Healthcare

The healthcare industry will contend with industrial and logistics for the top spot in revenue and impact on IoT. Any and all systems that improve the quality of life and reduce health costs is a top concern in nearly every developed country. The IoT is poised to allow for remote and flexible monitoring of patients wherever they may be. Advanced analytics and machine learning tools will observe patients in order to diagnose illness and prescribe treatments. Such systems will also be the watchdogs in the event of needed life-critical care. Currently, there are about 500 million wearable health monitors, with double-digit growth in the years to come.

The constraints on healthcare systems are significant. From HIPAA compliance to the security of data, IoT systems need to act like hospital quality tools and equipment. Field systems need to communicate with healthcare centers 24/7, reliably and with zero downtime if the patient is being monitored at home. Systems may need to be on a hospital network while monitoring a patient in an emergency vehicle.