It is certain that in the future, events like the recent incident of the Ever Given cargo ship getting stuck sideways in the Suez Canal, or cases of vessels facing mishaps in their approaches to ports, can be completely avoided when fifth-generation communication technology allows for the development of applications that provide preventive readings of distances, approach, water currents, wind behavior, and other essential aids for maritime navigation.
5G technology and the Internet of Things (IoT) have already begun to shape the socio-economic behaviors of the world. In 2020, and with the onset of the pandemic caused by Covid-19, the world rapidly took on a significant challenge to better safeguard the economy, which involved adopting different forms of remote work.
In response, interconnectivity needed to become more efficient, and it is evident that the global economic reopening, with its various demands, is increasingly turning to the use of the Internet of Things (IoT) and its possibilities to streamline digital interactions.
But it’s not just about connecting and communicating more effectively. The Internet of Things (IoT) is by far the turning point on the path to new technological and business models in various economic, cultural, industrial, scientific, educational, computer, and communication fronts, among others.
In cybersecurity, for example, levels of resistance to criminal activities will increase, allowing private and state organizations to safeguard valuable information about customers, employees, citizens, and government records.
Remote work, becoming increasingly dynamic, requires more and more of the Internet of Things (IoT) to streamline its various areas and have greater control over them. Similarly, automation processes will become more effective, intelligent, and proactive, relying on advanced technologies such as Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and advanced algorithms.
On another front, there is the optimization of the Cloud, with increasingly larger possibilities in managing applications, data, assets, and infrastructure, thus optimizing the challenges that organizations face in their needs.
IoT for Latin America
Trends and the Internet of Things (IoT) market clearly indicate that 5G technology will provide greater connectivity and faster execution speeds on devices, improving their functionality and effectiveness. Logically, as these achievements progress, the global demand for them will increase.
In Latin America, we are not far from these possibilities, and the Colombian company AZLOGICA® has proven to be a pioneer in implementing the Internet of Things since 2015. It developed and has been updating its Team Manager® platform, which, due to the needs raised by the pandemic, advanced to its TM-CoV2 version. This was done with the idea that companies could manage, optimize, and control their production cycles.
Soon, the properties of 5G technology will facilitate improvements to its Pay As You Drive® platform. With this platform, AZLOGICA® has been providing the insurance sector not only the possibility to streamline the processes of buying and selling vehicle insurance but also to parameterize their variables, achieve online exposure levels, and automatically establish a rate for each coverage in a policy, adjusting it to a real value. Through the platform, sectors associated with automobiles, general transportation, SOAT, and even General Insurance will be able to assess the degree of exposure to real risk measured with telematics, GPRS-GPS devices, processing, exposure and consumption analysis, and analytical prediction.
Essentially, and thanks to 5G technology, this tool will provide higher quality and speed in the appraisal processes. Latency will be almost completely reduced, translated into a high-quality image. Undoubtedly, the presence of the appraiser will soon be abolished by an efficient online process, with high-quality standards, which will potentially benefit mobility solutions.
These community-oriented solutions use increasingly flexible application programming interfaces with high control capabilities. In the automotive sector, these tools will streamline prevention standards aimed at reducing accidents. Essentially, there will be a reduction in the impact or risk of driving in increasingly congested cities. These solutions use integrated Internet of Things (IoT) technology in traffic systems and vehicles, in the design of smarter networks aimed at reducing traffic and congestion.
At this point, it is worth mentioning Artificial Intelligence, which, thanks to its constant development over the last decade, has been key in supporting various complex processes of companies and governments. It has also played a crucial role in understanding the pandemic and its cause (COVID-19), and in the speed with which the vaccine against this virus was developed and launched.
Artificial Intelligence is becoming the basis of marketing, providing a better relationship with customers. During the pandemic, it has been relevant in registering data on customer behavior. These innovations and new dimensions in business will allow organizations, thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT) through this Artificial Intelligence, to assume a more dynamic business landscape.
In the case of AZLOGICA® and its application in the vehicle insurance sector, this Artificial Intelligence is what will accurately measure the damage and its severity after a vehicle incident. The tool will provide, through telecommunications systems, the repair variables and their justifications.
5G in Healthcare
Finally, returning to the performance and openness to new applications that will be developed with the arrival of 5G technology, it is certain that one of the most favored sectors will be health. There will be an increasing incorporation of electronic factors in areas such as telemedicine, tele-surgery, and remote monitoring.
The situation of the pandemic caused by Covid-19 has shown a latent acceleration in the need to resort to new technologies, which will continue to be of immense utility in the immediate future. This advantage has been directly related to the biosafety protocols that have become so stringent since the Coronavirus pandemic was instituted, and the associations made regarding epidemiological control and the administration of the controls they require. Measurement of socio-demographic variables of patients, symptomatic records, quantification of environments according to temperature measurements, and their respective monitoring.
Other applications are already emerging in the field of health. One has to do with monitoring the health status of patients remotely, by administering all the patient’s medical information and variables associated with treatments and procedures that do not require or require the doctor’s physical presence. This information is immediately available. Through sensors that make different readings around the patient, the necessary information is transferred online to the doctor who can advance patient surveillance and make decisions promptly. Thus, thanks to intelligent reports, early warnings are achieved for immediate action, which translates into timely decisions, facilitating the collection of statistics that, moreover, will streamline prediction and the effective possibility of taking preventive measures.
Another solution in the health sector through the Internet of Things is associated with the management of medical home care. From their vehicle, a system connects the doctor, and upon receiving a person’s request, the management, location, assignment, registration, and travel times are streamlined, reducing response and diagnostic times.
In another scenario, there are virtual assistance systems, which, through high-quality video, allow a preliminary observation that, thanks to images provided by artificial intelligence, provides visualization elements in the diagnosis, capable of facilitating a more accurate remote medical attention.
The technological acceleration in the solutions proposed by the Internet of Things (IoT) and the use of 5G technology clearly tend towards economic growth, a very high return on investment, within a sustainable development framework, and the possibility of placing certain daily life aspects within a high technological standard for the benefit of people, communities, cities, and governments.
