The 10 best blogposts of 2017

The year 2017 has been prolifically successful and productive. With its memory still fresh in our minds, now seems a good time to  survey the best articles published during the past year. This selection includes interviews with global benchmarks in the sector, analyses of IoT ecosystem, presentations of interesting initiatives and forecasts of the trends that will emerge in 2018.

• Programming languages in the era of the Internet of Things: What are the most common programming languages ​​ in the development of IoT? The choice of language determines the final product or service, as well as the technical possibilities and the user experience. In the era of the Internet of Things, choosing the programming language properly is vital to the success of the project. In this text, we explain the details on how to choose them properly.
• GeoGestion, the Mobile Workers’ Internet: This solution provides fundamental assistance to all traditional companies that need help carrying out a digital transformation of processes that until now were solved by manual paperwork. GeoGestion allows the administrator to find out where their employees are, to lower their manual tasks intuitively, to help security teams improve their efficiency and to improve the work of sales teams. All this is thanks to the optimization of processes that until now were manual and costly for the company in terms of both time and resources. In this article, we explain how GeoGestion works.
• Ronald van Loon: “The information that belongs to the IoT exists within the concept of Big Data and the vast amount of data it represents”: As an expert in Big Data, Data Management and IoT, Ronald van Loon helps hundreds of companies direct and generate value from the data they generate. His experience offering data analysis to consumers has catapulted him to become one of the biggest influencers in the world in Big Data. Therefore, we asked him about his view on the important role played by Big Data in the IoT, as well as the main challenges he faces and the future of companies in relation to the Internet of Things.
• José Ignacio Guerra: “We are the protagonists in the IoT scene in Latin America”: The Telefónica R+D centre in Chile, also known as TRD Chile, is a benchmark for IoT technologies since it is the only research complex in Latin America that brings together all the disciplines that make up Internet of Things. José Ignacio Guerra is a Communications Architect at the centre and is leading several projects and initiatives aimed at improving the adoption, penetration and consolidation of technologies. In this interview, he tells us about his experiences.
• Chuck Martin: “The industry can anticipate consumers’ needs even before they have these needs. This is the future that awaits us with Internet of Things”:Martin is a best-selling writer and former Vice President at IBM. His experience in the sector allowed him to predict the arrival of the network that supports IoT back in 1998. In this interview, Martin gives us his expert vision of the current situation and the future that we will see in the Internet of Things.
• Interview with Sandra Fernández Curias: “Beyond the technological ecosystem, the IoT is an enabler of the digital transformation of business”: As one of the most prominent experts in IoT-based business at Telefónica, Sandra Fernández Curias, the company’s Strategy Manager, gives us a unique opportunity to understand the main trends in the development of the IoT and the secrets behind mass adoption by users and businesses.
• Interview with José Rodríguez: “Security is a reason for confidence when deploying IoT solutions”: In this post, José Rodríguez, IoT security manager at Telefónica, shares his experience to help us to better understand what security challenges and solutions the experts deal with every day. This text answers the question of what we have learned so far when talking about cybersecurity in the IoT. 
• Why physical stores should be connected and digitalized: The evolution in the retail sector irremediably connects online sales with in-store service. Today, businesses must connect to the world if they want to make the most of the opportunities offered by the Internet. If not, they are condemned to become obsolete and inefficient. In this post, we explain what role the IoT plays in this process and discuss the possibilities offered by technology.
• Things Matter – Connecting things with people and what really matters: 800 surveys and 60 user experiences are the basis of the last report, “Things Matter”, which tries to give users a voice. In conjunction with the consultancies Accenture and Ipsos, Telefónica sheds light on the spread of IoT, the way it is used, use profiles and related topics. We summarize and analyze the conclusions in this article.
• IoT trends in 2018, connectivity in the limelight: In 2017, we witnessed the rise of technologies associated with Big Data, the spread of VR and the emergence of autonomous cars, among other new developments. Now, the big picture seems to be coalescing around certain applications and technological solutions such as eSIM, Blockchain-based IoT, Edge solutions and many more. In this article, we reveal the trends that will determine the direction of the development of connectivity in 2018.