As we discuss whether one drives a 'Connected' car or if we use a 'Smart' light bulb", it is increasingly becoming apparent that IoT is becoming a verb. And that, as we know, is a gold standard of identifying as a trend takes root. While we have enough numbers being thrown at us by analysts and consulting firms around the number of 'connected things' Or the impact to the economy, each one of us is seeing it playing out in our work & personal life. It is the maturity of the underlying technologies, the end objective of meeting a real need and the cost points that are ensuring that this IoT buzz will not just stay with the technical folks, but transcend into the real world. Similar to how 'www' became 'the web'. And the fact that the generation of today considers internet to be as ubiquitous as the air we breathe (or traffic congestion in Bengaluru!), there is an openness to embrace IoT in the real world - as long as there is value provided. Over the last 12 to 18 months IoT has moved beyond buzz word not only in enterprises but also across universities, government regulations & policy and startups/venture capitalists.
So with the question not being If IoT will have an impact, we need to start moving the dialogue to how do we move ahead? While there is a tremendous amount of interest and intent to embrace the value which IoT brings to the table, we need to also table and address the drag forces that are in play. This is particularly acute in the Manufacturing domain where the business value of IoT (or Industrie 4.0 or Industrial Internet) is well established. The ability to directly connect with the customers has been an aspiration for the manufacturing industry for a long time (and now they can); The ability to customize their product for that one consumer based on their preferences is the holy grail leading to new revenue streams. When we couple it with the deeper efficiencies that IoT allows to predict failures and automate problem solving through self-healing technologies, the impact is both on the top-line and the bottom-line for the organization. And this has made IoT a Board level conversation across the manufacturing industry.
This intent to embrace IoT needs to be made a reality at the ground level. It will boil down to how effectively one can carry along the legacy of the past in this journey of the future. The companies that are able to both leverage and also take their core down this journey will emerge as winners. This legacy is manifested not only in the infrastructure and sunk costs of the past but also the established business models within the organization.
The legacy infrastructure offers it's set of challenges because the technology architecture will need to span generations. How do we seamlessly connect various layers across the value chain including devices, platforms, applications and bring the real business insights from these systems shall decide the success of IoT. Interoperability is the challenge both in legacy and green field environment due to the fact of overwhelming number of platforms that are available today. Hence it is challenging for the engineering team to decide the foundation layer for connectivity. Although interoperability is improving in IoT, creating a single standard is still a distant dream. Hence it is imperative for today's engineers to have an open mindset and flexible working environment to adopt new skillsets across the various layers of IoT.
Another important challenge is to change the established business models of the past. Especially for established organizations. To truly embrace the benefits of IoT, we need to be open and willing to identify the changing expectations of the end customer - and what it means to looking at established ways through which business has been conducted needs to be looked at. A lot of sacred cows around the order to cash cycle will need to be addressed because the competition that will disrupt their world will be that small start-up that was not on the radar.
One of the biggest challenges that does come in the way for companies with a legacy is the inherent fear of failing. The need to fail fast and then celebrate failures (because only then will others will learn from it) are critical as one embraces the world offered by IoT. Many of the organizations are adopting in-house development but not able to scale rapidly. This is creating a drag. Also there are multiple organizations that want to do everything and anything in-house without leveraging the ecosystem. That open mindset is required for embracing the IoT culture. Yes - it is a cultural change and that has to be adopted in order to survive in our rapidly changing world. That is how we have seen technology evolutions happening around us and the way we have adopted these changes (eg: adopting the modern architecture from the mainframe). Organizations that adopt this mindset or cultural change fast will be the most successful ones in the future. It is important for organization to rapidly explore and innovate.
Organisations need to recognize that it is important to bring change in the mindset as IoT can - and will - create endless opportunities for organizations that are willing to take that leap.
Guest Author
The author is Senior Vice President - Global Business Unit Head, Engineering Services at Infosys
