By IBM’s Watson IoT platform once stood at the forefront of industrial digital transformation. Designed to bring intelligence to connected devices, it gave manufacturers and service providers powerful tools to monitor, analyze, and manage vast networks of machines from anywhere in the world.
Though IBM officially shut down the Watson IoT platform at the end of 2023, its influence remains. At a time when AI applications were still finding their footing in the industrial landscape, Watson IoT demonstrated what was possible when cloud computing and intelligent analytics met operational technology.
As the tech world races toward ever more advanced AI solutions, it’s worth revisiting how this early platform sparked real change—and what today’s developers and businesses can still learn from it.
Setting the Stage for Smarter Operations
Watson IoT allowed companies to unify device management, data analytics, and application enablement within a single platform. Unlike many tools of its time that relied heavily on technical command-line interfaces, Watson IoT offered an intuitive dashboard that simplified the management of large-scale IoT deployments.
By 2018, the platform was being positioned as a future-ready solution for industrial players, with IBM touting its flexibility and intelligence. Despite these ambitions, IBM announced in 2023 that it would discontinue the service with no direct replacement—leaving users to seek new options. Still, Watson IoT’s role as a pioneer remains intact.
KONE: Keeping Cities Moving
KONE, a global leader in elevator and escalator systems, was one of the standout adopters of Watson IoT. The company connected over one million of its units to the cloud to reduce downtime and improve reliability. By leveraging real-time data from its fleet, KONE could monitor performance remotely and predict maintenance needs, avoiding service interruptions.
The system enabled engineers and partners worldwide to access insights that supported smoother urban movement and enhanced passenger safety. The project also demonstrated how digital innovation could boost customer satisfaction while protecting business revenue from equipment failures.
iFarming: Precision Agriculture in Action
In agriculture, iFarming created a platform called Phyt’Eau with the help of IBM Watson IoT. Focused on reducing water consumption, the system used real-time sensor data and weather forecasts to monitor crop stress and automate irrigation.
By determining exactly when and how much water was needed, Phyt’Eau helped farmers cut water use by up to 40% while increasing crop yields by 30%. Operating costs also dropped, showing how precision agriculture powered by AI could benefit both the environment and profitability.
Ideatolife: Smart Maintenance Made Simple
The Middle Eastern software firm Ideatolife used Watson IoT to enhance its maintenance management platform, Trackr. Designed for facilities like elevators and pools, Trackr automated service tasks and delivered insightful analytics to help users plan better.
By moving its system to the IBM Cloud and integrating IoT capabilities, the company achieved improved scalability, more efficient operations, and a higher quality of service for clients. This showed how even niche service providers could unlock new value through connected data and intelligent automation.
A Legacy That Endures
Though Watson IoT is no longer active, IBM continues to support IoT development through other projects, such as Open Horizon—an open-source initiative aimed at managing edge devices autonomously.
What Watson IoT proved is that early-stage AI, even with its limitations, could already deliver transformative value across industries. From smarter farming to urban infrastructure, its influence helped define how we now think about merging AI with connected systems.
Today’s platforms may be more advanced, but the foundational ideas that Watson IoT introduced—real-time insights, predictive maintenance, and centralized device control—are more relevant than ever. Its story is a reminder that innovation often starts not with the latest tools, but with bold ideas and practical application.