Semantic Computing will make the Internet of Things (IoT) more valuable

The Internet of Things (IOT) has been described as enabling the billions of interconnected devices that are gathering, and distributing vast amounts of information. The value of all these devices that are embedded in everything from buildings, cars, retail shelves, and wearable health monitors is in the data that these devices generate. In the future, with refined analytics tools there will be a significant improvement in organisational efficiency from the analysis of this data. Currently less than 10% of the data collected is being used effectively.

The traditional approach to computing using structured data cannot process the kind of information needed to fulfil the expected benefits promised from IoT technology. Semantic computing, with its data interoperability platform and its exploitation of contextual meaning has no such limitations. Modern organisations will be able to review information from IoT devices’ disparate sources, and make more informed decisions.

A cognitive computing platform with semantic computing at its core, enhanced by other Artificial Intelligence techniques such as Natural language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning will assist. A Semantic Computing solution has the ability to access and process data from a variety of sources – structured data (from IT systems and devices) and unstructured data (voice, video, text). The semantic computing process adds context to the data, which provides quicker analysis and significant process advantages by the reducing the amount of data needed in the analytical process and allows better analysis of all data being selected.

There are five key areas where Semantic Computing can augment the IoT benefits

1) Generating Customer Engagement:

Semantic computing utilising information generated from IoT devices will allow an organisation a deeper engagement and more specific understanding of the relationship with their customers and delivery greater value, and increase loyalty, because the organisation can focus on products and provision of services to their customers knowing that they are important to the customers.

2) Semantic Can Transform:

Semantic Computing data interoperability platforms can access both structured data from IT systems and unstructured data (video, spreadsheets, text). This provides organisations with a more completed picture of their environment, ecosystem and competitors. This increased awareness of information from data sources, workflows, and multimedia provides operational effectiveness, and better forecasting.

3) Enhanced Predictive Capability:

The most powerful benefit Semantic Computing-enabled IoT will deliver is management insights to understand and handle the unpredictable complex future. Semantic computing and supporting tools will allow organisations to uncover patterns and opportunities that would be impossible to find using traditional methods and computing solutions.

4) Closed Loop for Innovation:

The use of the data collected from IoT devices will enable the introduction of new products and services that provide intelligent feedback for providors about their users and their environment. This will allow for continuous improvement and development of additional capabilities not previously imagined.

5) Extending Specialist Expertise:

Semantic computing was initially designed to be the perfect research assistant and support an organisations’ specialist business needs. The solution utilises data stored as RDF Triples and is optimised to access specialist Ontologies, and the ability to utilise an ecosystem of complementary Ontologies. Semantic computing is designed to support complementing techniques to provide business with added insights and even utilise the tools to teach employees complex procedures and become experts.

The benefit of the Internet of Things (IoT) is to connect humans more closely with their environment. But we need to provide the information and data from everyday activities, using data interoperability to use all the data. We need to exploit the contextual views of this data captured to understand the data and turn it to information and finally knowledge, utilising Semantic computing. Semantic Computing provides the vehicle to realise the real value of the Internet of Things, and help us justify the cost of implementing this new technology.