The Internet of Things (IoT) is sometimes talked about as the industrial Internet, but it's not just for heavy industry any more. Big data analysis of information from beacons and point of sale devices to optimize consumer sales isn't that far afield from optimizing power plant generation based on sensor data. In both cases, there is A LOT of data. In the consumer marketplace add to the machine data of the point of sale, the consumer's social media data, their likes, their dislikes, their tweets and their posts. How can you drive additional sales for a merchant through a carefully placed offer? Improve the personalization of a shopper's application to make their buying experience better? Provide personalized pricing on the shelf based on your relationship with the retailer? Link different marketplaces together in new ways to enable better loyalty programs?

The consumer Internet, the industrial Internet, IoT; at the end of the day, they all have one thing in common. The Internet, combined with new analytics platforms, is disrupting industries by providing new ways to slice and dice huge volumes of data to personalize, optimize and create whole new ways to shop, generate power, hail a ride, or connect with a consumer. If you aren't in front of this digital wave, regardless of your business, watch out. It can change your game before you have time to react.