Dive Brief:
- When it comes to deploying internet of things investments, decision makers prioritize initiatives to improve productivity, reduce costs and boost the quality of products, according to a survey of 5,400 director- and above-level executives published by market insights firm IDC.
- Especially in healthcare, manufacturing and public sector industries, managers see safety improvements as the key metric to evaluate whether an IoT project was successful, according to the report.
- The cost of projects and associated security concerns led the ranking of top challenges cited by managers, IDC found. Attracting sufficient tech-savvy staff to deploy projects rose to the third spot this year.
Dive Insight:
The growing presence of IoT devices — from smart city networks to home surveillance equipment — continues to drive enterprise technology adoption.
For the past two years, consulting firm KPMG has placed IoT at the top of its ranking of technologies driving business transformation, due to its potential for disrupting daily processes and offering businesses a competitive edge.
That sustained adoption from enterprise — coupled with consumer interest — has led to a soaring number of connected devices. Gartner projects 14.2 billion "things" will connect to the internet in 2019.
By 2021, the number is expected to hit the 25 billion mark.
In the context of expanding public concern about data privacy, CIOs must "educate themselves and their staff" on the ethical dimension of IoT system use, said Nick Jones, research vice president at Gartner, in a 2018 report on IoT trends.
The creation of ethics councils can help companies and their CIOs keep tabs on corporate strategy by advising and helping shape decisions.
"CIOs should also consider having key algorithms and AI systems reviewed by external consultancies to identify potential bias," Jones said.
