Oracle President Mark Hurd on the Internet of Things: 5 Takeaways

As the co-president of American multinational computer technology firm Oracle Corporation, Mark Hurd understands the Internet of Things better than most. His views on the Internet of Things can help you understand this concept and how it’ll impact the world.

1. The Internet of Things Isn’t Just About Computers

The Internet of Things describes a range of interconnected intelligent devices that go beyond computers, smartphones, and tablets.

“Home appliances, food, industrial equipment, pets, pharmaceutical products, pallets, cars, luggage, packaged goods, athletic equipment, even clothing will be streaming data,” Hurd explained in his article “The Internet of Things is Really the Internet of People.”

Some of that data will be superfluous, but much of it will help businesses perform better and help individuals improve their health.

2. The Internet of Things will Affect Every Industry

Oracle Corporation’s recent acquisition of MICROS Systems Inc. was a strategic move made to extend Oracle’s current industry offerings. The company felt MICROS’ integrated software and hardware solutions for the hospitality and retail sectors would pair perfectly with its more general business applications, technologies, and cloud innovations. The collaboration is set to help hotels, food, and beverage firms become more tech-savvy.

While this deal concerns a very specific industry, hospitality and food retail is just one of many sectors to be impacted by “cloud, mobile, social, big data, and the Internet of Things,” according to a statement issued by Oracle. These aren’t separate ideas, but technological concepts that work hand in hand.

If you need more evidence of this trend, just check out Twitter feed for Mark Hurd—it features links to videos containing key reasons people should love the cloud. No sector will be untouched by the Internet of Things, or the technological concepts that work with it.

3. Companies Must Nurture Their Employees to Meet the Demand

The business world has been rapidly changing as industries learn to adapt to tech pressures including “the rise of social customer engagement, the rapid acceleration of product-development cycles, and the relentless move to mobile-first.” But Mark Hurd believes this is “the start of an uphill climb to the top of a roller-coaster.” Currently, around 10 billion devices are connected to the Internet, but he feels this number will double in just a few years.

The Internet of Things will trigger this Big Data explosion, and industry leaders will need good people underneath them to manage this data and use it to “excite and delight customers.” They can’t rely on their current workforce, as by 2020, we’ll see significant turnover rates due to the retirement of the baby boomers. Companies will need to replace their experienced workforce with new employees, and encourage younger workers to stick around.

“As companies begin replacing up to 30 percent of their workforce, they will need thousands of new types of data-native workers to exploit the Internet of Things in the service of the Internet of People,” Hurd explained. “The shift in corporate mindset here can’t be overstated.”

4. Companies Aren’t Ready

Mark Hurd meets more big business figures than most, and he’s spoken to many of them about the Internet of Things and its influence on industries. However, he says that “only a small number of companies get it.” Perhaps they feel the Internet of Things won’t have a great impact on their business, or they believe they’ll have time to adapt later. However, Hurd feels these businesspeople are kidding themselves.

5. Companies Need to Start Thinking about the Internet of Things Today

Hurd believes there’s no time like the present to start thinking about the Internet of Things and the way it’ll change business practices. Putting plans in place today will help companies cope when they “become deluged with unprecedented streams of data.” He feels companies will need new “organizational structures, decision-making models, risk-management profiles and reward systems,” which should be workshopped now. Companies that do this will have the edge as the Internet of Things becomes a greater force.

Thanks to the clear explanations of tech visionary Mark Hurd, it’s much easier to get a grip on the Internet of Things and how it will change the way we do business.

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