7 IoT Technology Trends to Watch in 2022

For vendors and end users alike, it is important to stay on top of the latest IoT technology trends and understand how to take advantage of advanced IoT. We have identified seven key trends in IoT technology for 2022.

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IoT Is Evolving into a Key Technology for Sustainability

Within the IoT community, the ability of intelligent connected devices to enable and advance IoT services such as environmental monitoring, area management, and energy optimization is well known. However, the business value of these services has been limited, and until now most major IoT vendors have neglected them. Climate change is driving growing interest in the environment, and demand for a sustainable economy continues to rise. IoT technology has the potential to enable environmental solutions for businesses, cities, and communities. IoT services such as energy cost reduction, remote monitoring, and failure-point monitoring will soon become the driving force behind IoT expansion. A key goal of the IoT community is to integrate IoT into a viable model for a sustainable global economy.

Example

There are many environmental monitoring services powered by IoT. Examples include Dryad Networks, or Kerlink and NetOp, for fire management as a form of IoT-based area management, and Opti for flood management.

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IIoT Initiatives Transforming Manufacturing

Engineers often tend to see technology as the solution while overlooking the root cause of a problem. Until now, the role of IoT has been to provide data for timely asset-maintenance decisions (collecting data from, controlling, and supervising machine operations). In other words, it was simple process digitization. But it is now possible to collect and monitor far more data, and manufacturing professionals will be able to use it to solve a much wider range of business problems.

Example

Many marketers see predictive maintenance as the “killer service” of IoT. Data analytics predicts problems, which are automatically fed into workflow engines. This enables maintenance and reliability activities that prevent downtime and optimize operations. For example, when BASF added predictive maintenance to a power plant through Schneider Electric, it first focused on monitoring the condition of the substations supplying power to the plant and the motors and control centers consuming it. IIoT analyzes data to predict equipment problems and enables production optimization.

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Cloud-Based Services Are Becoming the Norm

Companies are making cloud adoption a top short-term priority. Those that have already invested heavily in the cloud are looking for new ways to increase efficiency and enhance capabilities. Over the past decade, the cloud market has grown at a steady pace. The environment created by COVID-19 accelerated adoption, and use cases increased dramatically. As the cloud becomes the standard at the infrastructure, platform, or software level, the industry is expected to respond by developing and optimizing services for cloud scale and performance. This enables faster service delivery and richer functionality. Cloud adoption reduces infrastructure complexity and cost while providing greater flexibility.

Example

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, communication service providers (CSPs), including global telecom operators, broadband internet providers, and satellite broadcasting service providers, had to rapidly upgrade their cloud services to cope with unprecedented growth in demand, including new use cases such as video conferencing. They had to carry out these large-scale structural upgrades while sending home all but their most essential staff. In other words, infrastructure improvements that reduce maintenance and supervision were required as well. This became a major driver for the expansion of cloud-native services that do more with fewer resources. According to a TM Forum survey, 38% of communication service providers were at the midpoint of implementing their digital transformation strategies in 2021, and 45% of those strategies involved adopting cloud-native services.

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Hyperautomation Is Transforming Operations

Interest in AI is growing hotter by the day, and it is regarded as a key to innovation. When AI and RPA are properly combined and applied, the result is hyperautomation. The pandemic created an inflection point that prioritized worker safety and the technologies needed to support it. Labor shortages, which began before the pandemic, have become an even more difficult constraint to deal with, accelerating the adoption of hyperautomation for process improvement across production sites.

Example

Deloitte in Brazil used IBM’s AI-augmented RPA solution to automate the generation and error-checking of reports drawn from dozens of sources, connecting directly to central bank figures so that currency exchange numbers are continuously updated. The total time required to produce the reports was cut from roughly two weeks to one hour, and monthly travel expense reporting was reduced from three hours to ten minutes.

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VR/AR Is Entering the Enterprise

Work environments are getting smarter by the day, and finding more efficient and effective methods has become an important focus for researchers and companies. The COVID-19 pandemic further accelerated this movement. Beyond improving operational efficiency and quality in the workplace, attention is also turning to the development of remote operations management. This requires the convergence of immersive reality technologies and environment simulation technologies (such as digital twins) with IoT. Given that this convergence demands large amounts of data, 5G and the accompanying rise of edge computing will accelerate the development of enterprise and industrial VR and AR services.

Example

Lufthansa Technik collaborated with Vodafone and Nokia to bring together 5G, AR, digital twins, and IoT environments. Lufthansa Technik deployed separate private 5G networks at each of its two maintenance campuses. AR overlays augmenting video streams allow customers to observe and diagnose issues remotely, and the group can consult with partners around the world using AR and digital twins.

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5G Is a Powerful Ally for IoT

Consumer-focused pundits thought of 5G simply as a mechanism for faster downloads. From an industrial and commercial perspective, the true value of 5G lies in the private networks built on top of it. Engineers will use 5G as a powerful tool to improve productivity and quality.

Example

Nokia deployed a 5G standalone wireless network at Volkswagen’s main plant in Wolfsburg, Germany. Using the Nokia DAC (Digital Automation Cloud) solution, the network provides reliable, secure, real-time connectivity and enables Volkswagen to trial new smart factory use cases. Dr. Klaus-Dieter Tuchs, network planning lead at Volkswagen, said: “The predictable wireless performance and real-time capabilities of 5G hold great potential for the smart factory of the future. Through this pilot deployment, we are exploring the possibilities 5G can offer and building expertise in operating and using 5G technology in an industrial context.”

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The Importance of Secure Remote Access to Assets

Companies that adopt remote access to their equipment can realize a number of benefits. They can remotely monitor equipment data in real time, analyze and resolve issues, receive expert support, and achieve cost savings. However, as access increases, so do cyberattack vectors, and companies must increase their cybersecurity spending to address this. The three pillars of cybersecurity in 2022 are asset visibility, deep packet inspection, and zero trust architecture. Asset visibility software provides detailed information about every node and user connected to the network, allowing administrators to quickly identify suspicious users or devices. Deep packet inspection can alert operators of industrial networks when suspicious activity is detected in the industrial protocols running on those networks. In addition, according to NIST, zero trust architecture grants no implicit trust that the network is secure, strengthening defenses (by focusing on users, assets, and resources rather than static network-based perimeters).

Example

According to the SANS 2021 OT/ICS Cybersecurity report, remote access services were found to be the dominant threat vector. As the number of remote access points grows, the need to mitigate these attacks has risen sharply as well, and IoT security company Claroty increased its headcount by 75% by December 2021.