Network Communications News (NCN) May 2017 | Page 11

TALKING POINT
Create a clear strategy
Having established a vision,
businesses must have a clear
strategy for implementing the
IoT estate. It is tempting to think
everything that has the ability
to connect should be connected,
but it is essential companies
decipher which devices need to be
connected from a business sense,
rather than connecting every
device as soon as possible.
Within this strategy,
businesses need to ensure
there are key tools in place to
troubleshoot and diagnose IoT
problems, and have an experienced
IT team to support the IoT
infrastructure. A comprehensive
strategy will empower workers
and allow the company to
transform the business,
unleashing endless possibilities
as a result and help to reach
critical growth for their business.
Start with what you know
business rather than overloading
departments with large amounts
of useless data, wasting valuable
time and resources.
Perfect the business vision
Businesses need to ensure they
have an end goal and there is a
clear vision for what needs to be
achieved through IoT. This vision
needs to be looked at on a larger
scale, not just as creating ‘smart’
devices, but enlightening the
business by providing customer
behaviour intelligence and
company activity for the purpose
of improving business productivity
and cutting costs. There is always
room to go beyond the initial
end goal as well, by speaking to
partners about the future of IoT
and the wider impact for industries
and businesses.
‘Businesses
need to
ensure they
have an end
goal and there
is a clear
vision for
what needs to
be achieved
through IoT.’
After establishing a clear IoT
strategy, a good starting point
for introducing IoT is to analyse
the data the business obtains
in order to make strategic
decisions. Rather than rushing and
connecting all of the devices, start
with devices that are familiar to
the business amongst employees
using the technology they actively
work with day to day, and then
expand from there.
The first natural step is to
analyse mobile devices. Most
employees have the ability to
access company data from
wherever they are, therefore a
robust mobile strategy can vastly
improve customer service delivery,
business productivity, but most
importantly, secure mobile devices
for the increasing mobile workforce.
‘Dumb terminals’ and
stationary objects
Once there is an established
mobile strategy, you can look to
the ‘dumb terminals’ within the
company. These are the devices,
such as routers or printers, that
are consistent and do not move.
A smart printer can collect data
which can be analysed to alert
employees to various issues,
if the device is running low on
supplies or if it needs servicing
for example. This data will result
in improved productivity and
efficient cost savings within the
office environment.
Companies can also look
at connecting other stationary
objects within their office space
such as fridges, which can
digitally track expiry dates as well
as reorder food that is running low,
resulting in less waste and thus
promote efficient cost savings.
What about the future?
Having established an IoT
business critical vision for simple
devices, companies can progress
to looking at their workforce
infrastructure as a whole. Devices
that move frequently, for example
office doors, all have the potential
to become connected. Sensors
connected to doors can feedback
information on who is entering
certain rooms and at what times.
As well as this, some connected
entrances have the ability to
unlock with just a voice command.
With that said, businesses
need to ensure that they are not
connecting objects for the sake
of it. For example, a simple chair
does not need to be connected,
just so it can feedback on when
it has been pushed into a table.
There needs to be a business
critical focus in deciphering which
devices become connected, and
which need to be left alone.
Internet of ‘some’ Things
B y fo l l ow i n g t h e s e f i ve g o l d e n
r u l e s , c o m p a n i e s c a n a d o pt a
s t rate g i c a p p ro a c h to I o T, b y
c o n n e ct i n g s o m e t h i n g s rat h e r
t h a n t h e I nte r n et o f ‘ eve r y ’
t h i n g . O n l y d ev i c e s t h at a re
c r i t i c a l to t h e b u s i n e s s n e e d to
b e c o n n e cte d . U n n e c e s s a r y I o T
a d o pt i o n w i l l re s u l t i n t i m e a n d
re s o u rc e s b e i n g wa s te d a n d
wo n ’ t p rov i d e a n y a s s et to t h e
b u s i n e s s . T h e p o s s i b i l i t i e s fo r
I o T a re e n d l e s s , b