Howard Charney, of Cisco. CC image courtesy of ObscuraDK on Flickr
Approximately US$14.4 trillion can be realised through all the new types of connections brought about by the Internet of everything (IoE), according to Howard Charney, senior vice president of Cisco.
Speaking at AfricaCom 2013 in Cape Town, today (Tuesday), Charney said: “That is US$14.4 trillion net present value today. You can see where the money accrues from. It accrues from improved asset utilisation, improving employee productivity, and the one I happen to like is improved customer experience.”
He said innovation counts for approximately US$3 trillion of the present net value.
According to Charney, manufacturing industries benefit the most from the IoE and the second industry benefitting from IoE is retail.
“The analyses indicate that this is going to become a game changer. This is about everything getting connected to everything else,” said Charney.
In terms of profitable strategies for the IoE, Charney said it is important to realise data is not static on personal computers or servers anymore. One of the reasons for this is applications which move data between data centres.
Charney said over 20 years, a smart and connected city with a population of five million can realise city revenues of up to US$15 billion, gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 9.5 per cent, increased energy efficiency by 30 per cent, and 375,000 new jobs created.
Regarding the retail industry, Charney said it is in a state of flux.
“Retail is going to change a great deal over the next decade. Retail is going to become dynamic, the stocking of shelves are going to change in a manner that’s consistent with what sensors tell the retailer what is really going on inside their facility,” said Charney.
Retail utilising the IoE will make use of motion activated video playback, gesture-based interaction for on demand information delivery, augmented reality for “smart mirrors”, in store shopping cart tracking, and real time video analytics for improved customer services.
Charney said the IoE will connect healthcare, which is imperative for Africa. The IoE will change medical processes as well as laws, which previously limited the distribution of pharmaceuticals.
According to Charney, the main goal of the IoE is to “connect the unconnected” with a focus on standards, interoperability, reduced complexity, security, and analytics.
