When Is It Enough?

One of the more interesting results of our recent market research efforts has been the reality that many people want to take the path of least action even when the pain is relatively high.  They clearly understand that they have issues, that manual processes upon which they are reliant will not scale and that they are overspending for inadequate resources.

But it works and that, it seems, means more to them than anything else.

One of the more interesting types of systems to this end are what we call perimeter-focused architectures such as those found in most financial processing networks and hospital systems.  Historically these systems have some quagmire of a network with unknown devices, connections and general chaos sitting in the middle of an enterprise with tightly controlled endpoints – sort of like a box.  By controlling the outer boundaries, compliance can be nominally met and issues most commonly overcome by throwing more resources into the fray.

Who cares that nobody truly understands what is going on in the interior?

When does this problem grow sufficiently large that the growing list of issues is too much and the core problems have to be addressed?

Enter The IoT

One of the things that the IoT introduces is a breakdown of historic boundaries.  With exponentially-growing connections outside of these previously closed boxes, the edges are blurred and compliance is no longer something that can be set at the edge.  Suddenly that quagmire is talking with the outside world and the risk of the wrong data ending up in the wrong hands is very real and potentially very damaging.

From a business perspective, the IoT is an inevitable reality – hospitals are pushing into the home, wearables are pushing into hospitals and doctors’ office are becoming ever more powerful medical record control centers.  Financial systems can no longer ignore what is happening inside as mobile banking is effectively bypassing traditional gateways for speed optimization.  Even large traditional infrastructures are not excluded as mechanically-based shutdowns and data flow bottlenecks are no longer acceptable in the face of endless sensor arrays.

Is It Enough?

So the question we have is critical (for us at least) – is the advent of the IoT and the loss of the perimeter sufficient to finally effect change?  Will these traditional enterprises finally realize that they need to visualize and control their entire network and not just the edges?  Will compliance issues, added onto high management issues and an inability to scale be the agent that transforms these companies from nice-to-haves into need-to-haves?

What do you think?