Your Investment Needs to Go Mobile, It Just Doesn’t Know It Yet: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT), Facebook Inc (FB)

Car-to-car communication is only one way mobile is changing machine communication, though. The manufacturing industry is beginning to shift toward what GE calls the “industrial Internet.” GE is looking ahead to machines that communicate wirelessly with each to share information, and inform workers when they need to be fixed before they breakdwon. This is what many have dubbed the “Internet of Things” where devices are capable of real-time communication and manufacturing efficiencies are optimized. According to Compass Intelligence, machine-to-machine communication, called M2M, is expected to grow from about 30 million connections right now to over 116 million by the end of 2016. GE believes it can save the airline, railroad, manufacturing, health care, and other industries $150 billionby using M2M communication.

The mobile investor
With mobile technology impacting so many industries, investors need to keep an eye on whether or not the companies they invest in are shifting their attention to mobile trends. Focusing on mobile technologies may seem like an obvious step for companies right now, but even Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) fumbled its shift to mobile several years ago — and it’s a technology company.

GE is one of the largest companies well positioned to benefit from the move to M2M because it’s already implementing Internet-connected machines in its manufacturing processes. The company already has nine technologies onboard with M2M connectivity, with 20 more coming on board this year. The company’s massive size gives it an advantage to implement new technology across a vast array of industries, with the potential to increase manufacturing productivity while saving billions in efficiency processes.

The article Your Investment Needs to Go Mobile, It Just Doesn’t Know It Yet originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Chris Neiger has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Facebook and General Motors. The Motley Fool owns shares of Facebook, General Electric Company, and Microsoft.

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