The Internet of Things can help businesses and people to become more efficient, gain better insights, and control over objects and environments. In today’s article will be explaining what the Internet of Things is by answering the following questions: **what is the Internet of Things? What are examples of the Internet of Things?** And **what services do we provide for the Internet of Things?** Keep reading and find out how Internet of Things will help you to **#ONEUPYOURBUSINESS**!
 
## WHAT IS THE INTERNET OF THINGS?

The Internet of Things, also abbreviated to IoT, is everything connected to the internet. The “things” are physical objects that have software, sensors, and other technologies inserted for them to be able to connect and share data with other devices and systems over the internet.

There are three categories in which the Internet of Things that are being connected to the internet can be places in:

  - Things that collect information and then send it
  - Things that obtain information and then act on it
  - Things that do both

The Internet of Things can provide businesses and people with opportunities to become more efficient, gain better insights, control over objects and environments and connect to the world around them. 

## WHAT ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF INTERNET OF THINGS?

People and businesses across various sectors are benefiting from the Internet of Things already. The Internet of Things (IoT) provides us with opportunities to help us become more efficient by making our environments, vehicles, and the way we do things smarter. It can save us money, time and help the environment by lowering emissions in the process. Here are several examples of Internet of Things applications: 
 
- **Smart homes**: this is big among technology companies such as [Amazon](https://www.amazon.co.uk/ “Amazon”), [Google](https://www.google.com/ “Google”), and [Apple](https://www.apple.com/uk/ “Apple”). Smart homes include Internet of Things appliances like smart speakers, smart plugs, lightbulbs, cameras, thermostats etc. Smart speakers, to name a few examples, [Amazon Echo](https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07PJV3JPR “Amazon Echo”) and [Google Home](https://store.google.com/gb/magazine/compare_nest_speakers_displays “Google Home”) make it easier to play music, set timers, and get information. Smart thermostats and lightbulbs allow you to control and monitor your environment when you are out and about and home security systems support inside and outside monitoring that can enable you to see and speak to visitors from afar. Smart home products are promised to save time, energy, and money
- **Smart cities**: the Internet of Things (IoT) can help improve pollution, traffic congestion, and energy suppliers. Examples of Internet of Things for smart cities include smarter energy management systems, security and environmental monitoring, automated transportation, and smart surveillance. Sensors installed around the city will enable real-time data of what is happening and can help towards things such as informing on available parking spaces and alerts to when bins need to be emptied
- **Wearable devices**: these devices have embedded sensors and software that capture data and information about the users, are small sized, and have low power which makes them highly energy efficient. Wearable devices can cover fitness, health, and entertainment and provide insights about the user an example is [Samsung’s Gear Fit](https://www.samsung.com/uk/wearables/gear-fit2-pro-r365/SM-R365NZKABTU/ “Samsung’s Gear Fit”) that has a tracker allowing GPS to be combined with the device enabling runners to monitor their routes
- **Smart agriculture**: IoT devices can identify weather conditions and other environmental data and other applications are able to collect data on pest infestation and soil content. Applications of IoT technologies can help farmers for instance, produce high quality produce, determine the best time to harvest, and recognise soil nutrients and moisture levels. Therefore, by using IoT sensors farmers can collect data helping them make more informed decisions, and improve workflow from livestock to harvesting 
- **Smart retail**: IoT offers retailers opportunities to connect with their customers and enhance their in store experience by using smartphones. Smartphones that use Beacon technology will allow retailers improve their customer service, track the customers journey in the store and improve the layout
- **Connected vehicles**: connected vehicles focus on in-car experience where they can enhance their own operation, maintenance, comfort by installed sensors and internet connectivity. Automobile companies such as [BMW](https://www.bmw.co.uk/en/index.html “BMW” and [Tesla](https://www.tesla.com/en_gb “Tesla”) are working towards revolutionising the industry 
- **Connected healthcare system**: IoT healthcare also called the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) can provide high-quality medical services and treatment. Technology will be able to provide real-time data enabling you to monitor patients remotely and report emergencies which can immediately inform the relevant people. IoT devices will be able to gather data such as sugar levels, blood pressure, weight, and oxygen and allow the data the be easily stored and accessed when needed helping with workflow and helping saving lives

In this new article we give you a broad overview of what the Internet of Things (IoT) is, including examples, and IoT solutions we can offer.

What Is Internet Of Things?

Following on from our previous blog post that explained what is the [Internet of Things](/blog/internet-of-things/ "Internet of Things"). In this new blog we are going to be covering ZigBee Alliance by answering these questions: **what is the ZigBee Alliance?** **How can the ZigBee Alliance benefit the end consumer?** and **How can the ZigBee Alliance benefit companies?** Keep reading to find out how ZigBee Alliance can help you to **#ONEUPYOURBUSINESS**!

## WHAT IS THE ZIGBEE ALLIANCE?

The ZigBee Alliance, founded in 2002, is the future of the Internet of Things (IoT) as it collaborates with companies to create universal standards for products to help transform the way we work, live, and play. The board of directors consists of executives from companies such as [Amazon](https://www.amazon.co.uk/ "Amazon"), [Google](https://www.google.co.uk/ "Google"), [Apple](https://www.apple.com/uk/ "Apple"), [Signify](https://www.signify.com/en-gb "Signify"), [Silicon Labs](https://www.silabs.com/ "Silicon Labs"), and [IKEA](https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/ "IKEA") etc. Find the full list [here](https://zigbeealliance.org/news_and_articles/connectedhomeip/ "here") of companies who are contributing and actively promoting the project. 

ZigBee Alliance started the project Connected Home over IP (Project CHIP) Working Group in January 2020. The project builds upon Internet Protocol (IP) and aims to make it easier for the device manufacturers to develop devices that are compatible with smart home and voice services such as [Apple’s Siri](https://www.apple.com/uk/siri/ "Apple’s Siri"), [Google’s Assistant](https://assistant.google.com/ "Google’s Assistant"), [Amazon’s Alexa](https://www.amazon.co.uk/b/?ie=UTF8&node=12728352031&tag=hydrukspg-21&ref=pd_sl_9o6br60icu_e "Amazon’s Alexa") etc. Smart home devices include things such as lighting and electrical, HVAC controls, access control, safety and security, window coverings, TVs, access points to name a few examples.

The project expects to use contributions from market-tested smart home technologies from [Amazon](https://www.amazon.co.uk/ "Amazon"), [Apple](https://www.apple.com/uk/ "Apple"), [Google](https://www.google.co.uk/ "Google"), [ZigBee Alliance](https://zigbeealliance.org/ "ZigBee Alliance"), and other companies as it will help to maximise the development of the protocol. This will also help in providing benefits to manufacturers and consumers much quicker and encourage device manufactures to continue innovating using technologies still available today. 

## HOW CAN THE ZIGBEE ALLIANCE BENEFIT THE END CONSUMER?

Upon the shared belief that smart home devices should be reliable, secure, and easy to use, the project intends to achieve communication across smart home devices, cloud services, and mobile apps to define a specific set of IP-based networking technologies for device certification. Therefore, below we convey how ZigBee Alliance can benefit the end consumer:
 
- **Improved customer experience**: the project, Connected Home over IP, will help to improve consumer experience as it will enable any purchased smart home devices to work in their home. This enable consumers to be able to setup and manage the device easier and efficiently with the preferred system making consumers confident in what they buy
- **Monitoring and controlling your home**: ZigBee enables consumers to control and monitor the home in the way they preferably want. It also allows the consumer to be easily notified with devices that alert you of anything of concern such as intruders, smoke, carbon monoxide. It would also allow consumers to be able to turn lights on and off by using the device as it enables automation helping consumers become more efficient
- **Greener homes**: consumers will be able to reduce energy consumption in their homes due to being able to monitor, mange, control, and automate the use of energy and water helping consumers to save money, monitor their energy levels,  and create a greener home
- **Low power usage**: ZigBee Alliance uses green power which provides a lower power solution for devices that need to be battery less or very low-power usage and therefore consumers will not have to worry about high battery consumption

## HOW CAN THE ZIGBEE ALLIANCE BENEFIT COMPANIES?
 
- **Easier for developers to build**: the project aims to make it easier for developers to build a device that is compatible with smart home services. This could include a proposed standard for lifecycle events like error recovery, removal, provisioning/onboarding, and software updates
- **Speed up product development**: due to developing an open source project combining the creation of the specification means that architecture can be prototyped and tested in real world use cases. As well as, adopters being able to use the same code at the end of the process to speed up the product development
- **Improved communication**: in traditional hub systems devices communicate to a central controller whereas ZigBee products operate mesh networking technology. This allows devices to communicate with one another and if a relay device or node should not work, then the devices will be able to communicate with another relay device, without disturbing the service as a whole

Find out how consumers and companies can transform the way they work, live, and play as we discuss the benefits of ZigBee Alliance and what it is.

What Is The Zigbee Alliance?

In previous articles, we have already explained [what Internet of Things is](/blog/internet-of-things "Internet of Things") and what the [ZigBee Alliance](/blog/what-is-the-zigbee-alliance/ "The Zigbee Alliance") is. In this blog post we are going to be discussing Internet of Things for the Construction Industry by answering the following question: **what are the advantages of the Internet of Things for the Construction Industry?** Keep reading to find out how Internet of Things for the Construction Industry can help you to **#ONEUPYOURBUSINESS**!

## WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF THE INTERNET OF THINGS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY?

As we explained in an earlier article, the Internet of Things (IoT) can offer businesses and people with opportunities to become more efficient, gain better insights, and increase the ability to work smarter. Advancing technology is making it easier to transfer information, communicate, and connect with the world around us, opening us up to multiple opportunities. Therefore, our list of advantages will introduce how the IoT can benefit the Construction Industry:
 
- **Increases safety**: a system of connected sensors will enable you to monitor your environment helping you to increase safety as it can detect for instance, air quality to help make sure workers are not exposed to any hazardous substances or notifying you when a worker gets too close to a piece of machinery. IoT wearables can also monitor the wellbeing of workers by identifying for example stress levels, pulse rate, blood pressure. With IoT being able predict, monitor, and prevent any issues it can help reduce the cost of accident management and improve safety 
- **Improves security**: loss and theft are challenges the Construction Industry faces due it being hard to monitor a large construction site at all times. The Internet of Things (IoT) can improve security by making it easier for you to locate and track materials or equipment by IoT enabled tags that are equipped with sensors allowing you supervise materials and equipment without physically needing to be there
- **Enables predictive maintenance**: predictive maintenance can be obtained by adding sensors to machines to communicate information in real-time about their status and if there is any need for service or repairs. This will help you to identify any issues in the early stages to prevent project downtime. It can also provide data allowing you to be notified of any damages, expiry, environment conditions, and stock supply as a few examples 
- **Building Information Modeling (BIM)**: Building Information Modeling software creates a digital version of the project based on real-time construction and maintenance data. Sensors can be integrated into 3D models of the building to create data that models things such as energy usage, temperature and much more. When the model is changed, all other plans affected are instantly updated too. IoT helps provide relevant data and when combined with BIM, it  can be shared with all stakeholders and other people involved, presenting the insights visually in a dashboard
- **Remote equipment control and Augmented Reality (AR)**: Connecting building machinery to a wireless connection will allow you to manage construction processes remotely and operate alone and in areas that could be polluted or dangerous to be in. Remote equipment control can provide many advantages such as construction hours being logged automatically and monitoring workers to prevent fatigue and accidents. IoT wearables can monitor health of the construction workers and drivers as well as provide alerts of any issues for concern allowing you to take immediate action to prevent danger. Another example is, [Google Glass]( https://www.google.com/glass/start/ “Google Glass”] which helps doing jobs to be more faster, smarter and safer through Augmented Reality which enables you to instruct employees and manage construction from the point of view of the worker in real-time and in a real-world view
- **Improves waste management**: IoT solutions can help to improve waste management as it can provide real-time waste management data which can produce accurate reports, sensors to monitor on-site waste levels, reduced recycling and disposal costs by finding more efficient routes for waste collectors, an enhanced operating mode to prevent debris pile-ups, and can identify how waste loads differ across the year. Therefore, introducing IoT can reduce the amount of waste generation and operating costs
- **Improves decision making for project management**: implementing IoT solutions can provide the Construction Industry with real-time data that can offer help in making informed decisions in things like negotiation with investors, reporting, planning, and resource allocation etc. Using IoT solutions can not only help with decision making but also real-time asset tracking, determining risks and threats, and identifying work productivity patterns

We explain the advantages the Internet of Things (IoT) can provide the Construction Industry and how you can adopt IoT into your business with our range of solutions.

IoT For Construction

In previous articles, we have already covered [what Internet of Things is](/blog/internet-of-things "Internet of Things"), what the [ZigBee Alliance](/blog/what-is-the-zigbee-alliance/ "The Zigbee Alliance"), and the [Internet of Things for Construction](/blog/iot-for-construction "IOT for Construction"). In this blog post we are going to be discussing Internet of Things for the Property Development Industry by answering the following questions: **what are the advantages of the Internet of Things for the Property Development Industry?** Keep reading to find out how Internet of Things for the Property Development Industry can help you to **#ONEUPYOURBUSINESS**!

## WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF THE INTERNET OF THINGS FOR THE PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT INDUSTRY?

Internet of Things (IoT) applications can give Property Developers new insights to the performance of buildings, energy consumptions, and even the health of workers and residents. IoT makes it possible to create smarter, more energy efficient buildings and allow individuals to be in control of their spaces. Below we discuss the advantages the IoT can have on the Property Development Industry: 

- **Supports employee and occupant health and productivity**: wearable devices such as smart glasses that combine IoT technology and Augmented Reality (AR) can guide workers especially in the construction stage with information and instructions. IoT wearables can monitor and capture real-time data of the wellbeing, health and productivity of the workers preventing fatigue, accidents, and providing alerts to any dangers. IoT-enabled sensors can also support occupant health as the sensors can collect environmental data allowing you to understand the ventilation, air quality,  and temperature levels and allowing you can make any necessary adjustments to provide a healthier environment
- **Provides predictive maintenance**: IoT-enabled sensors can provide predictive analytics allowing you to see any issues and resolve them ahead of time. They can also monitor infrastructure where you will be alerted of any inconsistencies enabling you to resolve infrastructure flaws. The IoT-enabled sensors and real-time energy monitoring help to increase energy efficiency and identify any issues in the early stages with predictive maintenance which in turn can also be a selling advantage for property owners
- **Increases energy efficiency and value**: smart devices in properties help reduce energy consumption such as water, electric, heating, air, and lighting. Implementing IoT-enabled sensors and monitoring helps to create smarter, more energy-efficient environments by enabling things such as lights automatically turning off or on when someone enters or leave a room, controlling thermostats and lighting when you are out and about, regulating how long the water heater runs, and much more. Therefore, using smart technology will attract people to use the building due to its effective building performance because it is convenient, time saving, energy saving 
- **Improves house hunting**: IoT applications can allow you to show properties without the need of an agent to be on site. It can also provide clients with a personalised buying experience as it will enable them to present information they only want to see. An example is Beacon technology, beacons are Bluetooth devices that can be positioned anywhere to transfer data through the Internet. [BeaconSAGE](https://www.beaconsage.com/ "BeaconSAGE") allows potential buyers to view a property before the agent arrives due to phones being able to pick up a beacon’s signal and provide the prospective client with a link to begin viewing the property
- **Value through differentiation**: IoT solutions in commercial properties offer innovation as it enables predictive maintenance, control over environments, and data insights to people’s movements inside the properties to help support more informed decisions in regards to collaboration and designing efficient workflows. Therefore, it allows you to provide more services, identify unmet consumer demands, and change tenant and user experience offering IoT buildings an opportunity to differentiate themselves from competition 
- **Enhances security**:  IoT can enable owners of properties to be able to view captured security footage on multiple devices without having to be at the location and lock doors remotely. This enhances security and offers a more flexible, secure, and efficient way of operating
- **New revenue sources**: the large amounts of data you collect means you can combine, analyse, and present insights for tenants or stakeholders to purchase. For example, data gathered from people moving within a building could be sold to urban planners or advertisers to assist them in decision making, making the data you collect providing you with new revenue opportunities

This article discusses the advantages the Internet of Things (IoT) can have on the Property Development Industry and how IoT can make a difference to your business.

IOT for Property Development

In previous articles, we have already discussed what the [Internet of Things](/blog/internet-of-things/ "Internet of Things") is, what ZigBee Alliance is, Internet of Things for Construction, and the Internet of Things for Property Development. In this blog post we are going to be discussing Internet of Things for the Facilities Management Industry by answering the following question: **what are the advantages of the Internet of Things for the Facilities Management Industry?** Keep reading to find out how Internet of Things for the Facilities Management Industry can help you to **#ONEUPYOURBUSINESS**!


## WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF THE INTERNET OF THINGS FOR THE FACILITIES MANAGEMENT INDUSTRY?

The Internet of Things (IoT) can help build an all-in-one environment for monitoring and managing many aspects of Facility Management and offer the opportunity to optimise employees and occupants daily lives. Here we have identified the advantages IoT can bring to the Facilities Management Industry:

- **Reduces costs**: an advantage of IoT is reduced costs and from sectors such as hospitality, healthcare to office space facilities the data collected from the IoT can find patterns in usage. The data can offer better space management as facility management can identify opportunities to release space or avoid allocating additional space where it is not needed. Energy and heat consumption can also be reduced, saving costs, as it can be regulated and provides real-time data where you can determine usage patterns and adjust when necessary
- **Improves wellbeing**: sensors and smart building systems such as [Atamate](https://www.atamate.com/ "Atamate") and [Wondrwall](https://wondrwall.co.uk/ "Wondrwall") can improve the wellbeing of employers and occupants by monitoring and managing the environment in real-time to meet their needs. This can avoid disputes about temperature being too high or low due to the environment being able to be adjusted to their preferences. The air quality can also be monitored and adjusted to help improve health, along with lighting which can help to reduce stress and strain. By monitoring people’s habits, facility management can gain insights into habits such as how long someone has been sitting at their desk or how long someone has been active for, allowing for suggestions in how they can improve their health and wellbeing along with boosting productivity by removing daily frustrations
- **Improves communication and productivity**: connected systems can allow facility managers to provide the relevant people with real-time updates. It also allows you to obtain insights into employee performance enabling managers to understand things such as the types of tasks people thrive in and the number of  tasks every team member performs during a workday. This can help understand things like who to delegate tasks to and where more training or improvement is needed
- **Improves safety**: sensor-based automation can capture environmental data and allow predictive analytics and therefore alerting on potentially dangerous situations. It will enable facility management to respond quickly and effectively to act upon the current threat without the need of physically being there
- **Reduces risk**: IoT sensors, security cameras, and implanted tags can reduce threats and theft by stopping intrusions, assisting with evacuating buildings to finding the quickest and safest route, and alerting the authorities. Technology like drones and robotics can also further improve safety and reduce risks
- **Enhanced compliance**: IoT beacons and tags can be used to identify and check if employees or contractors have the right permits and training to work on a facility. They can also assist in evacuation of buildings as sensors will be able to identify if there are any occupants still in the building, helping to guide authorities to them and assist them in finding the nearest exit
- **Improved cleaning and maintenance**: IoT sensors will be able to collect real-time data on the capacity of bins and containers to help schedule cleaning rotas and bin collection. As sensors can indicate what resources have been used and associated volumes it can indicate if rooms need to be cleaned or not and therefore improving cleaning and maintenance operations 

Embracing IoT technology can help the Facility Management Industry to increase the workforce productivity, the wellbeing of others, safety, and reduce costs from the vast amount of data it collects, allowing you to track and monitor all aspects of Facility Management.

We discuss how the IoT for the Facility Management Industry will optimise your business as we introduce the advantages IoT can provide, and the solutions we can offer.

IOT for Facilities Management

In previous articles we have explained what [GIS](/blog/what-is-gis/ "GIS") is and what [IoT](/blog/internet-of-things/ "IoT") is. Today’s article, we are going to be looking at GIS and IoT combines and answering the following question:  **what are the advantages of GIS and IoT working together?** Keep reading and find out how GIS and IoT combines can help you to **#ONEUPYOURBUSINESS**!

## WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF GIS AND IOT WORKING TOGETHER?

The Internet of Things (IoT) consists of sensors and devices all connected through the internet, collecting vast amounts of various types of real-time data. Merging IoT and GIS (Geographic Information System), a framework for capturing, analysing, and managing geographic data, can empower decision-makers and stakeholders with valuable insights that they need to make smarter decisions and strategies that can help transform their industry sector. Below, we provide a list of several advantages GIS and IoT can offer when combined: 

- **Optimises energy efficiency and systems**: smart buildings with installed IoT sensors inside can capture vast amounts of data such as: temperature, noise levels, lighting, humidity, and so on. IoT sensors can also be installed on the exterior of buildings to monitor the atmosphere such as sunlight and wind speed. With all this data, it can be used to make the buildings more energy-efficient and help to create strategies to reduce energy consumption as the information can be useful for adjusting the environment conditions throughout the day to suit the needs of occupants. Together, IoT and GIS can also be used to design evacuation systems that enable people in the buildings to evacuate the quickest and safest route as well as, locating people still in the building and assisting the authorities of where they are 
- **Enhances smarter planning decisions**: with IoT sensors installed all over cities, vehicles, buildings, roads, and highways to name a few examples, will enable real-time information to be captured helping to make smarter planning decisions. For example, it can help with the planning of cycle routes or greenery spaces, and report traffic and air-quality. Another advantage of smart cities and monitoring the environment in real-time, is that the technology is able to highlight any odd occurrences, risks, or dangers, enabling the appropriate authorities to be directly alerted, improving emergency response times and helping to reduce risks
- **Increases safety**: GIS and IoT-enabled vehicles can help towards smarter vehicles as it can provide drivers with reports of road safety, traffic control, road conditions, parking availability, and areas of particular caution before encountering them, helping to improve road safety by preventing accidents and traffic congestion. With the use of predictive analytics and pedestrian tracking, smart street lights and traffic management this can also improve the safety of the public as well 
- **Provides real-time insights and dashboard applications**: dashboards can help towards gaining answers on what’s currently happening, where it is happening, who it is affecting, what assets are available, and much more. GIS and IoT combined, enables faster insights and situational analysis resulting in better performance and action taking. Examples of real-time dashboard applications include law enforcement monitoring crime as it happens and incoming emergency calls, companies monitoring equipment, transportation, crews, and utilities can track local governments use real-time information to manage track and monitor bin trucks and bins that need to be emptied or roads that need mending or treatment and so on

Learn how GIS (Geographic Information System) and IoT combined can help you to transform your business as we discuss the advantages of GIS and IoT working together.

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