The IoT opportunity is real and it is here now. Speaking at Comms Vision 2014, the UK Comms channel's premier strategic business planning convention (November 5th-7th) Andy Chew, Managing Director and Head of Architectures for Cisco UK&I said that when it comes to assessing its potential to move beyond hype and make a real impact on the market, as far as Cisco is concerned, IoT ticks all the boxes.
"IoT has traditionally been about connected devices, but the real potential is in linking people, processes and data. By making data more available it can be acted on quickly. For Cisco, this is the Internet of Everything, where everything is linked together."
The societal impact of IoT Chew believes is likely to be felt first in vertical sectors such as healthcare where it could enable a transformation the way patients are treated with, for example, tablets that monitor vital signs from within the human body, creating a network of connected patients. IoT has the power to connect consultants, surgeons and patients in new ways based on sensor technology, he says.
Can the channel walk the road to full Digitalisation and IoT? Perhaps now is the time to take those first steps. "IoT is transformative, so we need to understand the various verticals and their pressures. Take local authorities - the financial pressures they are under means they have to do things differently. This leans towards the capabilities of IoT at a time when the costs of technology are coming down.”
"Resellers therefore need vertical knowledge. And they should not think of IoT as a standalone market, but as a lateral extension of business being done today in the context of trends like mobility."
Chew cited recent developments such as the UK Government’s pledge of £45m towards the development of IoT and the fact that 10% of all venture capital investment is going into IoT-related activities. "Cisco has invested $200m in IoT," added Chew. "This is a market that will take off during the coming years. Whole industries and sectors of society will become digitalised."
But with this growth will come challenges. "There are many issues to overcome," he noted. "These include security, data policies, technological complexity, business readiness and a shortage of IT talent. But where there is potential and opportunities the momentum will carry us forward. What do we need to do to make IoT work? We need new partnership models to deliver end-to-end capabilities."
The potential of IoT to the ISV sector will be discussed at the ISV Convention in March 2015
IT Europa's eighth European ISV Convention is a pan-European event that brings together the leading independent software vendors with leading hardware and software platform providers, service providers, systems integrators and solution providers to develop business partnerships and capitalise on the evolution of the IT industry within an increasingly applications and solutions-driven world. http://isvconvention.com/
The main theme is Beyond the cloud - Creating Competitive Advantage
- harnessing the power of connected technologies to drive digital business