’t an unfamiliar technology. These artificially intelligent constructs are becoming more and more prevalent, especially with the rise of virtual assistants in recent years. Now, with an example of this technology residing in most new devices, it becomes important to consider what it could mean for businesses as this trend continues in the future.

One of the most important parts of the medical field is maintaining efficiency and data access for both its patients and medical professionals. It’s not a surprise that the best way to achieve this is through medical technology solutions--a specialized field of IT solutions that is showing incredible growth, particularly in recent years. We’ll go over a couple of predictions we have concerning the future of medical IT, including how the field will grow and what methods will be adopted.