Virtualization and Cloud executives share their predictions for 2017.  Read them in this 9th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.

Contributed by Steve Latham, founder, and CEO of Banyan Hills Technologies

Get ready, 2017 is going to pave the way for IoT adoption

Make room for IoT. It's a necessary step to moving any business forward. What can the world expect from IoT technology in the upcoming year? IoT implementations that bring in new revenue streams and deliver real-time business insights. We'll see a rising trend in the intersect of virtualization and IoT.

As the number of connected things continues to rise, it has been projected to reach 50.1 billion things in 2020, and there is estimated to be 44 trillion gigabytes of data from all those connected things-that's equal to the number of stars in the universe. It's incredible!

2017 is sure to pave the way for IoT adoption. IT executives are more comfortable with the technology than ever before. According to a survey of 512 IT and business executives by CompTIA, 80 percent of organizations have a more positive view of IoT today compared to a year ago. 

Has all the hype around IoT finally settled into something real? Is there firm ground below and will we see a solid foundation for IoT in 2017? You bet. Here are seven solid predictions for IoT in 2017.

1.      Digital to replace physical: Businesses are going to replace more people with machines to improve the customer experience. Rising wages and economic pressures are forcing companies to focus more on automation. We are going to see that happen more and more in hospitality, and healthcare, with implementations like ordering and patient check-in.

2.      Cost: Cost of storage, compute and sensors will continue to decline to make it more cost-effective for operators to scale up. They'll be able to manage, monitor and maintain very large networks of devices and gain real-time insights to make more informed decisions about the business.

3.      Consolidation: We will see a great deal of consolidation with IoT companies. A few winners will emerge from the platform wars in key industries. Stronger thought leadership will help shape the next wave of IoT implementations and solve some of the challenges we'll face in 2017.

4.      Standardization: This is a big one! There will be an increase in standardization across the board in how devices communicate to each other and to the enterprise as well as standardization of security protocols and IoT architectures.

5.      Industry Matures: There will be maturity in how organizations approach IoT. We will see more meaningful careers in IoT, and business will do a better job diversifying the skills and expertise in IoT.

6.      Moment Marketing: We'll see new revenue opportunities from connected devices. As new tools and technologies come to market, advertising and promotions will extend into new locations, platforms, and deliver new experiences.

7.      Growth: We'll continue to see growth in the consumer sector for IoT, but stronger industrial based IoT implementations both in B2C and B2B. Some less mature startup solutions will begin to fade.

So how do we embrace all of this in 2017 to prepare for what is in store?

• First start with the end in mind and determine how your IoT implementation will help your customers!
  

• Next, look at ways you can extend an existing product or service with IoT.
  

• Last, but certainly not least find a strong partner to help develop your IoT strategy and build a proof of concept.
  

Get ready, 2017 is going to a big year for IoT implementations. The more sophisticated we become in managing and monitoring devices, the more opportunities we'll have to drive greater efficiencies and new revenue streams in the New Year.

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About the Author

Steve Latham, founder, and CEO of Banyan Hills Technologies is an Internet of Things expert and strategic technology leader. Latham founded the company in 2013 to impact the world through technology and a deep commitment to social responsibility. Latham has a strong track record of leveraging cloud-based technologies to optimize and accelerate business strategy and is highly regarded by his peers for his deep industry knowledge in Retail, Entertainment, Healthcare, and Financial Services. Latham has successfully led architecture, implementation and delivery for one of the largest self-service, retail exchange kiosk systems in the world. Earlier, Latham served as CTO for the Entertainment division of NCR, where he helped orchestrate a successful divestiture of the business to Redbox for $125M. Prior to NCR, he held various technology leadership positions at Harland Clarke and led the consolidation of their e-commerce platform to a unified product offering for its customers. Latham serves on the board of directors for various businesses and academic institutions providing technical leadership.