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business efficiency and profitability.
As an example, only 16 per cent
of business leaders projected a large
profit gain from their IoT investment, yet
post-adoption, 32 per cent of executives
realised profit increases. Similarly, only 29
per cent of executives expected their IoT
strategies to result in business efficiency
improvements, whereas actual results show
that 46 per cent experienced efficiency
gains.
Key challenges
Alongside these positive returns, the study
also uncovers a number of obstacles that
IT leaders feel are preventing IoT from
delivering greater business impact. In
particular, the cost of implementation (50
per cent), maintenance (44 per cent) and
integration of legacy technology (43 per
cent) were highlighted as key issues.
Most notably, security flaws were found
across many IoT deployments. More than
half of respondents declared that external
attacks are a key barrier to embracing and
adopting an IoT strategy. This confirms
that a holistic IoT security strategy, built
on strong network access control and
policy management, will not only protect
enterprises but also simplify the security
approach for IT.
The ability to capture and effectively
use data is described by Ashton as: “What
defines the Internet of Things” but this
appears to be another clear challenge
for global organisations. While 98 per
cent of companies that have adopted IoT
claim that they can analyse data, almost
all respondents (97 per cent) feel there
are challenges to creating value from this
data. Well over a third of businesses are
not extracting or analysing data within
corporate networks, and are thereby
missing out on insights that could improve
business decisions.
Chris Kozup, Vice President of
Marketing at Aruba said: “While IoT grows
in deployment, scale and complexity,
proper security methodologies to protect
the network and devices, and more
importantly, the data and insights they
extract, must also keep pace. If businesses
do not take immediate steps to gain
visibility and profile the IoT activities within
their offices, they run the risk of exposure
to potentially malicious activities. Aruba
is enabling customers to rapidly assess
IoT deployments within their facilities and
Tens of
thousands of
organisations
are saving
and making
hundreds of
millions of
dollars from
the Internet
of Things
determine any potential threats that may
be present.”
Ashton continued: “Since its inception
in 1999, the Internet of Things has been
ridiculed, criticised and misunderstood. And
yet here we are, less than two decades
later, in a world where tens of thousands
of organisations are saving and making
hundreds of millions of dollars from the
Internet of Things, using cars that drive
themselves, subway stations that sense
passengers, algorithms that diagnose
deadly diseases using phones, and
many other once apparently-impossible
technologies. The future promises far
more amazing things. The most important
decision you can make now is how to be a
part of it.”
In conclusion Kozup said: “With
the business benefits of IoT surpassing
expectations, it’s no surprise that the
business world will move towards
mass adoption by 2019. But with many
executives unsure of how to apply IoT
to their business, those who succeed in
implementing IoT are well positioned to
gain a competitive advantage.”
IoT
