Tag Archives: temperature monitoring

Francine Shaw
FST Soapbox

Unlocking the Promise of IoT in Food Safety and Transparency

By Francine L. Shaw
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Francine Shaw

In today’s fast-paced world, ensuring food safety and efficiency is crucial for food businesses. Fortunately, technological advancements, including the Internet of Things (IoT), have revolutionized the way the food industry operates. By leveraging IoT, food businesses can drive efficiency, enhance food safety, mitigate risks and boost transparency throughout the supply chain. All food businesses should be embracing IoT innovations to optimize their operations, improve efficiency, maximize safety and drive key performance indicators (KPIs), including consumer satisfaction, loyalty and sales.

The benefits of using IoT in the food industry include:

  • Enhancing food safety. IoT enables real-time tracking and monitoring of food products throughout the supply chain. With the help of connected sensors and devices, businesses can monitor crucial variables including temperature and humidity to ensure optimal storage conditions. Both companies and consumers benefit from this heightened level of food safety and quality assurance.
  • Improving supply chain transparency. IoT enhances end-to-end visibility and traceability. By employing sensors and radiofrequency identification (RFID) tags, businesses can track the movement of food products all along the supply chain, from farm to fork. This transparency helps identify the origin of any issues or recalls, significantly reducing the impact on public health. Moreover, it enables quicker and more targeted responses to any potential food safety breaches, mitigating risks, preventing foodborne illness outbreaks and ensuring consumer trust in the food supply chain.
  • Optimizing shelf life for product inventory. IoT devices collect data on product conditions, such as temperature, humidity and light exposure. This information empowers businesses to optimize inventory management, implement dynamic pricing strategies and reduce waste (and associated costs) by ensuring products are sold or consumed before expiration. By minimizing food waste, companies contribute to sustainability efforts and consumers benefit from fresher and safer products.
  • Upgrading real-time monitoring and predictive analytics. IoT devices provide real-time data on critical factors, including equipment performance, energy consumption and production processes. Businesses can detect patterns and predict potential issues by leveraging advanced analytics and machine learning algorithms. By identifying risks in advance, companies can proactively address them, preventing downtime and improving overall operational efficiency.
  • Elevating the customer experience. IoT can also improve the customer experience. Smart shelves equipped with sensors, for example, can offer personalized recommendations, nutritional information and/or recipe suggestions based on customer preferences. Connected devices in restaurants or food delivery services can streamline the ordering process, improve order accuracy and provide real-time status updates, making the customer journey smoother and more convenient.

It’s clear that IoT offers significant benefits for food companies. Following are five important considerations as you investigate these innovative solutions:

  1. Assess your organization’s specific needs. Identify areas of your food business that can benefit from IoT technology. Consider cold chain management, quality control, inventory management and any other aspect of operations or supply chain that can be optimized. Define the specific goals you want to achieve through IoT implementation.
  2. Choose reliable technology. Select IoT devices and solutions that are reliable, scalable and aligned with your business requirements. Prioritize factors such as data security, interoperability, ease of integration and ongoing support. Ensure that the technology you choose meets industry standards and regulations. Work only with trusted tech vendors.
  3. Examine your data management and analytics processes. Develop a robust data management strategy to collect, store and analyze the vast amounts of data that will be generated by the IoT devices. Employ analytics tools to derive actionable insights from the data, and use these insights to make more informed decisions.
  4. Collaborate with the right partners. Explore partnerships with technology providers, industry associations and regulatory bodies to stay updated on emerging standards, best practices and compliance requirements related to IoT technologies in the food industry. Collaborating with experts and industry peers can accelerate your IoT implementation journey.
  5. Prioritize data security. Implement robust security measures to protect your IoT devices and the data they collect. This includes network security, encryption, authentication protocols and regular monitoring for potential vulnerabilities. Safeguarding data privacy and complying with regulations is vital in maintaining trust with customers and partners.

Avoiding IoT-driven technologies in the food industry is no longer an option. These devices have become necessary to drive efficiency, enhance food safety, meet regulatory requirements and consumers’ evolving expectations, and stay competitive. By leveraging IoT solutions, businesses can optimize their processes, improve transparency, reduce waste and provide exceptional customer experiences. However, successful implementation requires a strategic approach, careful planning, ongoing monitoring and continuous improvement. By prioritizing food safety and communication, and identifying areas of greatest need for improvement, the food industry can unlock the full potential of IoT technology and pave the way for a safer future.

 

 

Tom Woodbury

IoT Technology To Boost Safety, Compliance, and Efficiency: How to Get Started

By Tom Woodbury
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Tom Woodbury

Using Internet of Things (IoT)-based systems to automate temperature monitoring in refrigerators and freezers offers several benefits to restaurants. Following we look at how automated temperature monitoring works and how to get started with IoT.

How it Works: Automated Temperature Monitoring in Action

IoT-based systems use sensors to continuously monitor temperatures in refrigerators and freezers. These sensors are mounted inside the cold storage units in the warmest part of the unit, typically near the door or opening. The sensors collect temperature readings periodically and transmit the data to the cloud. As the data is recorded, the system can detect and report any anomalies.

If the conditions inside a refrigerator or freezer fall outside of predetermined thresholds, managers and staff can be notified (via text, email, or in-store apps) so they can take quick corrective actions outlined in their risk mitigation plans. In addition, the data that is recorded and stored can be analyzed to help identify trends that can be used to inform maintenance schedules and make operations more efficient. For example, the data may show how many years (on average) a refrigerator will last before it fails, so an organization can plan to buy replacement units before a failure occurs.

Benefits of Automated Temperature Monitoring

The positive impacts of automated temperature monitoring, enabled by IoT, are often realized in four key areas:

Food Safety. Maintaining a controlled environment in refrigerators, freezers, and other food storage areas reduces the risk of spoilage. By automating the monitoring process, organizations can keep a continuous watch on cold storage units and alert staff if temperatures rise above predetermined thresholds, allowing them to take immediate corrective action based on their risk mitigation processes. This is particularly beneficial in situations where a refrigerator door might be kept open too long, a freezer door is not entirely shut, or during a power outage.

Regulatory compliance. Regulatory agencies require reporting of food safety compliance. Typically, this is a human-driven process, with manual checks of thermometers and handwritten logs. IoT technologies that automatically monitor and record temperatures provide easy reporting of temperature levels over time. This streamlined process makes it much faster—and easier—to demonstrate compliance.

Efficiency. Automated temperature monitoring can make back-of-house restaurant processes more efficient by eliminating the manual “check and record” processes mentioned above. This frees up staff time to focus on other important tasks, such as serving customers.

Sustainability. By reducing food waste due to spoilage, automated temperature monitoring supports sustainability goals.

How to Get Started

With a wide range of IoT devices and systems available, selecting the right one can be overwhelming. How can you get started? First, identify your organization’s overall goals in incorporating the new technologies, and then review those high-level goals as you investigate options. Here are some criteria to consider:

Device selection: When selecting IoT devices, one size does not fit all. Different devices deliver varying degrees of functionality. Some devices support a single use case, while others have multiple sensors to enable diverse use cases for scalability. Another consideration is battery life. Seek devices that offer extended battery life by leveraging user-replaceable batteries designed for low temperature environments. Other features to look for include use of food-grade plastics and support for firmware updates over the air (FUOTA).

Wireless technology: To effectively penetrate dense refrigerator materials (typically metal), most food service operators are using the open standard, LoRaWAN due to its ability to penetrate walls and maximize battery life.

Data caching: In the event of an interruption in connectivity, you must know what the refrigerator or freezer temperatures were during the outage. Some devices and gateways can cache data and resend as soon as they reconnect, while others cannot. Temperature data caching is critical for applications related to food safety, so be sure to ask for this during the research and evaluation process.

Deployment capabilities: Deployments are complex, and a provider that can navigate deployments at scale is vital. It is important to look at each provider’s technology offerings, installation, and deployment capabilities.

There are many benefits to using IoT to deliver automated temperature monitoring, and these benefits extend beyond food safety to sustainability and improved efficiency. They key is to identify the right devices for your organization’s specific needs.

Steve Knuth
FST Soapbox

The Role of Temperature Monitoring and Reporting Technology in Food Safety

By Steve Knuth
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Steve Knuth

The traditional process for ensuring food safety in storage and transportation focuses on maintaining temperatures that are safe for the types of food or beverage the organization sells. Doing this without data logging technology means that the organization needs to appoint an individual to check refrigeration temperatures on a regular cadence and record that data by hand in case of an audit by the FDA.

Unfortunately, this method lacks 24/7 accountability of temperatures and allows for human error/neglect. If a refrigeration unit goes down outside of the regularly scheduled temperature monitoring cadence, the product can quickly fall outside of the designated safe temperatures. If the food is outside of the safe temperature range for an extended period, that food must be disposed of and will cost the organization a tremendous amount of time and money.

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This problem is equally apparent in transportation. Companies often utilize third-party transportation companies, which means they are relying on someone outside of the organization to responsibly manage and record temperatures and report back to the necessary parties. But the risk of human error and equipment failure can come into play. Temperature issues can even stem from drivers shutting off refrigeration while they sleep to save diesel fuel.

The most effective way to maintain quality control within storage and transport is by utilizing real-time data monitoring with a connected high-precision data logger. Multiple types of data loggers can be used to monitor temperatures in different scenarios. These includes traditional data loggers connected by Ethernet and wireless data loggers with Bluetooth or cellular connectivity. Each version has its role in food and beverage safety.

Connected vs. Manual Loggers

In fixed cold storage, such as within a restaurant or storage facility, an Ethernet or Wi-Fi-connected data logger is a great choice due to its affordability and reliability. For users who’d like to check temperatures on their mobile device while moving around the facility, a Bluetooth logger with mobile application support can be a strong option as well.

These loggers allow the user to get a 24/7 view of their refrigeration unit and correct issues before they lead to food disposal. For instance, if a food storage unit goes down over the weekend when no one is staffing the facility, or a restaurant is closed for a holiday, and temperatures within a refrigerator fall outside of the norm, these connected loggers will alert the user via email or text to correct the issue so they can save the product from spoiling.

One tip for using a connected logger is to set the alert feature to notify the user when temperatures reach the high and low end within the safe temperature spectrum for the food or beverage being stored. This provides an alert before the unit temperature falls outside the safe range, allowing the user to take corrective action before the product falls into unsafe temperatures.

In food and beverage delivery, transport companies are liable for temperature issues, especially if corrective action is not taken. This is where a cellular-connected data logger becomes critical. With a traditional data logger, there is no way for a consignor to know whether a temperature issue has occurred, unless it is checked manually by the driver. At that point, it may be too late to save the consignment. However, cellular-based technology allows consignors to do real-time monitoring without any interaction with the transport company.

Because many shipments are made using third-party transporters, cellular-based data loggers are becoming increasingly popular for maintaining trust between the transporter and all other segments of the supply chain. These wireless loggers also allow a trusted driver to monitor conditions while in route, allowing the driver to take corrective action before temperatures reach critical ranges.

Connected Data Loggers and FSMA

Transporters must also be fully aware of the Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA). These regulations make quality data loggers even more important as transporters may have to verify at any given moment that food was handled properly while in their possession. FSMA also emphasizes the importance of data logging technology. The act requires food handlers to develop a plan that meets the guidelines for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), which should involve an advanced data logger. Issues with data entry, misreading and misinformation are the responsibility of the transporter, and failure to comply with these guidelines can result in seizure, injunction and recalls, all of which can damage the reputation of the entire supply chain.

With all things considered, connected data loggers are extremely cost-effective technology options that can save thousands of dollars and hours of hassle. Because they can be monitored by multiple parties, the transporter or manager of a storage unit/restaurant can become aware of issues regarding temperature before the only safe course of action becomes product disposal.

Loggers help save money in the form of legal fees, compensation and premiums, while also drastically reducing the risks of consumer illness and public relations disasters. Some data logger companies also offer free cloud storage, allowing monitoring and analytics tracking in all locations, at any time of day.

With the high costs of noncompliance in the food industry, it is important for storage managers and transporters to understand that implementing high-precision, connected data monitoring tools can help put these issues to rest.

Wendy Stanley, Radley Corp.
FST Soapbox

The Future of Food Production: IoT and Blockchain

By Wendy Stanley
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Wendy Stanley, Radley Corp.

Since the early 20th century, food safety has been a paramount concern for consumers in the United States. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, which painted a bleak, brutal, and downright disgusting picture of turn-of-the-century food processing facilities led to the creation of some of the country’s first food safety laws. Today, federal agencies and statutes make up a comprehensive food safety system to ensure that the growth, distribution and consumption of foods are safe from start to finish.

While food safety has significantly improved in the century since Sinclair’s time, stories of major outbreaks of foodborne illnesses continue to pop up across the country. Over the past few years, a significant number of outbreaks as a result of pathogens have made the headlines. To mitigate the threat of public health crises and ensure food production and distribution is safe and secure, companies must rely on modern technology to trace the movement of food across the entire supply chain.

How Technology Is Changing the Food Industry

Technology is a powerful, innovative force that has changed the way even well established companies must do business in order to stay relevant. From easier access to nutritional information to digital solutions that make food manufacturing and distribution more efficient, greater consumer awareness driven by technology empowers consumers to make decisions that can greatly affect the food industry’s bottom line.

Technology-driven accountability is playing one outsized role in allowing consumers to make better choices about the foods they consume and purchase. Social media and smartphone apps connect consumers to a wealth of resources concerning the harmful effects of certain ingredients in their food, the source of products, and how particular items are made and produced. In 2015, for example, The Campbell Soup Company removed 13 ingredients from its traditional soup recipes as a result of a greater public demand to understand food sources. Neither food giants nor small producers should expect to remain immune from greater public scrutiny over food health and safety.

Nutritional research is also helping change the conversation around food, granting nutritionists and consumers alike greater access to food-related data. Through easily accessible scholarly journals, apps that provide real-time nutrition information, and meal tracking apps that help users log and understand what they’re eating, consumers can gain a better understanding of nutrition to make more informed choices about their daily food intake. Researchers can also use food-tracking apps to make discoveries about consumer behavior and foods that are eaten.

Technology is also being used to tackle food waste, one of the most pervasive problems facing the food industry. One-third of the total amount of food produced globally, amounting to nearly $1.2 trillion, goes to waste every year. Solving this pervasive crisis has become an industry imperative that is being tackled through a variety of innovative technologies to improve shelf-life, dynamically adjust pricing based on sell-by dates, and allow restaurants to automatically monitor their daily waste.

In the food manufacturing sector, digitally-connected supply chain systems are providing greater visibility into the production of foods and beverages. Supplier management technology delivers data that can be used to optimize processes and improve quality in real-time, making it easy to adjust to consumer demands, respond to logistics challenges, and boost government compliance. The enhanced operational benefits offered through improved supply chain visibility allows manufacturers to produce products faster, safer, and with greater transparency.

Online ordering has also ushered in a new era of food industry behavior. The growing assortment of online ordering apps has just given the consumer more control over quickly ordering their next meal. The trend in online ordering has also allowed restaurants to experiment with new business models like virtual kitchens that offer menus that are only available online.

Connected Factory, manufacturing
The IoT adds a layer of technology to the food manufacturing process. (All photos licensed through Adobe Stock)

IoT: The Future of Food Safety

From the farm to the carryout bag, the impact of technology on the greater food industry is already evident in daily practice. Through enhanced access to data, food producers can run an efficient supply chain that reduces waste, boosts productivity, and meets consumer demand in real-time. Using a variety of online resources, consumers are empowered to quickly make well-informed food purchases that are healthier, more convenient and more sustainable than ever before.

The Internet-of-Things (IoT) adds a layer of technology to the food manufacturing process to ensure greater food safety. A broad series of networked sensors, monitors, and other Internet-connected devices, IoT technology can oversee the entire food manufacturing and distribution process from the warehouse to the point of sale. Boosting transparency across the board, intelligent sensors and cameras can transform any food manufacturing operation into a highly visible, data-backed process that allows for better decision-making and improved real-time knowledge.

While IoT technology is a powerful tool that can improve the efficiency of restaurants and provide enhanced customer experiences, some of its greatest potential lies in its ability to safely monitor food preparation and production. Live data from IoT devices makes it possible to closely monitor food safety data points, allowing manufacturers and restaurants to reduce the risks of foodborne illness outbreaks through enhanced data collection and automated reporting.

Domino’s Pizza, for instance, embraced IoT technology to enhance management processes and monitor the food safety of its products. In the past, restaurants have relied on workers to record food temperatures, a practice that was occasionally overlooked and could lead to issues with health inspectors. Using IoT devices for real-time temperature monitoring, Domino’s automatically records and displays temperature levels of a store’s production, refrigeration, and exhaust systems, allowing employees to view conditions from a live dashboard.

In addition to boosting food safety, the comprehensive monitoring offered by IoT technology can help food companies reduce waste, keep more effective records, and analyze more data for improved operations.

IoT isn’t just a safe solution for improving food safety: It’s a smart solution.

Blockchain: The Future of Food Traceability

The ubiquity of QR codes has made it easy for consumers to quickly gain access to information by scanning an image with their smartphone. From accessing product manuals to downloading songs, QR codes make it simple to provide detailed and relevant content to users in a timely manner.

Blockchain enhances the safety of the business of food production itself.

Blockchain technology provides a powerful opportunity to provide consumers with similar information about food safety. Able to instantaneously trace the lifecycle of food products, blockchain can report a food’s every point of contact throughout its journey from farm to table. By scanning a QR code, for instance, users can quickly access relevant information about a food product’s source, such as an animal’s health, and welfare. Shoppers at Carrefour, Europe’s largest retailer, area already using blockchain traceability to track the stage of production of free-range chickens across France.

Walmart piloted a blockchain implementation by tracing a package of sliced mangoes across every destination until it hit store shelves, from its origin at a farm in Mexico to intermittent stops at a hot-water treatment plant, U.S processing plant, and cold storage facility. Real-time product tracing can be conducted in just two seconds, enabling Walmart and other vendors to provide consumers with access to food safety information that could easily be updated should an outbreak or contamination occur.

Blockchain’s inherent transparency not only makes it possible to identify the safety of food production; it also enhances the safety of the business of food production itself. Because blockchain is based upon an immutable, anonymous ledger, record keeping and accounting can be made more secure and less prone to human error. Payments to farmers and other food suppliers can also become more transparent and equitable.

The High Tech Future of Food

Unlike the days of Sinclair’s The Jungle, food transparency is the name of today’s game. As consumers continue to demand greater access to better food on-demand, food producers must continue to find innovative ways of providing safe, healthy, and ethical solutions.

IoT devices and blockchain present food manufacturers with powerful technological solutions to solve complex problems. Brands choosing to rely on these innovations, such as Domino’s and Walmart, are helping ensure that food is produced, prepared and distributed with a foremost emphasis on health and safety. As these technologies continue to become more intelligent, well-connected, and embraced by leading food producers, consumers should rest assured that they’ll always be able to know exactly what they’re eating, where it’s from, and whether it’s safe.

Roelof Koopmans, Semtech
Retail Food Safety Forum

How Technology Simplifies Food Safety Operations

By Roelof Koopmans
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Roelof Koopmans, Semtech

To get to the restaurant table, food must travel great lengths to preserve that farm fresh quality and in many cases, IoT-enabled sensors are being used to do this. This is especially important as the World Health Organization estimates that one in 10 people fall ill every year from eating contaminated food.

When we think of our favorite dish, we often associate it with delicious flavors, pleasant scents and even memories of a night out with friends. What we likely don’t consider is technology, something that’s critical in ensuring the meal on our plate is safe to consume. Technology plays an essential role in guaranteeing that restaurants are serving fresh food to customers. From identifying operational deficiencies to protecting the overall brand of an organization, there are certain measures restaurants are taking—whether local or country-wide chains—to ensure food quality remains a top priority.

Restaurants are perhaps held to an even higher standard than your local supermarket when it comes to the quality of food on the table. Therefore, it’s imperative that perishables are cared for properly throughout the entirety of the food supply chain and that starts well before the food ever enters the restaurant’s front door. With long-range, low-power wireless IoT technology, farmers can get insights into a number of variables that may impact the growth of their crops. Armed with that knowledge, they can make real-time decisions to optimize crop growth and ultimately produce a greater yield. For example, farmers today can set up a series of sensors throughout their farm to measure real-time soil conditions, including humidity and pH levels. If they notice an especially high pH, for example, they can immediately remedy the situation and provide the crop with the proper nutrients or conditions it needs to grow.

For food safely to arrive at restaurants, it must be kept in a controlled environment during its journey from the farm or warehouse, and carefully monitored during that time. The temperature of refrigerated shipping units or storage facilities is an incredibly important factor, as bacteria growth can increase even by simply opening the refrigerator door or with a slight temperature shift, and employees are often tasked with managing this. With large facilities comes increased labor for employees, which can lead to inefficient temperature monitoring. To eliminate food waste and contamination, IoT sensors deployed throughout facilities can eliminate human error, and deliver more consistent monitoring, via real-time updates when temperatures enter unsafe territories.

Numerous international food handling and food safety laws have been implemented to reduce the risk of foodborne illness resulting from bacterial growth. A major component of most “farm-to-fork” regulations is the ability to track, report and maintain appropriate temperature conditions inside refrigeration and freezer units throughout the entire cold chain—including when the food finally makes it the restaurant.

This is a universal priority for restaurants around the world, including Hattie B’s Hot Chicken, a southern-style food chain, which started in Nashville and now has locations nationwide. To successfully do this, the restaurant turned to technology. They used a supplier of wireless connectivity solutions with integrated long range, low power technology for temperature monitoring sensors. The sensors, which are capable of penetrating stainless steel doors and concrete walls, can monitor temperatures in refrigerators and freezers. This is essential, as the technology eliminates possible human error in manually checking temps and other food safety procedures. In instances where refrigerator temperatures shift out of range, the technology remotely notifies restaurant managers in real-time, allowing them to act quickly, ensuring their perishables remain fresh and safe for customers at all times.

Food waste in restaurants is closely tied to food safety. In the United States alone, food waste is estimated to be between 30–40% of the food supply, according to the USDA. In the restaurant industry in particular, human error is one of the most notable reasons for food waste. To eliminate the human error when handling food and monitoring storage, an IoT solution provider for the industrial, smart city and smart energy segments, integrated long-range low power technology into smart refrigeration solutions for restaurant applications. This IoT solution is designed for humidity and temperature monitoring, delivering real-time updates to managers to ensure the shelf life of food is maximized and it remains safe to consume, ultimately leading to a decrease in food waste.

From farm to table, technology plays an essential role in ensuring restaurants are delivering the highest quality of fresh, safe food. It allows organizations to identify operational deficiencies and reduce overall food safety risk, which is imperative when maintaining a strong business in a competitive industry.

Stuart Gavurin, Misson Data
Retail Food Safety Forum

The Internet of Things: More Than Just Food Safety

By Stuart Gavurin
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Stuart Gavurin, Misson Data

When it comes to food safety and temperature monitoring, the appeal of automation is crystal clear. Why continue to depend on a costly and unreliable manual process with clipboards, binders, spreadsheets and guesswork when the latest Internet of Things (IoT) technology continuously monitors conditions and sends actionable alerts in real time?

Industry experts note that temperature sensors are the most likely IoT devices to scale throughout the enterprise. While food safety and temperature monitoring are critically important and must meet health code regulations, it is not the only information that needs to be tracked and monitored in a restaurant, grocery store or other foodservice facility.

Although the cost of IoT technology has dropped significantly, the challenge for many newcomers to IoT technology lies in building a business case that the C-suite will accept. To solidify an understanding of the value, organizations should consider the variety of critical operations that can be optimized by IoT connectivity.

Beyond installing a few smart devices IoT platforms are designed to provide a set of common but critical functionality and services—broadly, a software-based infrastructure that can be used as a utility. For IoT, this means the software platform can support interactions with distributed sensors and automation. It is the software that tracks and interprets things like temperature, humidity, energy or movement data and then integrates in a manner that can be incorporated into core business processes that are executed by staff.

The platform approach has the effect of reducing complexity, shortening the learning curve, and enabling the enterprise to focus on its core competencies, rather than getting bogged down trying to understand how to implement, use and maintain the IoT components and technology. The benefits of this approach are that it reduces time to deploy, investment and risk. The result is a business operations-focused IoT-enabled platform that abstracts the complex details, is easy to use, and intelligently focused on delivering maximum value.

For instance, consider a large supermarket chain outfitted with a variety of sensors and gateways that goes beyond monitoring cold and hot food storage temperatures. The suite of hardware and software deployed can be expanded to monitor functions such as: lighting and energy usage, HVAC conditions, customer wait times, open/closed doors, water levels, and fluid flow volume at beverage dispensers. All of this data can be integrated with other back-office software, such as employee scheduling, inventory management, business intelligence, and more, achieving a true 360-degree view of foodservice operations.

Condition tracking systems can be combined with task management functionality to ensure that data is not just monitored, but action is taken as needed. Text message (SMS) or email alerts can be set for anomalies based on customizable threshold values and complex rules. Task flow checklists can be automated, and a digital record is available to bring transparency to execution timing, stop violations, and ensure critical problems are remediated.

Ultimately, as IoT evolves, the enterprise becomes focused less on devices and infrastructure and more on platforms supporting functionality and improving customer experience. As your organization considers investment in IoT, look for solutions that go beyond hardware to encompass software platforms, applications and, most importantly, the business goals of delivering great services and products while making and saving money. Before you spend the money and effort to deploy connected things, decide how IoT will help your business increase efficiencies and provide new value propositions.