As the Internet of Things (IoT) grows and more items are added to the circle of connectivity, the relationship between consumers who use the objects and the brands that manufacture them will invariably change. For businesses looking to stay relevant in the era of IoT, learning to manage and leverage the new dynamic in brand-consumer relationships will be key.

Here are three ways these relationships are already changing, as well as how businesses are adapting to the IoT:

1. The IoT creates direct brand-consumer channels
With the possibility of countless objects in our lives going online, simplicity and ease of use are key to maintaining the value of IoT. Product management applications allow for the remote control of objects from a single device, keeping it manageable for consumers and creating an additional benefit for brands.

2. Data streams offer ways to improve the brand-consumer relationship
The real value of the IoT for businesses and consumers alike is the continuous stream of data that will be created from connected objects. Harnessing this data presents an opportunity for brands to improve their product and targeting strategies.

Finding ways to capture, store, and then derive meaningful insights from these perpetual data streams presents challenges to businesses. To meet this challenge, businesses are turning to consumer identities and cloud-based databases.

3. Security and privacy necessitates trust-based consumer-brand relationships
Concerns over IoT security and privacy are shared by the majority of the global population. For brands, nurturing consumer trust in the IoT is a two-step process. First, businesses must take concrete action to guarantee infrastructural security and data privacy. Second, businesses must transparently communicate what these actions mean to consumers.

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