• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, October 19, 2015

We know the Internet of Things is big and going to be massive in scope, impacting all aspects of marketing and communication.

Some recent data points from some of the very large companies fueling the growth yet again highlight just how big a deal this is.

Within five years, 200 billion so-called smart objects will be deployed,  according to Intel’s latest guide to all things IoT. That translates to 26 smart objects for every human being on earth.

Of course, many of those objects will be in all types of locations, like homes, buildings and cars.

However, no one really knows how quickly consumers will adopt connected devices for their homes. For example, most (64%) consumers say they don’t even know much about smart home technology, according to a recent Harris Poll survey of 2,000 consumers.

The most obvious and also most popular connected home device is the smart thermostat, which may be driven by the practical ability to save money by more accurately managing in-home temperatures.

In the U.S., there will be 4 billion networked devices in four years, double the number last year, according to Cisco’s latest forecast. Globally, there will be 24 billion networked devices, with almost half (47%) being mobile-connected.

While many of the smart and connected objects will be used for tracking, for purposes such as building or machinery maintenance, others will be used to serve consumers.

Connected objects can provide shoppers will current inventory information, since one of the pet peeves of shoppers is finding a desired item is out of stock, after making a trip to the store.

The connected technology also can be used to assess and analyze the best choices to provide customers, based on multiple factors such as location, past behaviors and real-time environmental conditions.

The true value of connected objects for consumers is the ability to add more context to marketing and advertising.

Real-time data from connected objects can provide many more insights about what a customer is likely to desire or need next.

The trigger to the next action will be in the messaging.