Is The IoT Ready For The Enterprise?

We hear about it constantly – trillions of dollars worth of industry upgrades; billions of dollars in new industry, the Internet of Things (IoT) will be everywhere.

The Biggest Thing To Ever Impact Humanity.

The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread (well…maybe not sliced bread…)

But is the IoT really ready for the enterprise?

One on hand, the IoT has actually been around for a long time in terms of machine to machine (M2M) communications and, in fact, things like our cars and many commercial buildings employ smart systems.  That stated, these systems, while technically IoT systems, are not the focus of these fantastical forecasts.

Instead images of millions of devices running in an automated manner and producing vast amounts of new – and supposedly valuable – data are the focus.  Yet when one looks at this scenario from an Enterprise IT perspective, it is not excitement and a rosy future they see…

It is a Big Fat Nightmare.

Enterprise IT groups are notoriously understaffed and overwhelmed with demand.  They have collectively learned over time that anything new needs to minimize the burden on their strained resources and the IoT does the opposite.  Whereas enterprise IT groups require centralized administration, the IoT is the wild west with no clear concept of control at all – much less something centralized.  Enterprise IT groups want to leverage existing people and reduce complexity into understandable policies that, ideally, prevent learning curves for new technology.  The IoT is an accumulation of deep technology, disparate protocols and it requires a vast number of deep technical skills to manage it at any level.

From a non-human perspective, enterprise IT groups are struggling to see how they can support IoT systems at scale in any secure manner – an essential requirement when dealing with sensitive information.  Modern security options overwhelm networks or simply fail at scale.  Nothing provides true, end-to-end protection and there is nothing on the market that provides a cohesive reporting platform for any level of business intelligence.

So why would enterprise IT adopt the IoT again?

Enterprise IT controls mainstream adoption of any new market and, until the IoT can meet these basic requirements, it will remain a fringe movement with a ton of potential.

Maybe you disagree and, if so, tell us why.