Upgrade and Security Challenges Hinder Scalability of IoT Systems

Consumers are not the only ones excited about IoT innovation. Many companies have already started their IoT deployment journey, seeking solutions to automate and make daily operations more efficient through real-time monitoring. And it comes with limitless access to meaningful user data they can leverage to build added value into their products and services.

IoT implementation has reformed business models, but companies forget that, in order to improve performance, they need a strong, complex infrastructure that can accommodate breakthrough technologies. And this is where security is critical.

But according to a recent study from Gemalto, companies are really bad at detecting IoT data breaches. The companies with the most deficient IoT security are in Australia, where only 37 percent said they had the means to detect this type of breach. Countries are more prepared in India (67%), Brazil (65%), Germany (54%), United States (52%) and the UK (42%), Gemalto found.

Companies in Australia are having a hard time with their IoT journey. Research firm IDC found that, although 46.5 percent of businesses have focused efforts on running IoT systems, they now struggle to take it to the next level because of security, data integration and infrastructure shortcomings.

“Companies are finding that their proof-of-concept projects are revealing wider issues around security and infrastructure that must be addressed in order for them to deploy commercial scale IoT systems,” said Monica Collier, IDC’s ANZ Practice Research Manager.

“Many Australian enterprises told IDC that they want IoT vendors to improve their analytics and data visualization offerings, so that the systems provide greater value ‘out of the box’. However, companies also need to be realistic and not aim too high when first deploying new systems. Leveraging the data to get closer to customers and creating new business models is what really excites people about IoT, but to start with, analytics is about operational efficiencies and productivity gains.”

Through early deployment, companies have detected a number of roadblocks they are now looking into to ensure their projects reach maturity. A key factor in scaling systems is the use of IoT data to gain insights for product development and to improve customer experience, yet respondents said they haven’t come across anything meaningful so far.

“To move past the barriers inhibiting production scale IoT, organizations have to solve the broader security and upgrade issues. At the same time, IoT vendors need to be supporting enterprises with IoT security expertise, more comprehensive analytics and helping measure how solutions are performing against business requirements,” explained Collier.