Industry observers say the Internet of Things could become one of the most effective retail tools since the advent of the bar code. To others, though, it’s a ubiquitous phrase that defies standard definition and confuses rather than enhances the customer experience. At its most simplistic, IoT is the result of low-cost computing that connects everything on the planet — person-to-person, machine-to-machine and interactions between both. In other words, the global transfer of data without the need for human intervention. “It’s all about how connectivity can make retailers more efficient, add value to a person’s life or better service them as a customer,” says Joe Jensen, vice president of the Internet of Things group and general manager of the retail solutions division atIntel. “The question is how we connect things that deliver insight.”