Everything about Internet of Behaviour

The Internet of Behaviour (IoB) is the practice of collecting data about how, when and why people use technology to make purchases, then using it to understand and influence that behaviour. Where the Internet of Things (IoT) is about connecting physical devices so they can gather and share data, IoB is about what a business does with the behavioural patterns that data reveals — a step past collection, into interpretation.

That distinction matters because the two are often confused. IoT is the plumbing: sensors, connected devices, and the network that lets them report in. IoB is the analysis layer built on top of it — the discipline of turning a stream of clicks, visits and purchases into a picture of what a customer actually wants.

What this looks like in practice

A retailer’s app tracks which products a shopper lingers on, which ones they add to a cart and abandon, and which promotions they act on. On their own, those are just events. Read together as behaviour, they tell the retailer that this shopper responds to bundled discounts but ignores flash sales — information that changes what gets offered to them next time, not just what gets logged.

Where CRM and ERP fit in

A CRM already captures a version of this: every email open, page visit and support ticket against a customer’s record. Applying IoB thinking to that data means using it to change behaviour, not just report on it — flagging an account that has gone quiet, or timing an outreach to when a prospect is actually looking. The same logic extends into ERP data, where purchase history and reorder patterns can flag a customer worth a proactive call before they go looking at a competitor.

Used this way, IoB is less a new technology than a more deliberate use of data most businesses already collect.