After endless series of hype and hyperbole, it seems most business professionals are still excited about the potential of the Internet of Things (IoT). In fact, a current survey of 200 IT and business leaders conducted by TEKSystems and released in Economy is shown 2016 determined that 22% of the organizations surveyed formerly realized significant advantages of their early IoT initiatives. Additionally, a full 55% expect a high level of impact from IoT initiatives over the next 5 years. On the other hand, only 2% believed no impact at all.
Participants also specified the key areas in which they expect you’ll see some of the transformational benefits of their IoT efforts, including creating a Iot Platform better user and customer experience (64%), sparking innovation (56%), creating new and more efficient work practices and business processes, (52%) and creating revenue channels through new services and products (50%).
So, with the early returns indicating there have been real, measurable benefits to be won in the IoT, and the majority of professionals expect these benefits to be substantial, why are some organizations still reluctant to move forward with their own IoT initiatives?
Increased exposure of data/information security
With the world wide web as an example, customers are well aware of the dangers inherent in transferring data between nodes on a network. With many of these organizations working with key exclusive in business data that could prove advantageous to a rival if exposed, the concern is very understandable.
ROI/making the business case
This is a classic example of not so sure what you don’t know. Without an established example of how similar initiatives have impacted ohio state university physicians in the past — or even how similarly sized and structured organizations have been impacted — it can be very difficult to demonstrate in a tangible way exactly how these efforts will impact the bottom line. Without being able to make the business case, it will be difficult for professionals to sign off any new initiatives. This is likely why larger organizations ($5+ thousand in annual revenue) are greatly predisposed to have already implemented IoT initiatives, while smaller organizations are still in the planning phase.
Interoperability with current infrastructure/systems
Nobody loves to start over, and many of the professionals surveyed are dealing with organizations who have made enormous investments in the technology they are currently using. The notion of a tear and replace type of execution is not very appealing. The cost is not only related to the downtime sustained in these instances, but the wasted cost associated with the expensive equipment and software systems that are being put aside. In most cases, to gain any grip at all a planned IoT effort will have to work with the systems that are already in place — not replace them.
Finding the right staff/skill sets for IoT strategy and execution
With the IoT still being a fairly young concept, many organizations are concerned that they lack the technical expertise needed to properly plan and implement an IoT effort. There are many discussions taking place about how much can be handled by internal staff and how much may need to be out-sourced. Without confidence in their internal capabilities, it is also difficult to know whether they get a valid strategy or understanding of the number of choices. Again, this is a case where larger organizations with larger costly of talent have an advantage.
There are some valid concerns, and not all of them lend themselves to simple solutions. Actually, many of the solutions will change from organization to another location. However, in many cases the solutions could be as simple as just choosing the right software platform. Finding a platform that helps your concerns about interoperability can also help ease your concerns about whether or not your staff can handle the change, as there will be no need to replace equipment. Likewise, a platform that can be integrated faultlessly into your current operations to help improve efficiency and implement optimization strategies will also make it much easier to demonstrate MOTOROLA ROI.