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4 IoT Trends All Set to Drive Innovation in the Future

Posted on by Surbhi Sharma

Internet of Things (IoT) has been gaining high momentum lately. The persistent implementation of IoT in the last 4-5 years has now turned into a sought-after trend. This technology has radically changed the way we communicate and look at the world. Connecting things like TV, AC, electrical meter, etc. to your mobile or any other smart device and operating it with the help of cloud support is something beyond our imagination. However, IoT has made it possible by disrupting almost every industry.

According to the Gartner Research project, there are approx. 27B IoT devices in the global market in 2019, which is anticipated to elevate to 75B by 2025. Besides, IoT global market will rise to 457B by 2020, which ensures that IoT is going to be a boon for the world. The continuous evolvement in technology is facilitating so many things in diverse marketplaces.

Below, we have shed light on a few IoT trends that are going to play a significant role in the coming years.

5G Networks

5G networks will have a considerable impact on the Internet of Things due to their increasing consumer readiness. Once they become mainstream, they will operate at a way faster speed than we are accustomed to and thus, enable IoT to access the locations that are believed to be inaccessible.

Also, the cable networks may work well with IoT devices in some instances, but these networks can’t match the speed of 5G networks. 5G networks are probably going to make smart cities more viable than ever before.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The IoT and AI are closely linked to each other. Let’s understand this concept with an example.

Suppose a business is planning to run an industrial network that is responsible for the processing of large volumes of data each week. Handling this task manually is nearly impossible for the businesses that want to streamline their processes.

So, machine learning algorithms will need to be implemented to record the data and recognize the outliers. The fusion of IoT and AI makes this possible, allowing businesses to learn more about the early warning signs of upcoming issues, run smoothly,  and foster their growth.

 Voice-Enabled Devices

The internet has already given voice to a plethora of devices. Now, the Internet of Things is going to voice almost everything that we possess. We all are well-accustomed to voice assistants like Siri and Alexa introduced by Apple and Amazon respectively. The voice-enabled systems allow us to perform all sorts of simple tasks like setting the alarm, ordering a meal, booking a cab, etc. with just a voice command. Car companies are also working on more vocal automobiles to add value to people’s lives.

Voice control options are going to become more sought-after over the coming years. The IoT will make life easier by voicing up almost every task and allowing people to become more productive. Enterprise technology and industrial technology will also get the opportunity to leverage these technological advancements.

Cloud Computing

IoT stimulates communication between devices by connecting them with the internet. For the successful execution of this communication process, there is a need for storing massive data, and IoT exploits Big Data and Cloud Computing for this purpose. While the Big Data saves large chunks of data, Cloud Computing ensures the security and timely transfer of the data. In brief, we can say that cloud computing will be one of the best trends in the foreseeable future.

Final Verdict

There is a lot more to the trends of the Internet of Things. The trends explained above are just the beginning of what is possible with an interconnected world in the future when the IoT devices will be widely adopted. The use cases for IoT-enabled devices will continue to grow and expand in the connected future. Since IoT devices will certainly offer more features, functionalities, and productivity from their IoT-connected devices, organizations should partner with an IoT development company to take full advantage of these unique capabilities of IoT.

4 Industries Experiencing Disruptive Innovation With IoT Adoption

Posted on by Surbhi Sharma

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an innovative technology that has touched human existence in every possible manner. It fuses sensors and devices to facilitate and accelerate the data exchange between them. With such frictionless connectivity, these “things” creates a network that is capable of smart and intelligent interaction.

The most significant impact of this innovation has been seen in the form of home automation. Besides bettering the way we live, it has also penetrated and disrupted the diverse industry verticals in a way people have barely thought of, thus offering abundant opportunities to businesses to make headway.

Let’s have a look at major industries that have experienced the IoT revolution.

Healthcare

Healthcare is a sector that has already realized and exploited the potential of IoT. Earlier, physicians used to spend much time to access and input patient data into the computer systems. However, cloud-based IoT solutions have streamlined this process radically and ensure that patient data is easily accessible across the platform and physical barriers. This convenience has lowered the chances of giving subpar treatments because of a lack of patient history.

Moreover, the IoT not only provides cloud-based solutions to the healthcare industry but also notifies the emergency unit in case of unusual occurrences. For instance, if the BP of a patient falls abruptly, a medic will be instantly reported, and swift action can be taken to overcome the situation. Most healthcare centers are already following this approach, while others are on the verge of adopting this “smart” technology.

Retail

Retail is a sector that has been impacted impeccably by the Internet of Things. There was a time when brick-and-mortar stores were reluctant to adopt technological advancements, and customers had no other way to access the products than visiting stores. Also, garnering information about customer behavior and preferences, and managing inventory were long and complicated procedures.

However, the continued upward momentum of e-commerce changed this scenario. Online stores are springing up and ruling the market now. Since most people are time-constrained, they prefer to shop for products online, and IoT is making it more streamlined.

With IoT-integrated platform, it is way too easy to send push notifications to customers, thus ensuring that you get into their mind regardless of where they are. Likewise, the cloud-based solutions, including inventory management software, retail POS software, and automated checkouts, have digitized and facilitated the management of retail businesses.

Transportation

Transport companies use sensors in their shipping vehicles to monitor their temperature. It ensures that the products get delivered at the destination in perfect condition.

IoT has partially disrupted the transport industry. The integration of real-time traffic data with inbuilt GPS in automobiles showcases the potential of IoT in this sector. This functionality notifies people about the right and less congested routes based on real-time traffic updates and thus, ensures public safety.

IoT solutions also allow people to assess their driving skills without having to physically present in the automobile. Besides, it can be used for fuel-efficiency. Sensors can be incorporated into semi-trucks and public buses to gather the data on fuel usage and cut down fuel consumption.

Agriculture

The capability of IoT in agriculture is beyond imagination. It has been anticipated that IoT device installation in the agriculture industry will grow to a whopping 75M Euros by 2020.

IoT solutions provide real-time data about weather conditions and previous trends to farmers to give them an idea of when to plant their crops. John Deere is already leveraging the same approach. The company created an iPad app having nine mapping layers that track everything happening in the field. Thus, farmers can estimate how many seeds to plant per acre, and precisely, at what distance they should be planted.

The more the farmers are connected with various data, the more the possibilities of a successful and optimized yield.

Conclusion

While only four industries have been mentioned above, many other industries have been or will be disrupted by IoT to no small extent. Now is the time when there is barely a sector that hasn’t been impacted by IoT. The kind of revolution industries are experiencing, currently, is just the tip of the iceberg. IoT possesses a lot to bring to the table in the future and industries that are adopting IoT development services and solutions now will rapidly streamline their operations and drive their growth.

A Comprehensive Guide on How to Build an Alexa Skill – An Expert’s Take

Posted on by Surbhi Sharma

Amazon Alexa is one of the innovative and sought-after voice assistants in the market. The voice interactions, coupled with artificial intelligence, facilitates everything from ordering food to setting up a quick reminder. These skills offered by Alexa radically expand the bots repertoire, allowing the users to perform more tasks using a voice-enabled device.

Voice technology has become a boon for the people and rapidly made a statement in the market Presently, there are more than 30M Amazon Echoes in the U.S. and 80,000 Alexa skills in the market. Such exponential growth has stimulated many businesses to develop Alexa skills and embrace the great opportunities brought forth by voice technology.

To help businesses leverage this groundbreaking innovation, we have shed light on how to build an Alexa Skill with a frictionless voice user interface (VUI) in the below.

So, let’s dive in..

Factors to consider while building an Alexa Skill

An Alexa skill must have a great Voice User Interface (VUI), which improves the voice recognition and responsiveness of the device. It depends on the various factors including, providing the right help and proper data to users, making skill flow feel like real conversations, and not forcing users to listen long content. Focusing on the below-mentioned points will help you to design and create the best and frictionless VUI.

Invocation Name: Invocation is used to invoke or start a skill. Alexa skills developers keep it precise, meaningful, clear, and easy to remember as users have to call the skill’s name to invoke it. Ideally, a skill name should comprise two words and match with the whole invocation sentence. For instance, Alexa, Play Soft Music – Here, “Soft Music” is the invocation name.

Intent: Intent is simply each task or function performed by a skill. Different intents are used to perform different tasks. So, if there is a skill to turn on/off the AC, it may have one intent for turning on/off light and another for adding a new user.

Utterances: Utterances are the sentences that users can use to navigate to a particular intent or open a specific stage inside the skill. Due to the variation and flexibility of spoken language in the real world, there will probably be ample ways to express a request. So, make sure to write as many utterances as possible while building an Alexa skill. For example, if you develop an Alexa skill for Horoscope and users want to know their horoscope, utterances can be:

  • What is the horoscope
  •  Get me my horoscope
  • Tell me the horoscope
  •   How’s my horoscope today

Though Alexa is smart enough to automatically understand similar sentences, it is a good idea to add multiple utterances to a skill.

Technical Aspects:

Designing for voice is way different than designing for a screen. The Alexa skill designers practice a real conversation like the one Alexa will initiate when a user gives a command before or during designing a skill.

The most important aspect of Alexa skills is that users never have to download them as they completely run on the cloud. They only need to enable them to leverage them.

When it comes to Alexa skill development, Amazon provides Alexa Skill Kit (ASK), which facilitates the development of the skills. There are majorly two sections for developing an Alexa Skill:

1.    Amazon Developer Console: Amazon Developer Console offers the best Graphical User interface for creating Alexa skills. It contains information about Alexa skills, including invocation, intents, utterances, and endpoints. Using the Amazon Console, we can also distribute skills and set a Beta Test.

2.     Backend: Since Alexa skills completely run on Cloud, they require a backend or an endpoint. We can either create it on AWS Lambda or Own Server.

a)    AWS Lambda: It provides a ready-to-go setup, and we don’t have to create an SSL secured server.

b)    Own Server: In this case, we need to have SSL enabled server running on port 443 only. We can use Flask or any other framework as a server.

The server will have to manage the JSON request from Alexa and also provide a JSON response. Both AWS Lambda and Own Server will perform the same functions internally.

Takeaway

Now, you’re familiar with all the ins and outs of how to develop an Alexa skill. If you’re seeking professional Alexa Skill development services, you can count on us. We will leverage our technical expertise and forward-thinking approach to providing you step-by-step guidance and voicing your business with a voice-enabled device integrated with the best Alexa skills.

4 Inventive Ways Brands Leverage Alexa Skills for Content Marketing

Posted on by Abhishek Kalyan

In this cutting-edge competition, it is essential to adopt emerging marketing technologies and comprehend how they can carry off annual goals for content planning. Nowadays, voice technology has gained traction among content strategists, and thus business owners are building Alexa skills to churn out useful consumer content.

In 2018, a host of brands partnered with an Alexa sill development company to voice their business, but not all brands could do well. Creating a skill without clear objectives and brand authority behind it is unlikely to yield the expected outcomes. You must have an idea of how to build an Alexa skill, identify a voice for your brand, create music and audio cues, offer relevant information, and intelligently craft a call-to-action (CTA) for your voice platform.

Fortunately, several brands have already exploited the Alexa skills as well as voice technology, providing examples of what is beneficial for this new content platform and what isn’t. Meticulously understanding what they have done the best and what they could have done better can steer your way toward launching your own skill.

Below are some examples of inventive ways brands use Alexa skills for content marketing.

Ask Purina

The Ask Purina provides comprehensive information on a variety of dog breeds. The brand endeavors to help aspiring dog owners to choose the ideal breed that suffices their needs and preferences. Users can search specific dog breed name, energy level, size, living considerations, family fit, shedding level, or narrow their search by specifying hypoallergenic using the following utterances:

  • Alexa, “tell me about dogs that are good with children.”
  • Alexa, “find breeds that are good in apartments.”
  • Alexa, “tell me about dogs that are hypoallergenic.”
  • Alexa, “tell me about dogs that don’t shed.”

Users praise the detailed and quality information provided by the skill and also seem to appreciate its integration with Amazon Echo Show devices.

Zyrtec – Your Daily Allergy Cast

If you ever had allergies, you likely understand how sniffling and watery eyes can ruin your day and deter you from an outing. Zyrtec, an Allergy medicine brand, joined hand with an Alexa skill development company to create an excellent skill that helps people evaluate pollen count, weather, and allergens in their region before they step out. It also provides a personal Allergy Impact Score that indicates users how the allergens might make them feel. The brand has played smartly by encouraging users to choose medicines for a variety of allergy issues. The overall concept of this Alexa skill offers a solid example of how content marketers create useful, relevant, and exciting voice content for their brands.

Johnnie Walker

Whiskey epicures are pretty serious about their consumption. Johnnie walker brought forth an Alexa skill for content marketing and offering options to their customers to choose a label as per their preferences, learn a little more about whiskey, buy a bottle, or partake in a guided tasting. Users must be at least 21 years old to access the skill. This skill is an excellent instance of how a brand can maintain consistent engagement and relevance while offering a piece of voice content from which consumers can garner information.

Tide – Stain Remover

The Tide Stain Remover skill is a brilliant and exemplary technique of content marketing. The brand has implemented a “stain remover” skill, with the help of Alexa skill developers, which includes step-by-step voice guidance on how to remove over 200 types of stains. It provides useful content to consumers who need support for removing a stain and establishes the goodwill of the company.

Takeaway

Before you adopt this voice approach for your brand enhancement, conduct meticulous research of the current market. This will help you garner a comprehensive understanding of what consumers need and how you can live up to their expectations. Besides, you have an additional advantage of having a glance at tactics of the early Alexa skills adopters to identify details that make as well as break the reputation of a brand.

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