We need to improve the speed and accuracy of big data analysis in order for IoT to live up to its promise!

I was listening and reading the debate on IOT, and this article was layered with good amount of reality.

“As the Internet of Things (IoT) continues its run as one of the most popular technology buzzwords of the year, the discussion has turned from what it is, to how to drive value from it, to the tactical: how to make it work.

We need to improve the speed and accuracy of big data analysis in order for IoT to live up to its promise. If we don’t, the consequences could be disastrous and could range from the annoying – like home appliances that don’t work together as advertised – to the life-threatening – pacemakers malfunctioning or hundred car pileups.”

http://www.wired.com/2014/11/iot-wont-work-without-artificial-intelligence/

This follows on from my discussion 2 weeks ago around the need to avoid just gathering data, vs gaining the proportional amount of knowledge and wisdom, which brings in a term you hear a lot “machine learning”.

“Wikipedia defines machine learning as “a subfield of computer science (CS) and artificial intelligence (AI) that deals with the construction and study of systems that can learn from data, rather than follow only explicitly programmed instructions.”

“The realization of IoT depends on being able to gain the insights hidden in the vast and growing seas of data available. Since current approaches don’t scale to IoT volumes, the future realization of IoT’s promise is dependent on machine learning to find the patterns, correlations and anomalies that have the potential of enabling improvements in almost every facet of our daily lives.”

In the industrial world this more applicable than nearly all industries, and in many cases we are already applying “machine levels” at different levels. A key part in the shift from “Information” to “knowledge” is having the tools to drill into historians based on events and discover learnings and patterns. Once validated and discovered these are turned into “self-monitoring” conditions to understand the current state of the device, and predict / recognize conditions well before they happen. Providing the “insight” to make awareness and decisions where the machines/ devices are telling you where the opportunities are. But a key part of machine learning is that this knowledge in not a once off step, it is a continuous evolution leveraging the gathering history data and developing increased amounts of knowledge.

The next step is to then apply proven or recommended operational processes to these decisions, so as a condition is recognized by the devices, either they take an action automatically or they recommend the action to the user in a timely manner with escalation. A key transformation IoT brings is the increased speed at which trustworthy knowledge is made available for actionable decisions to taken.
I like this phrase:


 “It’s time to let the machines point out where the opportunities truly are.”