When I was a kid, I wished I had that computer from Dexter’s Laboratory. It used to be the coolest thing I had ever seen, still is. I mean Dexter’s Computer used to manage his entire laboratory, responded to voice commands, got the tasks done efficiently and effectively, kept track of all activities inside and outside the lab, and even made a sandwich for Dexter once.
A couple of decades ago, this magical computer seemed like something that we could only see on cartoon television. As we grew up, everything we saw on television turned out to be false, dashing our dreams and fantasies, well except for one thing, and that’s our Computer! Thank god, we have real Dexters in this world, so now we can get our own intelligent devices i.e. Internet of Things (IoT) to do our bidding in our homes and offices.
Internet of Things (IoT) entails physical objects (excluding desktops, smartphones, and laptops) in daily use that can connect wirelessly to the internet, talk to each other without needing any human interaction in order to automate tasks in homes and offices. In the first quarter of 2018, we saw a rapid acceleration in the use of IoT devices; the number rose up to 7 billion. By 2025, we anticipate to have 21.5 billion IoT devices in use.
IoT is quickly revolutionizing the way we work: automating, optimizing and data gathering, just like Dexter’s Computer, and we don’t even have to be there in order to monitor it. This smart tech can help both big and small enterprises by giving a humongous boost as far as expediting their daily tasks. More than 70% of executives and business owners have attributed their revenue boost and cost-savings to IoT. If you want to be one of those business owners, keep reading and find out how.
- Sensors Make Business Sense
These sensors are utilized to track activity around an office. You can use them not only for security purposes or measuring the temperature, but also to improve the overall productivity level in an office environment. A workplace sensor helps you find an available workstation, desktop or laptop, particularly when your office is buzzing with activity at all times. These sensors can help monitor activities everywhere in the office enabling them to identify which room is congested or available. Assessing the data gathered at the individual level can help provide insights into your employees’ needs, wants, and performance, not to forget workplace patterns and productivity, hence, ensuring the operations run without any hassle.
- Make Temperature Smart
Thermostats are responsible for half of your energy bill. So it is essential for your thermostat to be smart. A Smart thermostat determines if the room is vacant or in use, so it can save energy. Often in offices, at least one employee complains the temperature is too low or too high. Smart thermostats can adjust the room temperature to ensure everyone’s comfort. They are automatically programmed and can be managed by voice commands or an AI assistant.
- Smart Locks Block Risks
As a business owner, it’s difficult to find a trustworthy employee, who would take care of your business in your absence just like you do. When you’ve to take a sudden day off from the office, your business cannot be closed for the day. Thus while you’re away, you anxiously wonder if your employees are fulfilling all the assigned responsibilities. One of those duties is of the employee designated to keep the office key, one who would open and close the business on time and ensure its security.
But with Smart locks, you don’t have to worry about security at all. You can even connect a Smart lock to your smartphone to see who entered and left the premises and if the office was left open after hours. With Smart locks, if a person leaves your employment, you can revoke their access and you are also able to create new keys for any freshly employed individuals. Your business security will be literally at the tap of your fingertips.
- Tag Them, Catch Them
Did your former employee return the laptop that was assigned to him? Keeping track of all your office equipment can be a nightmare. Make it easy; get real-time information on your equipment with Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags. These tags enable you to track the movement of your assets or merchandise at all times.
If you’re a retailer, these trackers will prove to be a gem for your business. They automatically update your inventory according to what needs to be reordered, how many are sold, how many are still in inventory, etc.
- Robot Vacuum Saves the Day
With dozens of employees running amok every day, it is hard to keep the office clean at all times. No matter how many times you instruct them on keeping the place clean, there is always someone with filthy shoes. It gets really embarrassing when you have customers over. After all, a regular cleaning service is so expensive, but your office needs to make a good impression too.
Smart Robot Vacuum cleaner can take care of your everyday cleaning. No matter how many times the floor gets dirty, your robot is there to clean the mess. You can even schedule cleaning time through Outlook.
- Keep an Eye with Smart Camera
While you’re away from your business, you must have often wished you had one more pair of eyes that you could keep at the office. We may have an even better solution for you: a Smart camera. It may be a bit high-end, but it comes with a huge amount of cloud storage and can record high-definition footage so that you don’t have to squint and re-watch the footage a million times to identify someone. But on the condition that you have a stellar internet connection. So make sure you have a reliable internet service provider; in any case you must never take internet services lightly, after all, all your IoT devices now rely on it. These deals and bundles provided by various popular ISPs and your Smart camera together, will prove to be much cheaper than a standard set-up of CCTV.
- Even your Notes are Smarter
Every office is incomplete without sticky notes since Dr. Silver invented them. Need a reminder? Put up a sticky note. Schedule an appointment? Sticky notes. Motivational quote? Sticky notes! But, these tiny notes have a tendency to get lost, someone can easily mess with them too. That, and also if you dislike clutter, Smart Notes are here to put it all to rest.
They come as a compact electronic paper-like device, which allows you to share your notes with someone else. And of course, edit them remotely through your smartphone.
- Give a Smarter Presentation
If you want to make smart presentations, Smart projector is a must. It’s a blessing when you are a mobile person and you need to quickly make a presentation to your client. You can carry this Smart projector in your pocket, just pop it in front of a light bulb and ta-da! Your presentation is on display. You can even display videos via this projector. Make your presentations and meetings hassle-free.
Be smart like Dexter, automatize your business office and streamline your workplace. IoT is here to fulfill our fantasies since we watched Dexter’s Laboratory; capitalize on it to make headway into your business efficiently and effectively. Although IoT hasn’t begun making sandwiches, that day may not be far either.
