The press and blogosphere are full of references to âThe Internet of Thingsâ (TIoT) or even âThe Internet of Everything.â Itâs great to connect inanimate objects to the Internet, of course. But thatâs only a first step in terms of doing something useful with all those connected devices. âThe Analytics of Thingsâ are just as important, if not more so.
This term, which I was first exposed to by analytics consultant Rob Stevens of First Analytics (www.firstanalytics.com), is useful for pointing out that connected devices generate a lot of data, and that data has to be analyzed to be useful. Itâs also true that analytics are necessary to make connected devices smart.
Take, for example, my Nest thermostat. Itâs a pretty cool device, I must say, and I can see why Google wanted to buy them. Itâs an example of TIoT if you want it to beâit works both on connected and in non-connected modeâbut itâs the analytics inside and around the device that make it particularly valuable (in addition to the cool design and user interface).
The thermostat has embedded analytics that help it decide when to turn itself down. It knows when people are in the room, and what times of day they normally appear and disappear. So itâs smart enough without being connected to save energy with little or no user involvement.
If itâs connected, you get some other benefits that often accrue to TIoT devices. Remote monitoring and control is one. When itâs really cold in Boston, as it is today, itâs great to be able to tell Nest to turn up my heat before I get home (if I could only remember to do so). I can also check to make sure the away temperature wonât freeze my pipes.
The other benefit from connection is analytics-based, although right now itâs just descriptive analytics. I can get a monthly energy usage report on how much heating and cooling I have done over the previous month, which is useful in a) determining whether my expensive Nest thermostat has saved me any money; and b) tuning the thermostat further.
In short, there are connected analytics and disconnected analytics in the Nest. Theyâre both useful, but I find the disconnected ones the more valuable of the two. If youâre creating a connected device, you need to think in advance about the mix of connected and disconnected analytics you will offer. Disconnected analytics, of course, require more data storage and computing power. Connected analytics allow storing the data and doing the processing on your site or in the cloud.
Despite the fact that the cost of communications for TIoT devices is falling all the time, it would add up to have them be connected at all times, particularly if thereâs no wifi around. So that might influence your design process about how much smarts to include in the device itself.
The primary virtue of connected analytics is that you can aggregate data from multiple devices and make comparisons across time and users that can lead to better decisions. Nest could tell youâalthough it doesnât yetâthat your energy use is high for your geographic area, which might prompt behavior change. Tesla can determine that its cars are being driven too fast during test drives, and then download software that restricts test drive cars to 80 MPH (which I was disappointed to discover, but it does makes sense for them). A municipal government could analyze traffic data from sensors in roads to determine where to add lanes and how best to optimize stoplight patterns.
Weâll learn much more about the analytics of things as these connected devices proliferate. Weâll learn how to extract the data from them for analysis, and where best to locate the analytics. Weâll learn what kinds of analytical features and functions are most helpful. For now, itâs just useful to remember that The Internet of Things is only useful if those things are smart, and that will happen through The Analytics of Things.