The advent of intelligent sensors and wireless technologies has paved the way for the Internet of Things (IoT) to gain wide recognition across a number of end user verticals. Although greater asset connectivity is poised to dissolve boundaries between individual units in the industry, the increase in data traffic has resulted in a push towards software tools for data management, visualization and analytics. While integration and storage tools are essential to aggregate, analyze, integrate and store diverse structured and unstructured data types, current business imperatives to optimize production operations in a cost-effective manner have resulted in an upsurge in demand for analytical platforms to measure key performance indicators of mission-critical operations. Apart from traditional analytical platforms that where built with diagnostic capabilities, the market is witnessing an influx of predictive and prescriptive analytics where predictive algorithms and pattern recognition allow end users to take corrective measures prior to failure.

From a manufacturing standpoint, the greatest impact is expected for repair and maintenance activities where personnel within the enterprise can take a proactive approach to minimize costs incurred due to downtime of operations. The compelling benefits of closing the data loop to provide real-time business intelligence will further allow the enterprise to optimize inventory management, improve resource productivity, and validate system performance.

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