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2 million new roles by 2022 thanks to the #InternetofEverything

How manufacturing and IT will become inherently connected thanks to the Internet of Everything

With the Internet of Everything (IoE) set to generate $14.4 trillion of value in the private sector over the next decade, businesses are queuing up to lay claim to their own little patch of the connected landscape. With IoE having the potential to grow corporate profits 21 percent by 2022, we can certainly expect to see a little jostling in the line. Ultimately, the challenge for businesses will be in how to scale to meet the growing demands of such a booming economy whilst updating their business offering. Those who can scale effectively and open up new roles to meet new demands will be those who capture the greatest share of profits.

Over the next decade, we can expect to see the 99 percent of the electronics yet to be connected to the Internet becoming intelligent, connected devices. Connecting all of these devices and making them smart, is all about improving the world's 'connected intelligence'. The Internet of Everything will enable faster decision-making, greater sustainability and substantial innovation. This will affect not just the way we do our jobs, but the kinds of jobs we do.

Businesses will see new opportunities to create new products and services based around growing IoE connections. Success will likely become dependent on willingness to venture into the connected frontier with those businesses which stay behind losing their relevance in the ever-connected world. As products become connected - as milk cartons go digital and toothbrushes become intelligent - the amount of data produced will be vast. In connecting the unconnected, a process which is currently churning out 25,000 connecting devices every 15 minutes, it is estimated that 220,000 new engineers will be needed each year between now and 2022. Such roles will revolve largely around processing the vast amounts of data produced by billions of new devices. We're likely to see a far greater demand for skilled IT workers, needed to update legacy networks with innovative new storage methods. In the past two years alone, we've produced more data than the preceding three decades which means we need people to manage it all. Data also needs protecting and there is a huge need for more cybersecurity professionals - something outlined in the Cisco Annual Security Report 2014.

Over the next ten years, we will see industrial process and IT intersecting. Alongside devices and the data they produce, we're going to see IoE becoming much more fundamental to production processes. Sometimes referred to as 'smarter manufacturing', the industry is entering a new digitalised environment with the help of IoE. It certainly stands to reason manufacturing plants themselves will need to be as 'intelligent' as the billions of connected devices they produce, if not more so. Manufacturing and IT will become inherently connected by 2022 and, as such, both sectors will gain a far deeper understanding of the other. The connection between the two will open up new territories, and with new territory comes the need for new skills and new job roles.

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