What is Internet of Behaviours (IoB)?
Internet of Behaviours ( IoB ) is a concept that has emerged from the massive upsurge in the IoT phenomenon.
IoT ( Internet of Things ) is the sharing of information between devices such as Watches, Sensors, Home Appliances etc. which are connected to the internet usually through WiFi.
With the vast amounts of data available from these IoT devices, the next logical question that arises is, how to capitalize and analyze this data for useful benefits?
Undoubtedly, the implications of such analyses would be huge for business enterprises. At the foremost, they would provide insights into the comportments, desires and tastes of the potential consumers.
And based on such profiles businesses can then temper advertisements to titillate the right audience.
The best example of this is how Google and Facebook to track surfers and use AI ( Artificial Intelligence ) to pop-up Ads suited to their interests.
This elevates the chances of purchase to a great extent. This consequence, an effect of the amalgamation of the fields of behavioural psychology, software design and data analytics is obviously a pleasing fortuity for the service provider.
The process of IoB begins with the visualization of interaction patterns and points of contact of the user.
The needs of the customer are given foremost importance while maintaining a unified and coherent apps development interface, maintaining the navigation easy, intuitive and valuable.
Over this basic design, features such as searching, downloading, viewing and social media interaction are added which can be used to track and formulate a behavioural profile for the user.
Although some users would be reluctant to share data, many would consent, if it adds value to the service.
Consider Amazon for instance. They provide various social media handles – Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest etc. Data from these plug-ins are accumulated in an Amazon AI and a psychological profile is generated.
This is then used to suggest personalised products rather than dropping generalised emails. Undoubtedly, this is a better way of transaction.
Furthermore, by bringing together existing technologies such as facial recognition, place tracking, and big data, people’s overall conduct can also be tracked, and supplementary benefits can be introduced to encourage acquisition.
Another example is – IoT devices connect people to the central behavioural AI. For example, a Bluetooth sensor, can trace a person’s heart rate, speed of walking, vitals etc. and upload via Smartphone to the internet.
This can then be used by bio-medical and insurance companies to generate, use statistical data to better understand patient behaviour and suggest corrective measures.
A mutual benefit to both consumer and supplier in many IoB scenarios would be that in-depth access to the consumer is gained as a result of which, Service Quality and Value Chains are enhanced.
The business manager really begins to understand what features and utility matter and the customer in the end is benefitted.
In conclusion, in the end, I would say that, although organizations can use IoB, to know the inclinations and mindsets of potential buyers right from home, it does raise the question of privacy and security.
If the data falls into malicious hands, for instance, the consequences can be disastrous. Perhaps our legal system needs to play catch-up and its constructs refined to build a greater atmosphere of confidence.
These issues among others need to be addressed with a lot of vision and foresight as organizations fight hard to compete for market dominance while holding on to high standards of ethics and credibility.