Q 3.1 Discuss the Internet of Things and how it will affect businesses in South Africa. Identify a sector in the industry and detail how it will be impacted.

Internet of things image. [Online] https://www.pinterest.com/pin/307089268327068231/ [Accessed: 18 April 2017].

The Internet Of Things

This refers to a device or thing that is connected to the internet.  It is fast growing and it is already happening.  It is happening at a slow pace in South Africa, however, it is about to change very quickly over the next few years.  People want better service and cost efficiency, and IOT offers that kind of service. Let us look at the hospitality sector, i.e. restaurants.

According to the writer (Commerce, A, 2016), IOT devices and sensors are being used in restaurants to monitor health and safety, heating and cooling systems, ovens, refrigerators, deep fryers, etc.  This sort of monitoring saves time, money and reduces human error.  Wireless transmitters are being placed at restaurant tables, where you can place your order, ask for service, the bill etc.  In the future, these will be replaced by actual robots.

The way of the future is very overwhelming and it has its advantages and disadvantages.  There will definitely be more job losses with robotics taken over certain industries and jobs, in the future. However, I foresee no human has to ever work again.  Resources will always be there, so no one has to pay for anything because things will be freely available.  Robots will be able to manage themselves and systems, e.g. when the robots battery is running low, they will be programmed to go to a charging station to charge themselves and automatically another robot would then fill its place.  The possibilities are endless. According to the writer (Sannapureddy, BR, 2015), before we get to this sort of level, disadvantages like, safety, hacking and privacy would all be areas of concern.  IOT is a very complex system and we have become over-reliant on technology.




References:

Avanti Commerce. 2016. Connected Tech: The Internet Of Things In The Restaurant Industry. [Online]. Available at: http://www.avanti.com/blog/connected-tech-internet-things-restaurant-industry/ [Accessed 17 April 2017].

Pros And Cons Of The Internet Of Things. 2015. [Online]. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/pros-cons-internet-things-iot-bhaskara-reddy-sannapureddy [Accessed 17 April 2017].