In this age of global connectedness via the Internet - aka "Internet of Things, Internet of Everything and the Machine2Machine". I've distilled the resulting economic impact into "Four Foundational Pillars of Our Interconnectedness Future".

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Four Foundational Pillars of Our “Interconnectedness
Future”
Continuing thru 2014 and over the next 3-10 years – we may well see an extended period of hyper growth
and unprecedented revenue creation in the information and communication technology (ICT) space. But
unlike any other capital generating explosion we’ve seen since maybe the Industrial Revolution – this expansion will
spill out of the ICT trough and flood the global landscape by several orders of magnitudes greater than any thing we
have seen to date.
Noted author, futurist, inventor and entrepreneur Ray Kurzweil is quoted as saying “the 21st Century will be equivalent
to 20,000 years of progress at today’s rate – about 1,000 times greater than the 20th Century.”
Kurzweil’s accuracy is uncanny and while controversial he has been rewarded for his writing, receiving the Most
Outstanding Computer Science Book of 1990 award by the Association of American Publishers. He goes on to say in
the award winning book “The Age of Intelligent Machines” (1990), that the Internet would become a reliable means of
worldwide use, have explosive growth in users and content – be accessible by wireless devices/systems which would
be widespread and practical for use by the 21st Century.
So what does our “Interconnectedness Future” (our term – which we claim) look like … envision the concentric
circles of an expanding pool of water – created by the forceful injection of a cataclysmic rock, the resulting ripples
radiating outward – illustrate the intersection of the “Internet of Things (IoT)”, Cisco terms it the “Internet of Everything
(IoE)” an all inclusive device/process/people connectedness, also encompassing the Machine to Machine (M2M)
segment.
This mashup is destined to be a global phenomenon that will leave no individual, company or nation untouched.
Applications, use cases and services will be legendary and monetizable.
We’re seeing numbers projected from Cisco of 50 billion devices (things) connected by 2020 – over $14.4 trillion of
value (net profit) at stake – which Cisco defines as “the potential bottom-line value that can be created, or that will
migrate among private – sector companies and industries based on their ability to harness the IoE over the next
decade”. Cisco has even created an IoE value index.

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Michael P. Monroe is an independent, cloud & premise based Unified Communications &
Collaboration (UCC) consultant with over twenty years of global sales, business development,
management and marketing experience leading, developing and contributing to Information
Technology and Telecom companies ranging in size from Global 1000, Fortune 500, INC.500 to
start-ups. He... View full profile
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A recent Network World article says “the Internet of Things will continue to creep into consumers’ homes in 2014,
but the real growth in the next year is likely to be in the enterprise”.
We believe our “Interconnectedness Future” will have four foundational, distinct and identifiable pillars – all
interconnected & inter-reliant:
1. The Data Acquisition Pillar – this is where the devices, processes and technologies are interconnected and
transmit, receive and gather data. Companies, businesses and services landing here can and will in some cases
operate in this pillar only. They will provide data to the other pillars as a service – with or without interpretation.
2. The Information Extraction Pillar – where acquired data becomes intelligent information. Accessible,
actionable, meaningful, interpreted, categorized, stored and secured. There will be a host of players here – big
money will be made in this pillar. Governmental regulation will be required and privacy will be challenged. This
could be the next battleground of the fight between the forces of good & evil, nation vs. nation …
3. The Revenue Recognition Pillar – another sweet spot for the entrepreneurial types and problem solvers. Here is
where corporate business challenges and consumer opportunities will be identified, solutions will be architected,
companies will be birthed and perhaps the largest dollars will be made. This may be the widest ripple created and
may take the most time to be realized/actualized, but money will be made for a long, long time in this pillar.
4. The Relationship Sustainability Pillar – the lifetime value of a customer/consumer/client … will be the defining
mission statement of those who play here. The harvest is repeat business, distinguishable by its customer-
centric service approach with low cost of sale attributes and high value propositions. Probably highly automated
and extremely profitable. Pillars 1-3 become one time only opportunities if this pillar is missing or is not handled
properly. Outsourcing is a strong possibility here – which could signal an opportunity to return to American soil.
Conclusion – It is beyond the scope of this primer to “project or slot” companies into the areas we have architected.
Although some companies that exist today, can obviously fit in one or more pillars. What’s more exciting are the
companies, services, products and solutions that don’t exist yet – the new creations that will emerge and entrants that
will come from all over the world.
This article originally appeared on Musings of a Cloud UCC Sales Exec and has been republished with permission.
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