Here's How Big Business Will Use the Internet of Things (But Your Home Thermostat Is Cute)

What’s the Latest?

Internet-connected consumer devices are cute and come in a variety of colors but it’s how the big kids use the Internet of things that can really affect global trends like machine efficiency standards, corporate profits, and the advance of computer technology. General Electric, for example, has invested $400 million to build what it calls a “brilliant factor” in Greenville, S.C. In San Ramon, Calif, the company had pledged at least $1 billion toward developing an industrial Internet, harnessing the power of the Internet of things to benefit its research and development wing.

What’s the Big Idea?

By creating sensors to measure everything from the moisture level on factory floors to the sensitivity of certain machine parts at different points in the production line, large industrial companies like GE, Honeywell, and Roper plan to create big value from aggregating little data points. As GE’s chief executive Jeff Immelt said:

“If we can take an aircraft engine, and if we can get 10 percent moretime on wing for that engine, that’s worth billions of dollars to our customers. … And the way you do that is through material science, where we’re really good. But you have to be able to do a better job on analytics and modeling failure, and things like that.”