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The Internet of Things? More like the Internet of Everything. The Internet of Everything literally has an impact on everything we do both at both work and at home. So, what is the Internet of Everything? Well, it’s the concept of connecting any device with an on and off switch to the Internet or each other. This can include anything from your toaster to your alarm system. The Internet of Everything is essentially a giant network of connected devices that gives you access to literally everything.

How Does the Internet of Things Help You Get the Data You Need?

With the Internet of Everything, anything that can be connected, will be. Let’s say you are running late to work and you need to find the fastest route – your GPS can offer you countless routes to take along with the time it will take to get to your destination all based off data the app receives. Your alarm clock may go off every day at 6:30 a.m. and your coffee maker will sync with your alarm and begin brewing at that time.

The Internet of Everything can even help you determine the hours you are most productive at work and potentially why those hours are more productive. But if the data that is being presented is not accurate, you may find yourself really late to work without coffee and you may find that your most productive work hours aren’t what you believe them to be.

Not only can the Internet of Everything affect your personal and work life, it can also be used to establish things such as “smart cities,” which can help improve energy use, reduce waste and ultimately improve the way we work and live. The Internet of Everything helps make these decisions that better the environment, which is why it is crucial the data is of quality.

The Data Behind the Internet of Everything

Finally, with the advent of the cloud —where all data (governed properly) will be in one place— our industry is enabling itself for true insight into facts and circumstances once unknown. With so many devices connecting to each other, this opens the opportunity for certain challenges such as security issues. How do we determine that the data being shared and exchanged is valid, accurate and secure? This is the million-dollar question. If you cannot trust the data is accurate, then it will be hard to use this data to make knowledgeable decisions.

Here are four ways to ensure data is as accurate as possible:

• Data profiling analyzes the correctness and uniqueness of data and checks if the data is reusable by collecting appropriate stats.
• Data normalization is important because when data is collected from many sources, there can be a variety of different spelling options, etc. This can create redundancy – data normalization helps to reduce this.
• Semantic metadata management helps establish corporate standards and reduce inconsistent interpretations that can occur when different members of a company interpret data differently.
• Data quality firewall utilizes software to prevent data errors and redundancy.

These four ways can help you get the data you need and ensure that this data is as accurate as possible. The Internet of Everything allows access to almost any data you could ever want, which means that some of this data may not be valid and accurate.