What is the Internet of Things and what could it mean for ordinary South Africans?
Just when you thought you knew all the jargon for today’s technologies, along comes one that may be new to many: the “Internet of Things”. And like most technological jargon, it’s not that self-explanatory.
But it is very practical and once you understand it, makes a lot of sense. The best way to grasp it is through example: You’re driving and it’s raining. Your maps app, along with sensors in the road, warn your car about the wet road and traffic ahead and your car automatically slows down. You get home and your car connects to Wi-Fi and your radio starts downloading the newly released album from your favourite group. Your fridge noticed you were out of milk and has ordered more for you. The delivery is waiting at your front door. And so on.
It’s essentially about connected devices. Many South Africans are already getting a feel for this by using smart watches for fitness. And despite South Africans being in the top 10 for countries already applying the Internet of Things to their daily lives, compared to the rest of the world, we still lag behind.
This is understandable because most of the technology is not quite relevant for our context, for what the ordinary African needs right now. Yet there is potential for Africa here that excites me.
Consider this: You live in a rural village. It’s a long drive to the closest pharmacy. You’re planning to go on Wednesday, but what you don’t know is that stock at the closest pharmacy is depleted.
However, thanks to the Internet of Things, you receive an SMS informing you that they’re out of stock but, not to worry as your doctor has prescribed an alternative, which you can collect on Wednesday. Behind the scenes the stock system at the pharmacy noticed low stock levels and automatically ordered more, sending a message to the pharmacist and your doctor. Your doctor thus prescribed the alternative, alerted the system which alerted the pharmacist, and you were then notified.
This sort of scenario shows how we can solve truly African problems in an African way, using the Internet of Things. It shows how this technology can vastly improve the daily lives of many, many ordinary South Africans—all using technology that we can actually implement today.
Isn’t that exciting? While there are privacy and ethical issues to deal with, we need to get around the table with the developed world and work out how to get the Internet of Things working for our context. We have brilliant innovators in Africa who, I think, can do just this, and come up with excellent, home-grown solutions.
Africa keeps moving forward!
Written by Nnamdi Oranye, Author - Disrupting Africa: The Rise & Rise of African Innovation