УДК 004

Digitalization of business processes in organizations using IoT

Калтаев Ермек Бекмухамбетович – студент Международного университета информационных технологий (г. Алматы, Республика Казахстан)

Abstract: People try to automate processes to use resources (time, human resources, material resources etc.) efficiently and digitalization is one of the most suitable solutions to achieve that. Organizations also try to digitalize their business processes to become effective, competitive, and modern. The Internet of Things (IoT) took a major role in digitalization process by providing structured, efficient, reusable, and modular solutions. Almost all aspects of our everyday life are somehow related to IoT. The following article presents possible applications of IoT in organizations willing to digitalize their business processes.

Keywords: Digitalization, Internet of Things, Process Automation, Business Processes, Digital Solutions, Cloud Computing.

Introduction

Every organization has internal and external processes to organize systematic workflow. With the help of IoT and digital solutions these processes can be automated. For example, human resources department does routine work during the hiring process:

  1. Vacant position appears.
  2. Prepare requirements for the position.
  3. Post the vacancy.
  4. Collect and process applications.
  5. Organize interview.
  6. Make offer for selected candidates.
  7. Onboarding process if the offer accepted.

The hiring process above can be automated by providing digital solution based on IoT. The possible solution to partially automate this process is web portal for candidates and HR managers [4]. Candidates would have opportunity to see open vacancies and apply for them by uploading all necessary information. HR managers can explore CVs and schedule interviews for selected candidates. The web portal allows organization to digitalize and systematize hiring process. Furthermore, the web portal can be used not only for hiring process, but organization may also develop their web portal further and add features. For instance, employees’ profile, where every employee can see personal data, work with documents, etc. It is not the only example where digital IoT solution can organize business processes, thus other processes can be fully or partially digitalized.

There are many common benefits applying IoT into the organizations [3]:

  • Backup of the data. IoT uses cloud computing to store data, therefore all necessary data are stored in a secure and flexible storage. In addition, users can access data from various devices if IoT is based on cloud computing.
  • Further data analysis. Modern IoT systems use artificial intelligence to enhance the analysis of data.
  • Partial or full automation of processes. Routine work can be organized and accomplished by IoT systems, using trained algorithms and
  • Increase of quality of customer or internal services. Well organized and effectively applied IoT solutions will definitely make organizations’ internal and external processes better and more effective.
  • Effective use of resources. Again, efficiently applied IoT system can help organizations to decrease their expenditures. This involves material, human, time, and other resources.

Most of the common processes have existing solutions and companies are using them on daily basis. However, specific internal processes need more investigation and analysis to develop digital solution with the help of IoT. These processes in most cases are private and not applicable in other organizations. Therefore, it is organizations’ responsibility to decide whether they are ready to develop internal digital solution, because in some cases costs of the digital solution might be much higher than its profit.

Background information

IoT is closely related to the cloud computing concept because cloud computing allows IoT solutions effectively manage data. To understand how does cloud computing concept helps to IoT based solutions it is required to differentiate cloud computing infrastructure and understand how they work under the hood. Cloud computing infrastructure divides into three main types of services [2]:

  • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS);
  • Platform as a Service (PaaS);
  • Software as a Service (SaaS).

IaaS provides various resources for organizations such as networking, physical storage of data, computing power and other services. Businesses can easily access these resources on-demand via network without managing and placing necessary hardware on their side. Examples of IaaS are Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, DigitalOcean, etc. However, organizations should understand that IaaS systems are not fully secure since hosts of those systems can be “infected” internally. Therefore, customers of IaaS deal with that risk.

PaaS is almost identical to IaaS, but it provides platforms for software development. Platforms can be delivered via network, which allows developers to focus on development process rather than maintaining necessary software. Heroku, OpenShift and Windows Azure are the most popular PaaS systems. PaaS has some limitations:

  • PaaS systems offer ready-to-go solutions, which cannot be changed or integrated to customers’ systems based on their needs.
  • Dependence on technical solutions chosen by the vendor. In the last decade technical stack updates year-by-year and there is a risk that vendor will not update its hardware/software to support modern technologies.
  • Hardware limitation. PaaS systems have their own limitations because they cannot provide unlimited and powerful solutions to customers. Thus, customer’s business may overgrow what PaaS offers to them and further change of platform would cost a lot.

The most common cloud computing infrastructure is SaaS, which delivers ready-to-use solutions via the internet. SaaS applications are easy to use because most of them can run through customers web browser. SaaS saves customers resources (time, money, human resources, etc.) by taking responsibility for system management, maintenance and updating. There are many SaaS services, which are used by millions of people on a daily basis: Dropbox, GoToMeeting, Google Workspace, etc.

Possible applications of IoT

In the next sections IoT based digital solutions will be described with their applications in different areas of business. There are many spheres where routine work or business processes can be processed by IoT based solutions.

Healthcare industry

Healthcare sector takes a major part of customer service in each country. Various IoT solutions can greatly affect the degree of the digitalization of this sphere. RFID is the commonly used hardware since it has low expenditures and high efficiency. RFID tags can help to monitor patients without going to hospital. There are many diseases which requires daily monitoring and with development of taking analyzes at home the potential of RFID tags will vastly increase. Cloud computing concept helps to implement such service. There would be one data center with all necessary information about patients and hardware, which can read data from RFID and send it to the data center.

Another possible application of RFID is related to drugs and medical devices delivery process. Manufacturers can use RFID tags to protect their goods from counterfeit. It is simple process to automate:

  • Manufacturer saves data, which proves product’s originality, to the RFID tags. Then, sends that information to remote server, which lets distributors to check scanned data after delivery.
  • Manufacturer adds RFID to batch of drugs with all necessary information, which proves that it is original product.
  • Then, distributors scan those RFID tags and confirm the receipt.
  • If the batch does not have RFID tag or received data from the RFID scan is incorrect, then it is clear that it is not original product.

Moreover, RFID tags can be helpful during transportation of pharmaceutical product because most of them require specific conditions (humidity level, temperature, etc.) to save their properties [1]. The combination of sensors and RFID tags allows to periodically store data from sensors. Recipients then can scan RFID tags and detect whether the necessary conditions were kept or not. 

Digitalized business process described above is clear and do not need a lot of money. Again, SaaS or PaaS can help to manage data about RFID tags, which allows both, manufacturers, and distributors to work efficiently.

In recent years, manufacturers of smart watches and detectors/sensors connected them to the network. Modern smart watches can monitor owner’s heart rate, oxygen saturation rate and other data related to owner’s health. Collecting those data is crucial for people with diseases because smart devices can send SOS messages or directly call local ambulance. GPS takes important role in that process since it shows person’s exact position.

Marketing, entertainment industry

Targeting is an important part of marketing sphere, which allows to deliver information about goods and services for potential customers. Bluetooth technology allows to share data in a small area and in last decade Bluetooth Low Energy technology (BLE) has been developed. BLE allows to use hardware devices, which can communicate with other devices, which supports Bluetooth. In the last decade beacons became one of the best solutions to use all advantages of BLE. Beacon is a hardware with only one process – send data, which can be received via Bluetooth [6]. It is suitable for promotions, news, ads, and other types of marketing information. To use beacons in efficient way, business side should create ecosystem, where the beacon would connect business with potential customers and the most appropriate solution is a mobile app. Beacon owners add all necessary information to beacon, and customers receive those messages through their smartphones. Beacons can be integrated into many businesses to increase revenue. Organizations are free to use beacons in various ways to digitalize their business and internal/external processes.

Transportation

With the help of IoT devices providing real-time GPS positioning, transportation companies can collect data about packages and process it further. Furthermore, companies can analyze their employees (drivers) by calculating average speed, fuel consumption rate and other numerical data, which then can be analyzed [5]. For example, employer can easily detect employees driving style based on those data. Tracking can be helpful to customers too. Usually, information about packages is updated, when the package reaches specific places: customs, sorting centers, airports, etc. However, time difference between two consecutive places can take a long time and as a result customers have only limited information about their shipments. GPS trackers allows customers to track their packages in real time and estimate package’s delivery time based on the current position. As a possible solution, PaaS system can be developed, which includes both sides, transportation companies and customers.

Self-driving cars development is another area of interest, where companies spend a lot of resources to deliver an innovative product. Self-driving car’s movement is based on data gained from numerous sensors, radars, cameras, etc. All the necessary information is continuously gathered and processed using modern IoT solutions. As a result, self-driving cars can substitute people in some jobs such as taxi drivers, couriers, truck drivers and other delivery/transportation related jobs. Using self-driving cars decreases business’ expenditures and digitalize some processes.

Conclusion

Digitalization process takes an important role in modern business processes by reducing their expenditures and increasing efficiency. IoT helps to implement digital solutions by providing useful infrastructure, platforms, and ready-to-use software. Moreover, the combination of IoT based solutions with cloud computing concept allows business side to effectively manage and analyze data. As it was discussed in previous sections, various IoT based solutions can be applied in many spheres: healthcare, media, marketing, and transportation. All of them use different technologies with the help of some sort of hardware to collect data and process it. Described applications are not limited and can be used in other fields. For example, IoT can be applied in the following areas: agriculture, education, construction, manufacturing, etc. Therefore, more research and investigation are needed to use all power of IoT to digitalize more business processes.

References

  1. Transport of Pharmaceutical Products: Shiphub knowledge base. ShipHub. (2020, August 6). Retrieved December 7, 2022, from https://www.shiphub.co/transport-of-pharmaceutical-products/.
  2. Watts, S., & Raza, M. (2019, June 15). SAAS vs paas vs iaas: What's The Difference & How to choose. BMC Blogs. Retrieved December 7, 2022, from https://www.bmc.com/blogs/saas-vs-paas-vs-iaas-whats-the-difference-and-how-to-choose/.
  3. Alam, Tanweer. 2021. "Cloud-Based IoT Applications and Their Roles in Smart Cities" Smart Cities 4, no. 3: 1196-1219. https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities4030064
  4. (2022, August 11). Impact of using IOT on recruitment. DigiDigital Placement. Retrieved December 7, 2022, from https://digidigitalplacement.com/impact-of-using-iot-on-recruitment/
  5. 5 major applications of IOT in Transportation. Conure. (2022, February 28). Retrieved December 7, 2022, from https://www.conurets.com/5-major-applications-of-iot-in-transportation/#:~:text=IoT%20in%20transportation%20incorporates%20a,that%20data%20into%20useful%20information.
  6. Bandyopadhyay, D., & Sen, J. (2011). Internet of things: Applications and challenges in technology and standardization. Wireless personal communications, 58 (1), 49-69.

Интересная статья? Поделись ей с другими: