Preparing your enterprise for the internet of things

TRP: How can enterprises prepare and ready themselves for IoT?

VM: With any new trend there is initially some uncertainty that can cause concern and technology is no different.

However, looking at some of the new industry standards that have emerged in the past three years, such as WebSocket and HTML5, the adoption curve and people's natural curiosity have helped soften this, and I believe we will see a similar trend with IoT.

TRP: With the adoption of IoT technologies to accumulate even more intelligence about consumers and their behaviour, how can CIOs tackle the likely challenge of user resistance?

VM: This is a loaded question and will, hopefully, stay at the top of the agenda at every CIO's staff meetings for a very long time.

At KAAZING we believe in people's right to protect their privacy and although it might seem to contradict where the technology industry trend is heading it is still very important that we all care and protect one another's privacy as much as we want others to protect our own.

TRP: Are enterprises and consumers racing into IoT without properly assessing the security impacts of such deployments?

VM: Yes, and I don't think it is only consumers of enterprise technology; enterprise technology companies are doing it as well. It is important for consumers of technology to properly evaluate what is being signed off on before deploying an IoT solution.

Right now there are many companies that are trying to ride the wave of IoT without considering this seriously.

TRP: When do you believe we'll see proper adoption of IoT in the enterprise, and how can CEOs prepare their organisations for this now?

VM: With awareness comes demand, and with demand comes requirements to deliver on that demand. In combination with our desire and need to react on data in a timely manner, the burden on an enterprise's existing software and hardware infrastructure will increase.

At KAAZING we are already seeing deployments of what the industry now refer to as IoT solutions in industries such as transportation and logistics to entertainment. Remember that IoT is many things to many industries with an almost infinite number of decisions to be made.

The best way to prepare is to fully understand your customer demands not just now but also in the near future, and your competitive landscape. This will tell you if you are fine with what you have or if you have to reconsider your technology choices.

TRP: Looking at 2014, what impact will IoT have on the industry?

VM: As was stated by many large enterprise companies at the Cisco IoT World Forum in Barcelona - the IoT market will not only be much bigger than anything we have ever seen in the tech industry, it will also move and change the industry faster than anything we've seen so far. The year 2014 is just the start.