How IoT is Influencing App Development

As you leave your office for the day, you tap an app on your phone and start your car. Another app allows you to turn on lights at your house, maybe even get dinner started.

Welcome to IoT, the Internet of Things, in which an almost endless number of devices we use every day can be tied together through your phone, your tablet, or even a wearable like a smartwatch. In fact, almost anything that uses electricity can be made to work with existing technology. The push now is in making that easier to do.

This is one of the hottest areas of app development today. For personal use, it makes life convenient, and that’s driving the same vision into the business world.

IoT and Energy Use

One of the areas where IOT can have the most significant impact is on energy use and conservation.  Keeping track of this can be done through an energy monitoring dashboard, allowing business owners and managers to keep track of and make adjustments to energy costs in real-time from almost anywhere. From operating a factory to turning off the office lights, apps can be developed to get that done, and as efficiently as possible.

How It Is All Connected

The multiplicity of connectivity mobile devices offer, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC, and cellular service, put them right at the heart of IoT. Given the right app, businesses can control almost everything with a screen tap. Apps offer speed and convenience that’s hard to beat.

They’re faster than going through an internet browser and a website, and they are specific to exactly what you need to accomplish. Keep in mind that as IoT expands, additional protocols for interacting with products may also be developed.

Changing Customer Interaction

Not only will IoT affect how you manage your business, but it may also substantially change the way you interact with customers. Apps are out there for almost everything, including getting the best discounts at the local grocery store. So businesses need to look at the products they produce and envision how that might work with IoT.

As customers seek more convenience and ways to streamline their lives, being able to offer IoT products and mobile apps to run them will attract customers and build brand loyalty. For example, a punch list for construction will set you up as trustworthy and will make the work much easier to track.

In the grander scheme of things, IoT is still in its infancy. A lot of app and software development has to be done from the ground up, but as IoT expands, so will the demand and development of apps.

Security Concerns

While consumers have jumped on the idea of IoT, businesses have been slower to react. Some of that is due to security concerns. In a world where your company can be run from your smartphone, decisions need to be made about how much information you’re willing to put out there, and the levels of security you put in place to keep it safe.

As with any developing technology, businesses need to begin strategizing how to make it effective and secure.