Imagine if the equipment you use in the workplace could:
- show you what you need to know about how they operate
- tell you how to use them correctly and efficiently
- help you be safer working with or around them
- offer you details to complete and submit regulatory forms and checklists
- show you how to fix them if they are broken
- provide you with the schematics and diagrams you need
- help you contact a mentor or emergency assistance
- and more, lots more.
What if all of this information was delivered automatically whenever you were within a short distance of the machine? Imagine if it was instantly and securely viewable from any nearby internet-connected device.
Think of the enormous impact that could have: eliminating errors, boosting employee productivity. It could dramatically reduce errors and injuries and associated workman’s comp and insurance costs — all of which would obviously have a positive effect on the bottom line.
We’ve all heard and read about how The Internet of Things in the home will utterly transform the ways in which we live. We’ve heard for years how your refrigerator is going to send a shopping list to your grocery store, your car will make an appointment for an oil change, and the blinds on your windows will automatically close as dusk falls.
What about the Internet of Things in the workplace? It seems to me that far more people need the machines they work with on the job to supply them with specific information.
While I can appreciate that having a dishwasher that will automatically turn itself on when its full might be nice, having a piece of machinery that can provide me with safety warnings or with a checklist before I operate it could prevent me from being seriously injured.
That’s a whole new category that I call “The Internet of Smart Things.”
I recently saw a demo of an app that can make everything I’ve just described above a reality. The app won the Best in Show Award at mLearnCon 2014 DemoFest in San Diego, and it went up against some big names in the Edtech industry.
The app is driven by iBeacon technology connected to any cross-platform internet connected device that can pull information from the cloud. The beacon goes on any machine or piece of equipment and sends out a specific signal when you get close. The app ‘hears’ the signal and calls the cloud for the information on that machine or piece of equipment. You get a tailored menu of information choices that could include safety checklists, operating instructions, functional specs, diagrams, and safety warnings. Whatever you need. Whenever that information is really needed.
You have now crossed over into the Internet of Smart Things.
The opportunities are vast and diverse, across industries ranging from mining, logging oil exploration and refining, to manufacturing, pharmaceutical and medical, construction and engineering, food production and agriculture.
According to a recent Gartner study the size of the market for the Internet of Things (IoT) by 2020 is estimated to be $1.9 Trillion.
And here’s a breakdown by Industry according to another Gartner study:
Here’s the link to the 9-minute demo of the app I saw. It’s technical and explains how it works:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0jq8ohnaykfa09w/DemoFestArchiveBestOfmLearningDemoFest2014Baty.mp4?dl=0
I invite you to take a look and tell me what you think. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
David Grebow KnowledgeStar 
The Internet of Things is definitely the future and not necessarily that far away future. I’m wondering will it influence eLearning and if yes then how exactly. Any ideas?
LikeLike
Hi John, Yes we have more than an idea, we have the app called KnowledgeStar™. Our prediction is that when the Internet of Things becomes widespread in a few years, and machines and equipment will be able to ‘talk’ with you through your internet-connected device, hard skills training will go away. As my sister in Italy would say “Punto!”. That means no more time or money spent on designing, developing and delivering hard skills training. No more worries about people quickly falling off the learning curve. It will be performance support just-in-time to get the job done, instead of just-in-case training by appointment just in case you need to know it someday.
This is from a whitepaper we’re writing: “If the things we work with could only tell us how to safely operate them, let us know what they need to run at peak efficiency, show us how to fix them and replace their parts, the result would be dramatic. Increases in performance and compliance, reductions in costly errors and downtime, and the avoidance of expensive and even deadly accidents. It would change everything by making every thing smarter.” So if elearning is still focusing on hard skills training, we predict it will soon disappear and be replaced by the Internet of Smart Things and mlearning.
LikeLike
Sorry John I forgot one of the most important elements: measurement. Right now it’s iffy at best to measure the relationship of training for hard skills and performance. With a product like KnowledgeStar and the Internet of Smart Things, the measurement is automatic.
The smart device and the smart thing in the smart workplace all feed back to whoever needs to see if the work is done correctly, safety forms are filled out, compliance reports completed, break-fix or replacement done in a timely manner and more. Measurement is built into the smart workplace.
Sorry Kirkpatrick but Level 5 never really worked in my experience.
LikeLike