Challenges To Tapping IoT Potential Could Mean Opportunities For Solutions Providers
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
New research released by Internet of Things (IoT) analytics platform company Par Stream has revealed a direct relationship between access and analysis of data and success of IoT projects.
The survey, “Internet of Things (IoT) Meets Big Data and Analytics — a Survey of IoT Stakeholders,” conducted by Dimensional Research, polled more than 200 technology and business professionals with IoT project responsibilities in order to assess the experiences and impact of using data captured by devices that make up the IoT. Stakeholders represented development, IT operations, systems integrators, business owners, production managers, program managers, and business intelligence.
“The intersection of IoT and Big Data is creating tremendous business opportunity, but the reality of today’s projects is that this potential has yet to be fully tapped,” Diane Hagglund, principal at Dimensional Research explains. “The research goal was to understand the experience and impact, from the IoT stakeholder point of view, of using the data generated by the devices that make up the Internet of Things.”
The study found IoT projects vary widely, but they all experience challenges. Of those surveyed, 53 percent are using IoT projects to optimize existing businesses and 47 percent as a strategic business investment, while target audiences for IoT solutions include consumers (42 percent), business (54 percent) and internal use by employees (51 percent). Of those surveyed, 96 percent have faced challenges with their IoT projects, including challenges surrounding business processes and policies (58 percent) and user adoption of new technology (51 percent).
Other challenges, which could represent opportunities for IT solutions providers, include “identifying and selecting appropriate platforms, pace of change, lack of standards, and a lack of understanding and consistency across internal and external stakeholders, including vendors.”
The survey also reveals that data challenges are preventing IoT from not delivering its full potential. Only 8 percent are fully capturing and analyzing IoT data in a timely fashion, while 86 percent of stakeholders in business roles say data is important to their IoT project, and 94 percent face challenges collecting and analyzing IoT data.
That means that better IoT data collection and analysis would deliver more value. Of respondents, 70 percent say they would make better, more meaningful decisions with improved data, and 86 percent report that faster and more flexible analytics would increase the ROI of their IoT investments.
“The research points to ongoing challenges in IoT projects, but also the potential of better analytics to increase ROI,” said ParStream CEO Peter Jensen. “While a massive amount of data is being produced by IoT devices and applications, improving the speed and flexibility of data capture and analytics would help to identify actionable outcomes more quickly and thereby invigorate IoT projects.”