7 Takeaways from Internet of Things World 2019
… use IoT innovation. The CIO of New Orleans, Kim Walker LaGrue, says her company’s top priority is reacting to floods and other weather-related crises. If IoT advances can help her city determine a better way to deal with post-storm emergencies, she’s all in favor of it. This is in contrast to Phoenix CIO Ajay Joshi, who says autonomous vehicles and other IoT innovations are occupying his time.
Not Every Company Is Destined to Be a “Tech” Company, But More Will Thanks to the IoT
In the future, every company will be a technology company. How many times have you heard that aphorism? The idea has been bandied about so often that it’s now getting significant pushback in certain circles.
Regardless of where you stand, it’s abundantly clear that the IoT is enabling many old-style companies in mature industries to create new lines of business around data that they have at their disposal. These digital transformations are happening in companies large and small.
“What’s a tech company today? It’s any business that opts to spend more than 50 percent of its discretionary spending on new digital investments,” says Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola.
Ask a CEO where he or she would spend some extra money and most will say “on digital technology,” adds Voccola.
At IoT World, Channel Futures sat down with several companies that are helping old-line businesses reinvent themselves. This includes TomTom, the developer of one of the first IoT GPS-enabled mapping devices.
“We were IoT before there was IoT,” says Leandro Margulis, vice president and general manager of developer relations at TomTom.
Today, TomTom has moved far beyond the ubiquitous GPS device that made it famous. Today, its focus is helping other companies develop new technologies that leverage its mapping capabilities. In addition to helping car companies and tech suppliers such as Apple create new solutions, TomTom has opened up its APIs and created a portal that features thousands of apps created by companies old and new.
TomTom is literally creating a map to help old-style companies digitally transform their offerings.
Security Remains a Stumbling Block
Who or what is on my network? Time and again at IoT World, IT administrators expressed frustration over the inability to get a handle on this troublesome issue.
Brace yourself, CounterTack CTO Michael Davis told attendees at the event, the problem is only going to get worse — at least in the short term.
For all the many advances in IoT technology, security remains a thorny stumbling block.
“With IoT, companies face a monumental challenge: applying digital security to processes that have never before been digitized,” sums CompTIA’s Robinson in his “2019 Trends In Internet Of Things” study published in February of this year.
The problem is especially acute among small business that heretofore never thought their systems would fall prey to cybersecurity attacks.
“Small businesses are the least prepared for the security demands of IoT,” Robinson notes. “For many years, small businesses operated under the assumption that their digital assets were not at risk from cyberattacks. To some extent, this may have been true, but the situation has changed; all data has value, and breaches can cause more disruption than ever. The risk is magnified when physical assets and processes can be hacked.”