FEATURE : INTERNET OF THINGS security threats proactively is critical . In addition , being able to maintain and update IoT strategies frequently and building an eco-system of trusted partners who have the experience in deploying IoT technologies across at least one or more verticals is important .”
Ian Jansen van Rensburg , Senior Systems
Engineer and Lead Technologist , VMware
Andreas Bartsch , Head of Service Delivery , PBT Group , said given developments of the past year with the pandemic and resultant lockdown conditions , companies have accelerated their Digital Transformation roadmaps . “ What would likely have taken months to rollout , happened in the space of a few weeks given the need to enable a distributed work environment ,” he said . “ In this rush to adopt new technologies , there is inevitably a high degree of risk . When it comes to IoT rollouts as the means to capture data as close to the source as possible , many companies would not have done a lot of work on a basic benefits framework .”
Bartsch said CIOs must realise the influx of data driven by IoT devices at the Edge and to this end , they must develop strategies that can harvest this data and analyse it in ways that hold meaning for the organisation .
IoT challenges
With some CIOs and IT teams facing of challenges when implementing IoT technologies in their organisations , industry pundits recommend that they need to loot at several considerations before deciding on the best solutions suited for their environment .
Holland said when deploying IoT technologies there are several factors which have to be taken into consideration . “ These include finding and retaining the right skills . There has been a massive increase in new technologies like AI , Machine Learning , data science etc , so having the right talent and staying current is extremely important ,” he said . “ Making sure that your IoT environment is secure from the far Edge to the core to the cloud and being able to address
Tamer Odeh , Regional Director , SentinelOne , Middle East , said although IoT technology has its benefits , it presents significant challenges for CIOs and IT teams . “ With the adoption and use of IoT technologies rapidly increasing and IoT devices having various applications in business , from being used in sensors and printers to cameras and virtual assistants , one of the major challenges that CIOs and IT teams face is the tendency for businesses to engage in datahoarding as each of the IoT devices can collect large amounts of data , resulting in a proliferation of data ,” he said . “ CIOs and IT teams are tasked with deciding how to analyse and store data efficiently . In addition , IoT devices greatly increase the security challenges of defending corporate networks . Most IoT devices come with little or no built-in security capacities , so each of these billions of endpoints generates a vulnerability for hackers to enter otherwise secure enterprise operations .”
Van Rensburg said an organisation must ensure that its current systems are compatible with IoT requirements and that IoT is integrated without impacting on existing operations . “ For an organisation to successfully implement Industry 4.0 strategies and programmes , they must have a base set of data and maintain a constant source of relevant data to ensure that AI can be helpful in their selected industry ,” he said . “ This makes the integrity of the IoT data capture point imperative for success . The adage ‘ garbage in , garbage out ’ applies in this regard . If the Edge device cannot capture data accurately or captures the wrong data , then the AI processing will be wasted .”
Adoption of IoT
IBM ’ s Holland said an industry vertical that has grown in popularity over the past few years is that of financial technology ( FinTech ) sector . “ Companies of this nature utilise the Internet , algorithms and software technologies to offer financial services to entrepreneurs , everyday consumers both banked and unbanked and small / medium enterprises ,” he said . “ In short , FinTech organisations provide services that would usually be typically available within a traditional banking branch . Therefore , services such as loans , payments , investments and wealth management are now available through this industry vertical through the assistance of IoT .”
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