The convergence of big data, IoT & cloud computing. Are they connected?

Big Data, IoT, and the Cloud are digital solutions that enable better analytics and decision-making for various businesses. In this article, we explain all the three technologies, the relation between IoT and Big Data, how Big Data and Cloud Data are related, and the relationship between IoT, Big Data, and Cloud Computing holistically, discussing some of the key benefits of this relationship.

What is IoT?

The Internet of Things, or IoT, refers to the billions of physical devices around the world that are now connected to the internet, all collecting and sharing data. The ‘thing’ in IoT can refer to a person or any device which is assigned through an IP address. A ‘thing’ collects and transfers data over the internet without any manual intervention with the help of embedded technology. It helps them to interact with the external environment or internal states to make decisions.

Thanks to the arrival of super-cheap computer chips and the ubiquity of wireless networks, it is now possible to turn anything, from something as small as a pill to something as big as an airplane, into a part of the IoT. Connecting all these different objects and adding sensors to them adds a level of digital intelligence to devices that would be otherwise dumb, enabling them to communicate real-time data without involving a human being. The Internet of Things is making the fabric of the world around us smarter and more responsive, merging the digital and physical universes.

What is the Big Data?

Big data as a term and a field, has been around for some time. It relates to the ways in which we study, analyze and process data sets that are too large to be handled by traditional data-processing software. Data can be described as ‘big’ when it includes the four ‘V’ qualities: veracity (accuracy), velocity (speed), volume (size), and variety (both structured and unstructured).

With the online world growing larger with each day, more people are becoming connected resulting in a corresponding growth in the influx of data that is produced. Instead of this data floating purposelessly around in the ether, big data supports this information by finding the value in it.

How are Big Data and IoT connected?

Once you can understand IoT and Big Data as separate solutions, you can appreciate the advantages they bring working one with another. When data is needed to be extracted for analysis reasons in a company, IoT is the source for that data.

The Internet of Things is an opportunity to streamline operations in many sectors in order to enable interaction between machines and humans (M2H), and devices and machines (M2M). And it has enough scope for improvement even today. In most cases, sensor-generated data is put into the big data system for analysis, and final reports are generated out of it — this is the main beneficial inter-relation between the two technologies.

IoT is projecting a future of $19 trillion markets for the internet industry in the next ten years which opens a big scope of research and development in both IoT and big data domains.

What is the Cloud?

Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage and computing power, without direct active management by the user. The term is generally used to describe data centers available to many users over the Internet.

The different data and programs can be accessed easily from the centralized cloud system. Cloud Computing is an economic solution, as it does not require on-site infrastructure for storage, processing, and analytics.

The connection between the cloud and IoT

The IoT and Cloud Computing complement one another, working together to provide an overall better IoT service.

As mentioned above, the Cloud is a centralized server containing computer resources that can be accessed whenever required. Cloud Computing is an easy method of moving and storing the large data packages generated by the IoT through the Internet. Here is where the Cloud comes in handy. Combined, IoT and Cloud Computing allow systems to be automated in a cost-effective way that supports real-time control and data monitoring.

How are Big Data and Cloud Data Related?

The biggest benefit of using Cloud storage for processing and accessing big data (often using a software as a service model) is the scalability: cloud storage is available on a pay-as-you-go basis. That means that Big Data analytics can be produced quicker than ever before. A combination of the two can boost and transform a company’s efficiency as well as overall productivity and performance.

So why are Big Data, IoT, and the Cloud such a good partnership?

Well, there are numerous benefits for utilizing these services by combining them, with a few of the main benefits outlined below:

So, what are the benefits of using them altogether?

• Scalability

Scalability for service data is a need. Cloud-based solutions can be scaled vertically and horizontally to meet the needs of Big Data hosting and analytics. It makes it possible to increase a server’s capacity with more applications or expand your hardware resources when necessary. The Cloud enables the expansion of Big Data and data analytics.

• Scalable infrastructure capacity

Big Data and Cloud Data can be used together to store large amounts of data which provides scalable processing and improved real-time analysis of data. Since no physical infrastructure is needed to get Big Data, IoT, and the Cloud running together, this reduces financial resources and time so that you can focus on the improved analytical capacity rather than worry about maintenance and support.

• Increased efficiency in daily tasks

IoT and Big Data generate large amounts of data, while the Cloud provides the pathway for this data to travel.

• Quicker use and distribution of Apps worldwide

It is easy to access Big Data remotely from anywhere in the world and continue carrying out actions on devices when using the Cloud, allowing for better collaboration.

• Advancement on analysis and review of the status of connected IoT devices

Many devices can put pressure on the Internet connection and create the need for intelligent devices to send data to servers for processing versus to central servers. With the IoT, Big Data, and the Cloud working together, you can be on the “edge” of processes and access data from many areas within your network, respond faster to downtime and prevent many of the errors that might occur. Plus, using the Cloud with IoT enhances security, as regular updates can be sent and knowledge of any breaches in infrastructure can be flagged up immediately.

• Benefits from economies of scale

The three technologies working together provide users with advanced in-built management tools, processing capabilities, and applications to manage resources more efficiently.

What it means for the industry

The convergence of these three technologies is creating a massive shift towards the dependence on interconnected devices and the information they generate. We are shifting from product-orientation to information-based outcome orientation. Some of the main changes are:

• Self-Service Analytics will be on the Rise

People will become less reliant on IT departments as most of the functions can be handled with data integration and automation. The BI tools will become more user-friendly and self-sufficient to perform basic tasks while analytics as a service will become more common.

• ROI for the Businesses Will Increase

Data analytics backed by the expansion of computing power is enabling companies to extract maximum value from data to get the best insights. A data lake is becoming normal as organizations attempt to create more value out of their data pool.

• Healthcare Industry Will Become Smarter

Big data in the healthcare sector can lead to a transformation from hypothesis-driven research to data-driven research. The humungous amount of personal data collected through personal records and sensors from different medical devices needs an advanced platform of storage — cloud computing. Further analysis of these data can enable a smarter healthcare system with personalized diagnostics and assistance. Self-Service Analytics will be on the Rise

• Industrial internet of things (IIoT) will be Benefitted

The industry is at the forefront of the application of the three technologies. A variety of connected devices are supposed to monitor, collect, exchange, analyze, and instantly act on information to moderate the industrial device’s behavior or the industrial ecosystem.

• Edge-Computing Will be Widely Adopted

Acting on real-time data has become a necessity. That is what Big data and IoT both provide and where edge computing is becoming widely used.

To conclude

Using Big Data, IoT, and the Cloud together means you can have successful communication, connection, and transference of data between devices, at most effective and efficient. Cloud Computing performs as an enabler. It enables a hosting platform for IoT and Big Data and can be used for process and data analytics. Using Cloud Computing alongside IoT and Big Data is a scalable, reliable, and agile solution. It is a synergistic interdependency that opens lots of actionable insights through well-structured analysis and performance reports.