What’s stopping the IoT in it’s tracks? It’s the OT/IT Gap!

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without a sound and solid business model for IoT we will have another bubble… (Ahmed Banafa, IEEE.org)

One View:  Technology, Business & Social

Banafa’s Technology Challenges

In March 2017, Ahmed Banafa posted Three Major Challenges Facing IOT.   To paraphrase his very insightful article; success in IoT will require overcoming technology, business and social challenges.   He spends most of his time describing the technology challenges, but later qualifies his observations with “…without a sound and solid business model for IoT we will have another bubble…”

Ahmed Banafa hits the nail on the head.  Security, connectivity, compatibility & longevity, standards, and all the intelligent analysis in the world won’t guarantee success, unless taking action can deliver a return on financial investment,  in a sound and solid business model.

Another View:  ROI, Security, Cooperation, Disparate Data & Skilled Staff

The need for ROI in IOT was echoed by Joe McKendrick and others in April 2018  (Early Wins for IoT: Customer Experience and Supply Chains) :

When building out IoT capabilities, executives say their greatest challenges are the inability to present a compelling return on investment (32%), keeping the IoT secure (32%), cross-department cooperation (31%), integration of disparate data (30%) and availability of skibuiltslled staff (29%).

Our View:  Bridging The OT/IT Gap

In different ways, both of these authors are saying the same thing.  Operational technology (OT) data, by itself is not enough:  it’s what financially happens after the “action” that determines ROI, and the ultimate success of IoT implementations.

In our view, the biggest challenge to the IoT is the OT/IT gap.   The OT side, gathering real-time data from machines, can analyze and recommend change, but it’s action where costs are incurred.  The IT side will measure that change in financial terms, but to be successful, existing IT processes need to change.    We call this crossing the OT/IT gap.

Integration of disparate OT & IT data starts with transformation of IT business processes.   At BuiltSpace, we are bridging the OT/IT gap with end-to-end digitization of the facilities service/supply chain, to deliver timely, complete, and accurate service data.

Mind the OT/IT gap!