Gartner estimates that by 2020, the Internet of Things market will consist of 25 billion devices. Meanwhile, Cisco predicts that number will be closer to 50 billion. Regardless of which figure is more accurate, the fact remains that big things are expected from the IoT market in the next several years.
Consumer devices often get the most play in the media when it comes to IoT, but IoT has huge potential to affect businesses as well. Gartner predicts that in 2020, the top industries for IoT will be utilities, manufacturing and government. But IoT could potentially have implications for many other industries.
IoT's business potential
“IoT will disrupt pretty much every public and private sector function,” said Dean Garfield, president and CEO of the Information Technology Industry Council. Garfield presented testimony about the potential of IoT at a hearing of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet last month. In his testimony, Garfield said predictive maintenance of equipment; facility heating, cooling and lighting management; and transportation fleet management and improvement are predicted to eclipse $7 trillion by 2030.
CIOs should imagine implementing sensor-enabled “things” within various parts of their business environments. What products, services and markets could potentially be created, and what is the potential economic value of those advances to an enterprise? CIOs, therefore, should be prepared for the emergence of IoT and what it may mean to an organization.
Proceed with caution?
On the flip side, IoT is still very much an emerging area. CIOs, therefore, would also be wise to proceed carefully, avoiding making major commitments or investments until some of the IoT parameters have been worked out.
For example, Garfield and the other representatives at the White House hearing cautioned members of Congress against imposing heavy-handed mandates that could stifle innovation in the fast-growing IoT space.
Yet it’s clear something needs to be done. The IT industry will need to embrace standard protocols for the true potential of the Internet of Things to be realized. While the companies involved in building IoT products agree standards are ideal, at this point, they still can't agree on which standards should rule.
In his testimony, Garfield called for a strategic national IoT plan to be developed which “encourages public-private partnerships, accelerates IoT adoption, and enables vast economic and societal benefits from the IoT in both the near and long-term.”
One major reason for a collaborative national plan: security.
Different systems, products and applications bring vastly different security needs. There is not a one-size-fits-all approach to addressing security, particularly in the IoT space given the broad range of applications.
So while IoT has huge potential for businesses, unknown factors involved with standards and security mean CIOs may be the best people to keep an eye on the space and its potential. They should also be careful, though, to avoid jumping in too deep until some of the key questions have been answered.
