IoT’s Promise Will Be Unlocked By Addressing Skills Shortage, Complexity And Security, Says Microsoft’s ‘IoT Signals’ Report

Over 80% of large companies around the world are adopting IoT solutions, stoking an “invisible revolution” that will reach 94% of enterprises in two years

IDC expects that by 2025 there will be 41.6 billion connected IoT devices or “things,” generating more than 79 zettabytes (ZB) of data. These billions of devices are creating unprecedented visibility into a business leading to transformation of operations, energy, products and workplace safety, to name just a few areas.

Microsoft has launched a new report – IoT Signals – that provides an industry pulse on the state of IoT adoption to help inform how the company can better serve its partners and customers, as well as help business leaders in development of their own IoT strategies. Microsoft surveyed more than 3,000 IoT decision-makers in enterprise organizations to give the industry a holistic, market-level view of the IoT ecosystem, including adoption rates, related technology trends, challenges and benefits of IoT.

What the study found is that while IoT adoption is on the rise and opening the door to business transformation, companies are being held back by skills shortages, project complexity and security challenges. To summarize the findings:

·IoT is seen as profitable and critical to business success and is creating opportunities to leverage more advanced cloud and networking technologies.

·Nearly all respondents (97%) have security concerns when implementing IoT, but this is not hindering adoption.

·There is a skills gap for IoT solutions which is compounded by solution complexity.

Looking Ahead: Recommendations for a Successful IoT Strategy

With security concerns mounting and IoT becoming more complex with the rise of AI, 5G and edge capabilities, how can companies create a digital strategy to transform their business with IoT successfully? Microsoft partnered with the BCG Group to narrow down the seven key ingredients for success:

·   Business strategy and rationale

·   Leadership and organization

·   Technology roadmap planning

·   Talent

·   Operations and core business processes

·   Partnerships and ecosystem

·   Security as foundational