An interesting survey finding came my way almost a year ago that revealed that as much as 80 percent of projects falling in the Internet of Things domain didn’t utilize their data in its entirity. This means that most of the projects are configured to churn data that is futuristic in nature and may not be of much relevance to the stakeholders in the short run. This leads us to an interesting question. Can this huge volume of data being generated be put to some use after all?
There are various reasons why there is an overflow of data in such projects. The most agreeable one is that business owners are often pre-occupied with the need to get their hands on information that can justify their investments in such projects and in the process ignore data streams that cannot be monetized or deployed to improve efficiency, productivity or preventive maintenance practices. Such a myopic view can indeed lead to value stagnation in the long run for such projects.
A Spanish company had deployed a set of temperature sensors across its offices to monitor the ambient temperature. The data showed the existence of islands of significant temperature variation across floors. The company didn’t invest any time or resources in determining how such differences affect the productivity of employees or outcomes of meetings. Yes it would need a stretch of effort to figure this out but then its not impossible.
In another instance, a well-known retailer in South-East Asia is currently accessing information on supply chain efficiency across various points in the chain using IoT. However, this entity is still ignoring information on ambient weather conditions that are also collected alongside the data gathered by various sensor and device configurations. Again the weather information in this instance could be correlated with supply chain efficiency to determine the best weather conditions for movement of goods and supplies as also to avoid conditions that might adversely impact movement.
There are many such examples of businesses ignoring data already available to further their business interests.
Linking cybersecurity
IoT is one of the few enabling technologies that still have a long way to go when it comes to cybersecurity. Often times, proof of concept projectsrun without security coming into the picture in any form or manner. The capital and resources invested in the project are thus rendered vulnerable to a possible cyberattack. A sizeable one could lead to the project being shelved complety – a possibility that is not just a remote possibility but is happening more often than it should.
Given the significance that security entails,
Cybersecurity could be considered as an avenue for innovation. There is no reason why businesses shouldn’t be thinking and acting this way. Let me elaborate. For one, cybersecurity is all about doing more with all the data available. It is also about getting deeper into data to determine how and why data is behaving the way it is (is it under the influence of malware or has it been subject to some form of compromise?).
Attention to data for purposes of cybersecurity can yield remarkable results. It can make decision makers aware of the quantum and content of data that they are drawing from sensors and devices and therefore put it to better use. Financial services entities and retailers can take the lead in this arena. By making businesses delve deeper into data patterns, organizations are rendered more data-sensitive thereby opening avenues to better use and deploy data. And this could enable competitive differentiation and innovation across the enterprise.
Data awareness could also reduce the rate of failure of proof of concept projects. It could lead to customer delight as well when used in the right way to give actionable data and insights. A large aircraft manufacturer recently found out the hard way how ignoring basic data could be a perilous endeavor. The lesson, therefore, is clear and apparent.
Cybersecurity, when viewed as an enabler of innovation, could also lead to greater investments in time, attention and resources in securing enterprises. This holds good for all businesses irrespective of their size, maturity or market addressed.
To read the latest State of IoT Security reports
