What’s holding back enterprises from implementing IoT?

Despite all the claims about the internet of things (IoT) and its effectiveness, the reality is that enterprises are struggling to implement IoT.

Two years ago, Gartner predicted that more than half of major new business processes and systems will incorporate some element of the IoT by 2020.

IDC, on the other hand, predicted that spending on IoT systems this year will reach US$772.5 billion.

However, the reality is not all businesses are able to benefit from IoT or truly leverage it to transform their systems, processes, and operations. Save for a few pioneers in every industry, most businesses are still evaluating whether IoT can really make a difference to what they do.

Here are two of the biggest challenges to IoT implementation:

# 1 | Cost and implementation time

IoT projects are expensive and time-consuming. The fact that sensors are getting cheaper every day helps, but just a little.

To be honest, in order for a factory space to truly be connected, for example, it needs a variety of sensors in a variety of different locations and it all needs to be connected together on one enterprise-wide IoT platform that can pool the data and generate insights.

Planning where the sensors must be placed and what kind of information it can relay back, and how the enterprise-wide IoT platform must work is one great feat. The time it takes is usually more than one year, and hence, doesn’t coincide with most annual budgets — making planning even more difficult.

# 2 | Security and privacy concerns

When it comes to IoT, there are several security and privacy concerns. Sensors transit sensitive data about the company’s assets wirelessly.

If the connection is hijacked or the device is hacked, not only could hackers gain access to the company’s private and confidential data, but also could send manipulated data to the company’s IoT platform wreaking havoc on the system.

A recent CEB, now Gartner, survey found that nearly 20 percent of organizations observed at least one IoT-based attack in the past three years.

To protect against those threats Gartner forecasts that worldwide spending on IoT security will reach US$1.5 billion this year, a 28 percent increase from last year’s US$1.2 billion.

To be honest, companies haven’t cracked the puzzle but are definitely working hard on solving the IoT/cybersecurity puzzle.

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