IoT Remote Monitoring: A Key Driver of Enterprise Resilience During COVID‑19 and Beyond

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has proven indispensable for businesses navigating the COVID‑19 crisis and emerging stronger once normal operations resume. According to a recent McKinsey & Co. report, industrial leaders faced a single imperative: keep their operations running. “IIoT, implemented in a plug‑and‑play mode, can be instrumental in ensuring business continuity and minimizing economic damage by ensuring employee safety and security, improving liquidity, and lowering short‑term costs,” the firm notes.

Bill Scudder, senior vice president and general manager of AIoT Solutions at Aspen Technologies, highlights the acceleration of digital transformation: “Recent McKinsey data shows that businesses across industries have vaulted five years forward in consumer and business digital adoption in a matter of around eight weeks.”

Navigating the Pandemic with IIoT and Remote Monitoring

Ed Nabrotzky, director of sales and strategy at Panasonic, explains how IIoT can keep companies operationally efficient while complying with health and safety regulations. “IIoT can be utilized for workforce tracking and monitoring to help companies ensure employees and customers keep safe distances,” he says. “Wearable trackers offer real‑time tracking of staff and enable logging of all contacts made during a shift—a valuable tool for contact tracing.”

Johnson Controls’ Phil Clement, global chief marketing officer and head of ecosystems, showcases how the company’s own technology tracks and traces employees. Their cloud‑based platform aggregates real‑time data from a range of plug‑and‑play sensors—Bluetooth LE badges, asset trackers, intelligent equipment monitors, temperature, humidity, noise, light, room and desk occupancy sensors—all wire‑free. The app delivers alerts on potential social‑distancing violations and pinpoints hard‑to‑detect hotspots.

Given fewer workers on the factory floor due to social distancing or outbreaks, Michele Pelino of Forrester Research emphasizes the importance of remote monitoring. “Remote monitoring, predictive maintenance, and connected asset management are critical because downtime translates directly into lost revenue.”

The top use of IIoT during the pandemic is predictive maintenance, which leverages advanced analytics to forecast equipment failure using historical data. Richard Soley, executive director of the Industrial Internet Consortium, explains, “Instead of scheduled maintenance, you perform it only when necessary, based on past experience—an enormous cost saving.”

Accenture’s Vikrant Viniak illustrates the value in the oil and gas sector: “Predictive maintenance reduces costly, scheduled shutdowns and improves efficiency, which is vital when revenue is tied to volatile market prices.”

Using IoT Analytics to Improve Efficiency

Beyond safety, IIoT offers granular analytics that reveal where companies waste time, materials, and capital. Nabrotzky notes, “Sensors at the line allow remote threshold setting, automated operator instructions, and inventory management that eliminates time spent manually searching for parts.”

Data visualization is accessible from anywhere, a boon as many employees work remotely. “Analytics enable process monitoring and quick intervention to keep operations moving,” he adds.

Gartner analyst Eric Goodness observes that the pandemic exposed gaps in remote asset access. “Without IIoT, technicians can’t troubleshoot remotely; IIoT provides that remote access, extending expertise and controlling assets from afar.” He adds that the shift to automation reduces reliance on on‑site staff, mitigating COVID‑19 concerns.

For organizations aiming to cut costs, boost productivity, and adapt to social distancing, IoT remote monitoring has become a cornerstone technology. Post‑pandemic, deploying IIoT will accelerate the return to normal operations by granting employees remote access to critical machinery and processes, McKinsey reports.

“Leveraging off‑the‑shelf IIoT solutions—whether from technology vendors or machinery OEMs—enables a rapid shift to remote operations and maintains critical functions,” the report concludes.