Is the Adoption of Professional Services Required to Accelerate IoT?

We've seen examples of companies that have not been able to adapt to current technologies when a change in the existing business model occurs. Think about the companies that fell by the wayside when the software industry switched from a per-licensee pricing model to SaaS. In this frequently evolving digital world, we are on the brink of the same type of change within IoT. Companies are aggressively looking at taking the dive into IoT implementation, which is why it is necessary for the adoption of professional IoT services.

It is assumed that by the end of 2025, over 27.1 billion IoT devices are expected to be part of the globe. This will accelerate growth synchronized with the latest solutions offered by IoT. In April 2021, 500 decision-makers in the U.K. and the U.S. announced their adherence to ramping up IoT investment, with 49 percent planning new projects in the next two or three years, and 89 percent planning budget increases.

However, many companies do not have the proper resources and skills that are required to architect, integrate, and strengthen a connected solution in their enterprise setting. Plus, without an experienced technical team, the IoT project cost can be high and escalate into unanticipated risks, which can cause disturbances in the growth of the project. Let's discuss the reason many IoT projects fail, or are not as successful as originally projected to be, and the ways in which the adoption of IoT services can help deliver quality solutions.

The Reasoning Behind Failed IoT Projects

Research shows that respondents are struggling most with security, connectivity, and device onboarding. All these are considered top challenges. 39 percent said that security was their biggest obstacle, whereas the other 35 percent device on-boarding, testing, and certification. The rest said that cellular connectivity across multiple countries and regions causes difficulty. Therefore, overall experience says that IoT projects undertaken in the last twelve months had failed to attain the expected potential.

IoT devices drag in many complexities like connectivity issues or the configuration of an existing system with an IoT ecosystem. Still, it is expected that IoT should facilitate reliable and secure connectivity that can crush international or local restrictions. It should be robust and well-designed, capable of overcoming escalating security threats.

Besides connectivity and other issues, logistical challenges also disrupt growth, especially for global or multi-region roll-outs, the ongoing management and coordination of multiple vendors, and many other related challenges that companies have to deal with.

As we already discussed, some organizations lack specialist skills internally to develop and deploy IoT-based solutions. Organizations often don't have the in-house expertise or a team to manage multiple vendor relationships for various components of an IoT solution.

The Solution? Adopting Professional IoT Services

To resolve these unwanted issues brought by IoT, many organizations have switched to global system integrators to get physical assets onto the Internet and construct the network infrastructure required to manage devices and data. The diversity of use cases and nature show that a one-size-fits-all approach is impossible to adopt.

Enterprises must realize that they need the assistance of specialist service providers instead of a generalist. The adoption of these specific IoT services will allow for the creation of a tailored IoT solution for your business's needs. Even some companies recognize that they need to develop a project-oriented unique solution for their projects, and they build this from the ground level. For instance, Cisco shared that 75 percent of IoT projects fail because most devices are hand-built for the use case.

Service providers, SIS, and mobile operators can provide global coverage, but this is often not analogous to universal connectivity. A roaming agreement might assist devices in connecting to compatible networks when traveling across borders. Yet, they don't ensure that the connectivity is accessible or invariably reliable everywhere, further complicating the process for the company. Also, there is compliance concern across markets and different mobile network operators. Most companies switch to capture hitherto unstored data that can change their operations and provide a competitive edge. However, due to the business-critical nature of these data streams, any security breach results in excess financial and reputational damages to the company.

Along with this, compliance with rigorous data protection frameworks is usually a critical business need. In fact, many organizations will support an on-premises or hybrid IoT deployment over a cloud-driven one to maintain complete data and security control and mitigation risk. However, If they adopt cloud integration or a cloud migration, they will adopt a modern, simple, and secure way to integrate data into the cloud.

The Blossoming of IoT Will Accelerate

With the expected growth of IoT in the coming years, companies are hopeful that their IoT initiatives will be successful. Though the IoT ecosystem is complex, enterprises struggle to succeed with their IoT ventures.

By adopting a service provider with a dedicated professional services team, proven methodology can be demonstrated through an appropriate IoT strategy. This can aid in developing a solution capable of meeting the specific goals of your business, helping it deliver enterprise-scale global IoT solutions that work anytime and everywhere.