Chapter 1. IoT and Decision Science

The Internet of Things (IoT) and Decision Science have been among the hottest topics in the industry for a while now. You would have heard about IoT and wanted to learn more about it, but unfortunately you would have come across multiple names and definitions over the Internet with hazy differences between them. Also, Decision Science has grown from a nascent domain to become one of the fastest and most widespread horizontal in the industry in the recent years. With the ever-increasing volume, variety, and veracity of data, decision science has become more and more valuable for the industry. Using data to uncover latent patterns and insights to solve business problems has made it easier for businesses to take actions with better impact and accuracy.

Data is the new oil for the industry, and with the boom of IoT, we are in a world where more and more devices are getting connected to the Internet with sensors capturing more and more vital granular dimensions that had never been touched earlier. The IoT is a game changer with a plethora of devices connected to each other; the industry is eagerly attempting to untap the huge potential that it can deliver. The true value and impact of IoT is delivered with the help of Decision Science. IoT has inherently generated an ocean of data where you can swim to gather insights and take smarter decisions with the intersection of Decision Science and IoT. In this book, you will learn about IoT and Decision Science in detail by solving real-life IoT business problems using a structured approach.

In this chapter, we will begin by understanding the fundamental basics of IoT and Decision Science problem solving. You will learn the following concepts:

• Understanding IoT and demystifying Machine to Machine (M2M), IoT, Internet of Everything (IoE), and Industrial IoT (IIoT)
• Digging deeper into the logical stack of IoT
• Studying the problem life cycle
• Exploring the problem landscape
• The art of problem solving
• The problem solving framework

It is highly recommended that you explore this chapter in depth. It focuses on the basics and concepts required to build problems and use cases. As hands-on exercises are not added, I am sure most software engineers would be tempted to skip this and move to the later chapters. The later chapters will frequently refer to concepts and points elucidated here for more realistic context. Hence, it's very important to go through this chapter in detail before moving on.