As devices and sensors start becoming increasingly connected and technologically advanced, mobile apps are springing up to help users manage their Internet of Things (IoT) applications and systems. These mobile apps offer access, connectivity, and communication with technology to improve the smart city and smart home experience. But mobile app development is complex and requires planning and continuous optimization to better serve users.

For mobile apps that control IoT devices, sensors, and systems, user happiness is of the utmost importance. Here are seven challenges that a mobile app development firm may face when designing and developing an app for smart devices.

#1: UI/UX Design

User interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design are important facets of any consumer-facing technology. In mobile apps, UI and UX can make or break an app’s success with users. And without users, a mobile app is worthless. Ultimately, proper investment in UI and UX will attract more new users and engage loyal users.

It’s important to establish an app’s UI and UX guidelines early on so that any future changes are made in accordance with previously-established principles for branding, device support, user profiles, and more. With these instructions, new and old designers can work to maintain a consistent user experience. Although it can be tempting to skip UI and UX, don’t make the mistake of putting your users in the corner. Without their feedback, constant use of the app, and word-of-mouth recommendations, your mobile app could be doomed to fail. The time spent in introspection to develop UI and UX specifications will also help inform decisions and ideas further down the development cycle.

#2: Data Flow Management

It’s imperative to create a consistent experience for users by controlling the management of data flow. This requires a stable Internet connection, strong device and connectivity uptime, and a stable database connection. Databases are often used to collect data from multiple types of devices and sensors and aggregate it for use in an application with a front end, like a smartwatch, mobile app, or web app.

Because smart devices differ in their singular data management, it can be difficult to organize data together in a way that makes sense. However, this is an extremely important and foundational part of IoT systems management, so exemplary data flow is necessary.

#3: Network Connection

Speaking of stable and consistent data flow, network connectivity is an important cog in the IoT system. From there, anything is possible: smart analysis, predictive insights, and real-time notification systems are just a few features that can set your mobile app apart from its competition. The network connects all devices and sensors together before they collate their data into a database for later use.

As IoT technology advances, network demand will continue to grow. Networks need speed, a stable connection, and proven performance to adequately aggregate all devices and sensors under one umbrella.

#4: Network and Sensor Compatibility

It may not be enough to spring for a top-of-the-line network connection and infrastructure if devices and sensors aren’t compatible with the network. Because real-time communication and data transmission are necessary to allow users control over the IoT system, ensuring compatibility between the network and devices is essential. The compatibility needs to be stress-tested to ensure many devices and sensors can connect without issue, and the testing needs to occur periodically to make sure nothing has fundamentally changed.

The reason for this issue is that sensor and device manufacturers and vendors don’t work under standardized protocols. Besides the network and device compatibility, this can also lead to major issues with device-to-device compatibility. Thus, it is important to test this early on, rather than being close to the end of the development cycle and having to nearly start over.

#5: Hardware Compatibility

When devices aren’t compatible with each other, it usually becomes obvious pretty quickly. To avoid lengthening the development timeline with this issue, set specific hardware requirements early on in the project. When resolved early, it can prevent issues with the app’s functionality later on.

#6: Performance and Security

Although it’s difficult to optimize for, speed and performance are what a user requires as a prerequisite to user experience. With a slow or lagging mobile app, you’ll create frustration in your users, prompting them to leave negative reviews on your app’s page. Extensive user testing and interviewing is a great way to avoid major bug reports and application crashes while gathering UX and UI feedback.

Similar to speed and performance, security is a foundational requirement for users. If they find out that their data, especially sensitive information like login credentials, is stored insecurely, you can face substantial user backlash and even lawsuits. To ensure your application’s security is robust enough, set security standards at the beginning of the project for all designers and developers to follow. Make this a best practice if you’re planning on developing more mobile apps in the future. At our mobile app development studio in Los Angeles, we always prioritize security and performance in our mobile apps from day one.

#7: Choosing Development Technology

Early on in the development process, the development team has to agree upon the technology stack they’ll use to develop the application. The choice between building a native, hybrid, or cross-platform app can be made by looking at what existing interfaces exist and how the mobile app fits into the IoT ecosystem. Often, one technology will be the clear frontrunner that will allow for a strong user experience, flexible data flow management, and performance and security optimizations.

If needed, reach out to an experienced IoT app development firm for a short consultation. Ultimately, it’s important to squash this issue early.

Taking On Challenges

These seven challenges may seem difficult to overcome, but they are common and every mobile app development team faces them. How you tackle them and continue on to the next issue will determine how well your mobile app will meet your business requirements and users’ preferences. Above all, make sure you’re rising up to the challenges early on, rather than waiting until users start complaining about the issue.

For senior citizens who were able to quarantine alone or live alone throughout the pandemic, technology has taken over many aspects of senior care so that nurses and family can safely ensure their patient and loved one is staying healthy and well. Internet of Things (IoT) applications like fall detection and alert devices, behavioral monitoring sensors, and malnutrition and dehydration trackers have worked tirelessly to support caregivers and elders alike during the pandemic. The hope is that these devices will identify signs of a larger issue so that it can be stopped before becoming serious enough to require hospitalization.

Fall Detection Devices

In elderly populations, falls are a major concern. Falls become more common with age and are the second leading cause of unintentional or accidental deaths worldwide. Thus, it is important to control as much as we can for falls both at home and in senior care facilities.

IoT technology can help caregivers prevent, predict, and detect falls by helping them record falls, pinpoint risk factors in the environment and the individual, and learn preventative and corrective measures. Conventionally, fall-detection technologies have used devices that the elderly person carries or wears. When the patient falls, they have to press the button on the device. This solution is great if your loved one is living across the country in Los Angeles while you’re in Atlanta.

But this method doesn’t account for patients that didn’t fall but don’t feel well enough to get up or for patients who haven’t been feeling normal recently. IoT can detect changes in the patient’s wellbeing by monitoring for discomfort and wellness. IoT sensors can help caregivers track their patients’ progress for days or weeks at a time and compare metrics to see if their patient’s health is declining, which is a risk factor for falling. This can support caregivers to act earlier and provide more care to make up for the senior’s deteriorating wellbeing.

Staying Home Longer

Research shows there may be a link between moving out of the home and into a senior care facility and dying earlier. For many elderly patients, it’s important for them to stay somewhere familiar and accessible to their families. IoT can help families remotely keep an eye on their senior family member by sending daily information about the patient’s health and wellbeing without any action necessary from the senior. When used with tele-assistance services, IoT technology really shines for seniors.

Companies like Vitalbase and SeniorAdom are working on remote assistance technology using IoT systems. Their tools include geolocation pendants, motion detection sensors, and wrist band devices. This hardware is supposed to automatically detect changes in behavior, motion, physical strength, and cognition.

By anticipating risks, sending early notifications to family and caregivers, and acting quickly in an emergency, these companies are making it possible to protect our seniors without expending more money, time, and effort. For example, SeniorAdom uses a self-learning algorithm and a smart box connected wirelessly to sensors in the senior’s home. With these devices and software, the company can detect abnormal situations or critical problems and send a warning to relatives and caregivers. SeniorAdom also uses motion sensors and door sensors to create a general daily schedule of the senior so that abnormalities are more obvious when they occur.

A Look at the Sensor Technology

These IoT-enabled sensors work on an 0G network which is used to send small amounts of data over a larger distance. They don’t pick up any personal or private information while they detect differences from the baseline conditions and movements. 0G devices also utilize low amounts of energy, making the overall cost a lot lower for the family.

For devices that run on other networks like cellular devices, it’s possible to utilize 0G as a backup network to ensure a stable connection for around-the-clock supervision and emergency communication. Vitalbases’s Vibby OAK is an automatic fall detection device worn on the senior’s neck or wrist. It connects to a cellular device (like a smartphone) but uses a 0G network when the cellular connection is unstable or unreachable. At healthcare and senior living facilities, devices operating on the 0G network can communicate with existing nursing call systems to keep medical staff updated in the event of an emergency.

More Autonomous Living

Many seniors want to continue an independent, autonomous, and healthy lifestyle. By outfitting their home and body with several devices and sensors in an IoT system, it’s possible for relatives and caregivers to remain vigilant, proactive, and connected without having to ask their seniors to leave home for good.

Embracing change and adapting to newer paradigms is essential to surviving and thriving in the tech industry. When Dogtown Media first opened for business in 2011, we knew that the Internet of Things (IoT) was something special. Since then, we’ve striven every day to establish ourselves as a leading IoT app development organization.

Well, it turns out that hard work and perseverance pays off — TopDevelopers.co has named Dogtown Media as a leading IoT app developer!

IoT is evolving fast. It’s imperative that developers in this space keep up with the latest trends and rapidly become efficient at implementing them. We understand the importance and urgency that often come with business augmentation. Whether you’re a fast-growing startup or a large enterprise organization looking to add new capabilities to your fold, consider working with us.

Of course, you don’t have to take our word for it. Check out our portfolio! We’ve worked on everything from cardiac arrest emergency protocols and mobile education technology to apps for better road trips and sleep. Our varied array of work experience, dedication, and proven track record of happy clients are why leading organizations such as Google, YouTube, The United Nations, Lexus, and RedBull have chosen to work with us.

Landing on TopDevelopers.co’s list of top IoT app developers is no easy feat. They meticulously evaluate numerous organizations in this field across the world, not just in our hometown of Los Angeles or even the United States. After narrowing down their list, they trim it even further by examining the experience of every candidate and their history of consistent client satisfaction. With all that said, it’s an amazing honor to make the cut!

Besides being dubbed a top wearable app developer, Dogtown Media was also recently named a top U.S. mobile app developer by TopDevelopers.co. We were also fortunate to be lauded as one of California’s leading app developers by Clutch!

Thanks so much to TopDevelopers.co for recognizing our work. And thanks to our clients, team, and community as well. We often say, “If you can dream it, we can build it!” But you’re really the ones who make this mantra possible.

Who is TopDevelopers.co?

TopDevelopers.co is a widely respected directory and review platform for B2B IT service providers. They take a neutral approach to analyzing companies. The team of analysts at TopDevelopers.co vets organizations through stringent parameters which ensure that only the most competitive firms, businesses, enterprises, and entrepreneurs are filtered through their process. This helps service seekers find the most appropriate solutions for their needs.

The coronavirus pandemic has brought times of uncertainty to every industry. Consequently, several companies are choosing to eschew long-term investments in favor of short-term gains. In technology, this has manifested in numerous organizations halting their 5G plans.

But businesses looking to secure themselves a place in the future shouldn’t just stand idly by. A myriad of operational efficiencies and new opportunities await early 5G innovators. The next generation of cellular technology will bring about numerous benefits for the Internet of Things (IoT): better maintenance, reduced downtime, and more robust data analysis name just a few advantages.

Want to kick your IoT development endeavors into high-gear? Then 5G is a necessity. Here’s how to get your IoT initiatives ready for 5G.

Design for Low-Power Wide-Area Networks

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is a group of standards organizations that develop protocols for mobile telecommunications. To 3GPP, the future of mobile IoT lies in Low-Power Wide-Area (LPWA) networks. As their name implies, LPWA networks are intended to support applications and devices that are low cost, require low data rates, need long battery life, and can operate in remote locations.

LPWA networks play an integral role in connecting billions of devices to mobile IoT. Without them, only major metropolises with built-up infrastructures (e.g., Los Angeles, New York City, Beijing) could support the widespread use of this emerging technology. Besides this, LPWA networks also support a diverse array of operations across various sectors.

NB-IoT and LTE-M are the two most commonly deployed formats of mobile IoT networks. Their vast coverage range and low power consumption make both options impressive avenues to deploy your IoT product. Devices connected over either format can easily have a battery life of over 10 years.

Both NB-IoT and LTE-M have been accepted as 5G standards. The eventual objective is to have both supported by the 5G core network so they can facilitate the usage of new radio frequency bands.

Pick Which Tech Suits Your IoT Application Best

If you’re having trouble deciding between NB-IoT and LTE-M, don’t fret. Learning more about each one can elucidate the correct solution for your needs.

NB-IoT

NB-IoT stands for Narrowband-IoT. This technology minimizes connected device power consumption while optimizing system capacity and cell range. As the name implies, NB-IoT leverages only a narrow sliver of the total bandwidth projected from cell towers. It’s perfect for regions that don’t have great LTE coverage or applications that only need to transfer small amounts of data.

To extend coverage to regions with poor coverage while enabling low device complexity, NB-IoT employs much simpler technology than GSM/GPRS modules. It is also supported by all major mobile equipment manufacturers and already co-exists with 2G, 3G, and 4G mobile networks. The cost of comparable NB-IoT modules is actually expected to decrease as demand increases.

LTE-M

LTE-M stands for Long Term Evolution for Machines. Like NB-IoT, LTE-M can support IoT deployment with lower device complexity, less power consumption, and extended coverage range. It is also supported by all major mobile equipment manufacturers and co-exists with 2G, 3G, and 4G.

So, what’s the difference between LTE-M and NB-IoT? To answer that, we must examine your targeted application. Because it excels in applications that require only small amounts of data transfer, NB-IoT is great for static smart meter and sensor deployments.

On the other hand, if your deployment is literally mobile (e.g., you’re tracking moving vehicles), then LTE-M may be the way to go. It has far greater available bandwidth than NB-IoT. This means it can support more data-intensive applications, such as transferring large files. LTE-M also supports Voice over LTE (VoLTE).

Just in the first quarter of 2020, 107 NB-IoT and 45 LTE-M networks have been deployed commercially.

Don’t Forget to Account for Edge Computing

The choice of network technology is obviously an important factor for your IoT deployment. But it certainly isn’t the only aspect that determines the long-term viability of your project. It’s imperative that you also consider the types of devices you decide to deploy with.

In the future, everything regarding IoT technology will start at the edge. In edge computing, the devices themselves carry out the computation and analysis. By planning to utilize this paradigm now, you can get ahead of the competition. Unfortunately, many IoT platform providers undervalue the potential of edge computing.

But, in truth, edge computing brings as many benefits to the table as your network selection does. With optimized speed and performance and the ability to automate operations, it can dramatically simplify your design, deployment, and management of IoT initiatives. And this can make the difference between cost-effective scaling of massive deployments and endeavors that fall to the wayside.

Innovate IoT’s Future Today

We hope you’ve enjoyed this brief overview of how to simplify your IoT deployment on 5G. By making the right decisions for your IoT initiatives, you can minimize your investment risk, simplify the deployment, and set yourself up for seamless scaling.

It can be difficult to plan your IoT strategy during these uncertain times. But organizations that do will quickly reap the rewards and outpace the competition. So don’t wait. Plan for a brighter future today!

Automatic clipping hanging machine with pack for sausages

Warning: This article serves as an industrial use case study for how meatpacking facilities are applying automation to improve efficiency and effectiveness. Consequently, many of the images in this post contain depictions of these meat processing operations that some would consider graphic. If this statement leaves you feeling squeamish, you may want to skip this one!

Grocery shoppers from Los Angeles to New York have noticed a decrease in meat on the shelves combined with higher prices for anything that’s in stock. The COVID-19 pandemic has hit meatpacking facilities hard, with thousands of workers getting sick and more than 30 dying. These facilities are cold, humid, and cramped, requiring workers to stand shoulder-to-shoulder working so fast that washing hands to adjust a face mask isn’t even possible.

With the help of the Internet of Things, an innovative technology that’s already improving business operations in industrial facilities all over the world, meatpacking factories can start to automate processes to reduce the number of employees needed on the floor at any given time.

Business As Usual During Uncertain Times

During the COVID-19 pandemic, dozens of meat processing facilities have closed or slowed down operations. Grocery stores are now rationing meats. A Milwaukee-based sausage factory stopped manufacturing its hot dogs completely. But in Europe’s biggest pig slaughterhouse, the factory floor is completely automated. Robots do most of the work while being overseen by humans.

At this facility, everything is business as usual. Pigs come in on trucks around 5:30 AM. Workers herd the pigs into temporary pens on the 90-acre facility. A few hours later, a few pigs are nudged out of the pens and into CO2 gas chambers. The gas knocks them out, and they’re put onto a belt that helps position them for a worker to cut off each pig’s rear feet. From there, the pigs are transported to a moving production line. A worker cuts the pig’s carotid artery, and a vacuum is placed at the cut to lap up all of the blood.

After that, it’s up to the robots to finish the job. A laser-enabled robot measures the pig’s dimensions. Using those numbers, another robot cuts a 4-inch hole around the pig’s tail with a customized artificial intelligence (AI) application. It then reaches into the pig to take out any excrement that’s left inside the carcass. A bladed robot then cuts the pig from top to bottom before a robot mechanically removes organs, slashes tendons, and splits the spine.

The robot portion of the pig’s journey takes only ten minutes. At the end of the working day (midnight), a total of 18,000 pigs have been slaughtered, cleaned, excavated, and packaged.

Modernizing An Age-Old Process

This facility is one of the world’s largest, most modern, and most transparent meat processing facilities in the world.

In fact, many Danish slaughterhouses are heavily automated using IoT applications, and it’s helped them prevent becoming hotspots for COVID-19 infections. Out of 8,000 of the company’s Danish employees, less than 10 have tested positive for the virus. In stark contrast to America (and the rest of the world), none of the Danish slaughterhouses closed down or slowed production.

Meat scientists say that others in this sector and other industrial markets should take note of the Danish slaughterhouses. They’re a prime example of how to physically and technologically set up a facility for long-term success. Robots, IoT, and AI work together with humans to make meatpacking safer and more efficient.

Jayson Lusk is a food and agricultural economist at Purdue University. He says that the cost of not investing in IoT has come back as a bad consequence of failing to implement emerging technologies. According to Lusk, the US government doesn’t provide economic incentives to automate meat processing plants.

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As a result, meat facilities have employed undocumented workers instead of investing in new technologies. In the US, staying competitive as a meat facility depends on how many workers you have tending to the production line.

Progressing Forward Faster

Labor shortages are forcing meat facilities to change their business operations from the ground up. Poultry facilities in the US have become more automated for the last few decades; it took an hour to process 3,000 chickens in 1970, and we can process 15,000 chickens per hour today. But because chickens are much smaller than pigs and cows, the investment to automate is a lot lower.

In the past decade, pork and beef facilities have started introducing more automation into their factories. In 2018, a new pork facility in Michigan opened with automation and robots. It helped the company cut 300 employees while increasing output. The plant has been able to stay open through the pandemic, but it’s slowed down production because it ordered new protective equipment to install.

Close up bologna sliced plate on conveyor of automatic slicer machine for industrial food manufacture

Last year, Tyson Foods start investing heavily in robots for its pork facilities, in an effort to reduce the negative effects of labor shortages.

Preventing the Inevitable

Even if every meat plant in the world automated their production lines and installed robots overnight, it might still not prevent pathogens like COVID-19 from spreading throughout the factory.

Without a strong healthcare system, it’s impossible to prevent a contagion like COVID-19. Workers need to be able to work from home or stay at home when they’re sick without any worry about losing their job and health insurance.

It’s also extremely important that the government moves quickly when a pandemic or any global problem occurs. In the US, President Trump signed an executive order that made meat a critical and scarce “material essential to the national defense”. It meant that meat facilities stayed open while facing less legal liability, even if their workers got sick.

Prioritizing Worker Safety Is a Must

If lowering the number of people in a factory can lower the risk of infection, installing a few robots can help bring down the number of cases.

But automation takes time to implement and optimize. So, in the meantime, factories need to invest heavily in their employees, all of whom keep the factories running at full speed at the risk of their own health and lives. Without more value placed on worker safety and lives, it seems that robots may not help prevent the next pandemic at all.

Hopefully, other industrial facilities examine and learn some insights from the precedent set forth by Danish Crown’s meat processing facilities. What do you think of IoT-fueled automation? As always, let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

If these numbers astound you, consider that the global Internet of Things (IoT) industry is forecasted by experts to connect over 20 billion devices and sensors by the end of this year; that amounts to 1 to 2 for every person in the world.

Many of these devices will come in the form of wearables. It’s imperative that we think deeply about how we utilize this technology — it could have a monumental impact on our health and environment.

Proliferation of Mobile

As smartphones become more affordable and accessible through the improvement of mobile networks and infrastructure, we’ve also seen rapid growth in wearable technology.

Wearables are devices that are worn on the body, as clothes or as accessories. The smartwatch has been the most successful wearable thus far, but many innovative companies have released smart jewelry, glasses, handbags, clothes, and other apparel.

Experts forecast that wearables will become more popular and ubiquitous in the future, eventually permeating every facet of human life. But this prediction could come with consequences.

Researchers like Andreas Köhler, Ph.D. pointed out almost a decade ago (in 2013) that electronics are made of scarce materials that can cause a shortage of supplies in the future; these electronics are very difficult to recycle and reuse when they die, and the global economy and society have become reliant on these products.

Many scientists, like Köhler, believe that industrial and IoT developers, engineers, and designers need to heed the scarcity of these materials and make alternative choices when possible. Developing electronics with a lifecycle that ends with recycling is also a priority to create a more sustainable market for wearables to flourish in. These changes require a change in supply chain logistics as well as our mindsets.

Overcoming Sustainability Challenges

Combining textiles with electronics creates a massive problem for the environment. Since mobile phones and wearables are short-lived electronic goods (especially compared to laptops/desktops, TVs, and even tablets), their product cycles are shorter. We often get bombarded to buy the newest phone model once every year or once every year and a half.

Creating the ambiance of “fast fashion” for consumers in regards to wearables can lead to wearables getting dumped into the landfill. They would become a mass-consumed and mass-disposal electronic product.

What’s worse is that wearables (and essentially all electronics) further deteriorate our environment, society, and human health by increasing the difficulty of recycling electronic waste, scarce resource consumption, and power consumption.

Without a proper lifecycle that ends with recycling scarce materials, we’re further damaging the environment and human lives in generating demand for difficult-to-obtain materials. Without recycling, just as we’ve seen with plastic waste, our wearables would ultimately end up in our water, air, and soil, increasing the number, frequency, and severity of health problems for humans.

Wearables also perpetuate the idea of an always-online culture, which harms human culture, interaction, and mental health.

Adding to everything above, the aspect of data security and privacy is always lurking in the background for emerging technologies. A data leak or loss of data security has real-life implications for users who are impacted.

Opportunities to Improve Sustainability

Experts straddle the line on wearables; many believe that wearables will disrupt how consumers currently shop for products.

If done right, wearables would have a longer lifespan, which would help consumers reframe their view of mobile electronic products. In fact, if manufacturers were able to source more durable material and improve the user’s awareness and knowledge of cleaning and maintaining their wearable device, wearables could last each consumer much longer.

To truly improve the consumption rate of electronics, software compatibility and multi-platform support must be available at any given time. The product and the product’s company should constantly adapt to users’ changing wants and needs.

Research shows that when a product meets the user’s needs and lifestyle and has a meaning for the user, an emotional attachment is created. With an emotional attachment, products have a much longer lifetime.

Medical developers working on health- and fitness-related wearables should build as much customization into the product as possible to allow for the user to become more in tune with it. At our Los Angeles-based mobile app development studio, we work with our clients to brainstorm as many features and data analysis as we can for the user to benefit from.

As a result, society experiences fewer health problems, an improved process for aging, and decreased healthcare costs. These changes directly improve quality of life and open the door for telehealth and preventative medicine.

The User’s Role

Much of the onus on our mass-consumer culture (especially in regards to electronics) rests on us as the consumers. If we didn’t validate the short electronic lifecycle by buying the latest model when it comes out, we could send the right message to the company.

All told, the consumer’s behavior will determine how sustainable wearable products can be. Even if every single wearable was designed with the least scarce resources, if consumers don’t adapt their behavior to buy electronics less often, we won’t see any improvement for the environment and human health.

At this point in time, wearables could be on the right track if we (as users and consumers) take care of them, use them longer, adopt them more slowly, and dispose of them responsibly.

The IoT market is forecasted to reach $922.62 billion by 2025, making it one of the fastest-growing emerging technologies. Due to this rapid growth, many experts worry that we’re overlooking strong cybersecurity protocols and standards by only paying attention to the myriad benefits and potential of IIoT.

The Far-Reaching Consequences of Poor Security

For many IoT app developers, security is usually an afterthought. Even worse, sometimes it gets lost in the shuffle of development, only to be remembered at the end of the project, when the time and budget has run dry.

There are no real, published, official security standards that developers and industries must operate by. Security frameworks simply aren’t accommodating emerging technology fast enough. And no one has settled on an agreement for a minimum protocol of best practices for cybersecurity in their IoT applications.

This means device manufacturers have to layer some sort of security into their physical products, and this, of course, will vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. Some may even circumvent the hassle by not providing any sort of security or encryption. When an organization utilizes devices with no security software, it’s extremely difficult to add encryption and security afterward. What’s worse is that, once devices leave the manufacturing plant, they aren’t updated with the newest security patches, leaving them extremely vulnerable to malicious attacks.

For many organizations utilizing IoT, this isn’t a big deal until a data breach occurs, a hack prevents operations from running smoothly, or until customers and the bottom line are directly affected. For IIoT, however, these consequences could result in power outages for entire regions, causing chaos and disrupting many public necessities, like hospital communications systems.

When implemented poorly, both IoT and IIoT can have disastrous and unnecessary effects.

The Compounding Effect

Organizations utilizing poorly-secured devices start creating a compounded problem for themselves and their end-users. Devices layered on top of sensors, with physical products and software on top of everything else, all become inundated with subpar security due to a lack of strong security on every level of the IoT or IIoT system.

When a system grows in complexity (i.e. multiple sensor types, multiple product types, multiple warehouses, multiple software systems to accommodate everything), it makes even an in-house IT security team’s job difficult. IIoT systems, as they are, are already dynamic, diverse, and independent, and keeping inventory of every interaction and process is extremely cumbersome, especially as the system keeps evolving.

Monitoring and managing these components without transparency, control, and access over every single element at any given time becomes next to impossible. Often, an organization will layer an entire IIoT system over its outdated infrastructure and equipment, which further muddles the task for an IT department.

Addressing the Foundational Problems

Another looming issue affecting every organization that utilized any form of IoT is the lack of IoT security knowledge and awareness. Due to no published standards or laws to abide by, there isn’t much of a talent pool to hire from.

Besides that, most organizations don’t even really know what they’re looking for when they do understand that they need to work to mitigate the exposure and risk of a hacking attempt. They don’t know what to look for when building their IIoT security infrastructure and strategy, and they certainly don’t know how to maintain it when it’s built.

Experts recommend using a managed security service provider (MSSP) to work through the security foundation and long-term strategy. An MSSP will have the expertise, experience, and continuous knowledge to manage a complex IIoT system. Since IIoT devices have different deployment conditions, networking needs, and application requirements than a regular IoT system, a dedicated team will spend budget in the most efficient way.

Most MSSPs have also developed best practices from experience and networking internationally with other MSSPs, giving you the best bang for your buck in both preventative maintenance and on-demand needs.

But it’s not enough to simply hire an MSSP. The organization must carefully vet the experts that the MSSP brings on board, taking into account their services, expertise, resources, and guarantees. An MSSP that requires continuing education for their employees, offers cutting-edge security knowledge, includes data correlation and dashboards to track security threats in real-time, and also returns a customized solution for your enterprise is the best partner to pair up with.

IoT Security Is a Team Effort

Of course, the organization’s leadership must understand the importance of keeping security procedures and policies up-to-date, using assessments and audits regularly to revisit what needs improvement and optimization. Whether or not it’s a new implementation of an IIoT system, cybersecurity should be at the core and foundation of all IIoT systems.

It’s important that your IoT systems developer also takes security seriously. An MSSP might be seen as a band-aid or be a part of an organization’s post-implementation plan, but as we’ve discussed, security standards start at the root of the IoT system. At our studio’s Los Angeles headquarters, our IoT developers are trained to prioritize cybersecurity as a top need for all implementations. Your organization should settle for nothing less.

In fact, lack of cybersecurity in IoT systems is actually hindering the field from reaching its full potential. To make matters worse, security features for IoT applications can vary from developer to developer. It, unfortunately, isn’t uncommon for security to take a backseat in the development process until the end, when there’s no budget or time left to implement a proper solution.

But this approach isn’t cutting it. In IoT applications, it’s not enough to create a set-it-and-forget-it security layer; IoT isn’t like a PC or any previous technology we’ve encountered before. Because there are so many sensors, devices, and a cloud component, it takes a lot of thought and planning to create a robust, secure IoT system.

Could AI help solve this conundrum before it’s too late? The short answer is yes and no. The long answer? Keep reading.

The Bright Side: Helpful AI

Right now, AI development within IoT applications is limited to data analysis, predictive analytics, and generating notifications for a human to take a closer look. It does very well in this area, and there’s still a lot to learn and apply. But even this application results in a lot of false positives for humans to sift through manually. In this case, applying AI to assist with IoT cybersecurity could cause more issues than it helps solve.

Is it possible for AI to train on known patterns of security attacks and breaches? Yes, but we would have to put the IoT system itself through the attacks multiple times so the AI can learn each nuance properly. And when hackers change up their methods and patterns, we’ll have to ensure our AI-enhanced cybersecurity protocols are trained on these changes immediately. Otherwise, this type of AI application can quickly make itself become obsolete and useless.

Whereas a company may have full-time dedicated cybersecurity and IT teams, it would also be imperative that they employ a full-time team of ethical hackers to constantly come up with new ways to breach their company’s security protocols. Even then, it’s not a 100% guarantee that an IoT system is fully secured against any type of hacking attempt.

One major hurdle is the lack of training data available for these breaches; companies who’ve been breached in the past are not likely to openly give out details of how and why their security systems were breached. Because of the nature of the Internet, anyone could use this information maliciously against other companies or against the same company again.

And more importantly, releasing information about a breach implicates personal and sensitive data that could upset customers.

The Dark Side: Malicious AI

AI is what you make it. If you’re developing AI with malicious intent, it can certainly be used to bring down a business’s operations for a few days or leak private data into the open waters of the Internet.

And as hackers get smarter and more creative with the increasing number of tools at their disposal, AI will be used to help breaches successfully occur, rather than help prevent them. This type of AI has already been lovingly named by experts as “enemy-AI”.

Enemy-AI is arguably easier to develop, train (it’ll take any training data it can get because any information can help it facilitate a security breach), and apply to attacks, especially when compared to using AI as a defense mechanism.

When we discussed companies not releasing breach information to the public, we see that with enemy-AI, there is no ethical standpoint. With hackers, we must assume that they have no morals or ethics that they follow; if something can yield losses for a company, we must assume that hackers find that information valuable as a result.

Which Will Take the Cake?

The cynic in us believes the malicious AI can easily win over the defense AI. But there is hope yet because it’s likely that neither “side” will ever truly win. There is a ton of value in using AI for IoT security. As far as what this value is used for depends on who gets to it first and who implements it best.

Ultimately, developers must prioritize security as a main part of IoT systems development. At our Los Angeles-based mobile app development studio, we’re planning for security layers in our applications from Day 1; we believe cybersecurity is so important to connected devices and systems that our own CTO is an ethical hacker!

Although AI has limitless potential for every industry today, we mustn’t expect it to do all of the heavy lifting, especially in the ever-evolving world of cybersecurity. AI is a tool that imperfectly does what we tell it to do, and we mustn’t expect anything more from it — at least for now.

As the years pass, IoT will become ubiquitous throughout all of our lives. We’re going to be interacting with IoT systems at home, at work, in retail, and even at the grocery store. Ultimately, many of our devices will become part of an IoT system, whether it’s a smart home set-up or smart office space. So it’s imperative that we all develop an understanding of how IoT functions.

IoT’s Rise in History

Many of us remember the late 90s and early 2000s when we had flip phones, paid per text message and calling minute, and lost reception quite often. Since then, our primary means of communication have markedly evolved and improved with stability, low latency, and the ability to connect our devices with other ones. If you’ve got your phone connected to an Alexa or Google speaker, you can even send a text message through that avenue now.

It has been nothing short of a meteoric rise for devices connecting with each other over Bluetooth, via QR code, or through a single-sign-on login system.

Although, even with this set-up, we’re limiting ourselves greatly. But with IoT, we can add more dimensions, types of devices, and connection methods to our systems. Imagine if you could connect to your car, fridge, local farmer, local city infrastructure, and more. Now imagine if this connection could enable these complex devices to talk with each other.

The fridge might alert your local farmer that you’ll likely pick up some tomatoes at this weekend’s farmer’s market. Your car could navigate red lights around town with efficiency and reroute you during rush hour as needed. These are rudimentary examples, but they point to a greater picture of what IoT bestows upon us in our daily lives.

The Foundation of IoT Systems

IoT connects devices, things, and spaces that are usually “outside” of the Internet to our Internet-connected devices. These remote and cloud-based connections will only stabilize with the implementation of 5G globally, allowing us to generate data, find insights, and even send the analysis back to the main device that needs optimizing.

How is this all possible? A mix of programming, hardware, security protocols, cloud integration, networking, data science, and AI combine seamlessly to produce robust IoT systems. Let’s take a closer look at each component.

Programming

IoT devices are programmed to work and communicate with each other using code that IoT developers often write in C++ or C. For bigger IoT systems or ones that need to scale up eventually, many developers are turning to Python and JavaScript. Even if a developer knows how to code, they must also have a deep knowledge of hardware, like circuit boards, microcontrollers, circuit design, and more.

Hardware

Hardware is one of the most important aspects because it is one of the only physical parts of an IoT system. Interconnected devices, sensors, and controllers help IoT systems understand (and sometimes even control) the world around them. Often, devices are computing on the device itself instead of the cloud (through the help of microcontrollers, system-on-a-chip (SoC), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), etc.), which brings more importance to choosing high-quality, secure, and sturdy devices.

Security Protocols

Security is the most overlooked aspect of any technology application or system. At our Los Angeles-based mobile app development studio, we place security as a high priority on all of our projects. In many IoT systems, security gets layered on top last, making it an afterthought for many developers. On the contrary, security must be developed and thought of at every step of the design and development of IoT systems. Millions of new devices connect to the Internet every day, and the number of viruses and malware is increasing rapidly. When you consider that many IoT systems also house sensitive information, like payment data, trade secrets, machine information, and more, multi-layered security is non-negotiable. And no, you cannot rely on the devices’ built-in security — these have been shown to be behind in industry standards.

Networking and The Cloud

Connecting to the Internet is of utmost importance for IoT devices. Without the connection, it wouldn’t be possible to include the device in an IoT system. Setting up a stable network from the get-go is important, but IoT systems developers need to constantly monitor the network load and bandwidth to ensure more optimization isn’t needed. Having a poor network can cost a company a lot of time and money. On a related note, cloud computing and cloud storage should be monitored closely and optimized accordingly constantly throughout an IoT system’s lifespan.

Data Science

Analyzing data for insights can help companies cut costs without infringing on employees. With the amount of data generated every day in IoT systems, the term “big data” suddenly doesn’t seem to encompass enough. But this data is multi-dimensional and valuable. A good data analyst or scientist can elucidate new insights, patterns, and optimizations out of tons of data. And a great analyst or scientist can help trim down data points that are useless to the company’s bottom line, thereby improving network bandwidth, cloud computing credits, and storage costs.

AI and Machine Learning

AI and ML can work together to automate data scientists’ manual work. They can also help watch for patterns constantly to alert analysts for deeper analysis. Over time, AI can produce predictive analytics and even make small decisions without human oversight.

IoT Is an Integral Part of Our Future

IoT will continue improving as it expands. As with any emerging technology, its complexities will only grow with so many moving parts within and outside of the system.

Yes, “The Internet of Things” sounds vague, complex, and all-encompassing. But it all breaks down to a handful of features working together seamlessly.

We hope you’ve gained a deeper understanding of how IoT works from this article! What aspects would you like to learn more about? Let us know in the comments below!

The Internet of Things (IoT) is rapidly growing, and it’s already made its way to our smartphones in the form of mobile apps and connected devices.

IoT’s global market (which includes software, connectivity, devices, and services) reached $130 billion in 2018. By 2025, experts forecast that it is predicted to grow to more than 64 billion connected and active IoT devices.

With the major global growth in smartphones, IoT is positioning itself to move into mobile app territory. At our Los Angeles-based mobile technology studio, user experience is always a top priority during an app’s development cycle. Let’s take a look at IoT’s inevitable impact on mobile user experience.

The Growth of IoT Mobile Apps

For mobile phones specifically, many consumers might think that their device is not connected to any IoT system. But smartphones are a preferred channel for communication and notifications for most consumers, making them a valuable device to reach for IoT.

For IoT, mobile apps transfer data flexibly, and IoT mobile app development is easy to tack onto an existing IoT system. Mobile apps can be used to efficiently manage IoT devices and read information from them.

Because IoT brings deeper connectivity to our world, we can use devices to understand, observe, and analyze without human help or intervention. And this kind of flexibility and freedom will grow exponentially as more mobile apps become connected to IoT systems.

But what else does IoT offer consumers and businesses through the utilization of mobile apps?

IoT Is Cost-Effective

For most businesses, mentioning a technology is cost-effective gets everyone’s attention really quickly. With IoT, businesses can offer the same services (or better) with less cost than their old methods. The efficiency factor alone should turn heads, but money talks louder.

Using mobile apps remotely with IoT devices can help organizations monitor and maintain equipment, requiring less human attention. Passing these savings onto customers in the form of better features and technology can help maintain an impactful user experience.

IoT Gives Us a Deeper Understanding of Consumer Behavior

Consumers are notoriously difficult to understand, but it’s a necessity for every business to thrive. With IoT, businesses can generate relevant information, data, and statistics about their customers using sources like mobile internet usage, social media, video surveillance, GPS tracking, and more.

With a better understanding of customers and their habits, we can optimize mobile app experiences to please even the most critical group of customers.

IoT Increases Productivity

On the business side, productivity equals profit. With IoT, productivity in organizations shoots through the roof, giving employees time to spend on other priorities. Because IoT offers real-time measurement of data points, it’s easy to check-in on the business’s output at any given time of the day.

Another major benefit of real-time monitoring is that it allows companies to optimize their employee work schedules, meeting times and locations, and to-do lists.

On the consumer side, displaying real-time data about their health, shipments, or grandmother’s daily activities gives the user a consistent experience. This stability is invaluable for the user, and it brings about positive feelings regarding the company.

IoT Improves Customer Experiences

Most businesses who do not cater to their customers’ experience will lose their customer base quickly. Putting IoT systems in place creates more seamless payment methods, faster shipping notifications, and easier returns processes. Helping the user keep track of their transactions, return history, and more makes the customer experience seamless.

IoT Cultivates Safer Workplaces

Watching over high-risk environments is difficult without remote monitoring tools. But with IoT, these tools afford more efficiency and safety for employees. If a threat seems imminent or if there is an unusually high amount of activity, alerts can be sent out immediately.

Creating a safer workplace for employees puts customers at ease also. Knowing that they’re purchasing from a company that cares about their employees and their safety, customers can be more likely to return.

IoT Creates a More Efficient Data Environment

IoT devices are connected to entire IoT systems, and these systems generate an inordinate amount of data. For this amount of data, which often contains sensitive or private information, encryption and safe storage is of the utmost importance.

With edge computing, many IoT devices no longer need to access data storage to generate, analyze, and report metrics in real-time. This speed brings users better predictions, more accuracy, and an overall more trustworthy experience.

IoT Generates Better Research

In today’s technological landscape of AI, IoT, and data science, more data is always better. Automating data collection through user surveys and feedback, usage of apps, and website browsing behavior gives us a lot of insight into how our customers think.

On one hand, data from across companies can be pooled for statistical analysis. On the other hand, we can use all of our organization’s own data to optimize the user experience to provide better search tools, finer granularity on prediction, and more personalized communications.

IoT Today and Tomorrow

Businesses must adapt and implement IoT to stay ahead of the curve because this technology will only continue to grow. It is quickly becoming one of the main drivers for mobile app development.

In order to ensure a smooth transition for all end-users, every player in this industry must ask themselves how IoT can improve their customer and user experience. Without increased insight into your customers and their experience with your product or service, you’re missing out on valuable business data.

Is your business using IoT? How has it impacted your customer experience? Let us know in the comments below!