Monetising the IoT is a bigger concern than securing it
Canonical has found that understanding and 'monetising' the IoT are the top priorities of business professionals today - not security
Despite security being the most-publicised IoT news, it is return on investment that serves as the biggest challenge for professionals in the sector.
More than half of the IoT professionals surveyed by Canonical (developer of the IoT OS Ubuntu Core) said that ‘quantifying ROI and providing a clear use case' was their most significant challenge. RoI came ahead of concerns about device security (45 per cent) and lack of infrastructure (40 per cent).
34 per cent of the respondents (more than 360 professionals) said that ‘quantifying the business benefits' should be the top priority to encourage adoption of the IoT. Mike Bell, EVP of IoT and devices at Canonical, said, "The early internet of things was something of a gold rush, with vendors and developers jumping in to secure their share of an exciting and rapidly growing new market. Unfortunately, many of these businesses simply didn't understand or evaluate how the IoT was going to deliver value - and apparently - the majority still don't."
55 per cent of IoT professionals still make their profits from device sales, and Canonical expects vendors to continue to make ‘decent money' in the future. However, downward pressure on prices is increasing, and is stronger than the falling cost of the BoM. Increasingly, it is likely that vendors will eschew custom-built solutions and use off-the-shelf SoCs or SBCs; more money will be made through software.
Bell continued, "Where once, people planned to monetise the IoT through device sales, we are now increasingly moving towards a software defined business model... With IoT specific operating systems, such as Ubuntu Core, allowing users to install new functionality onto their products, a growing number of businesses are now relying on IoT app stores to generate new revenues and increase their RoI."
Canonical listed the top immediate challenges faced by IoT professionals as:
- Quantifying RoI - 53 per cent
- Device security and privacy - 45 per cent
- Lack of IoT infrastructure - 40 per cent
- Lack of budget/investment in IoT - 34 per cent
- Ensuring integration with the wider ecosystem - 29 per cent
- Device management / long-term support - 26 per cent
- Resistance from within the organisation - 25 per cent
- Ensuring regular updates are installed - 12 per cent