As technology continues to move and evolve so does our ability to connect more and more aspects of our lives directly to the internet. We can now access our ‘things’ both at home and business remotely giving us control and awareness of them without having to be close to them. This is what the internet of things is, creating a network and allowing us to reap the benefits of being connected. It is thought that currently there are as many as 8 billion devices that can be connected online and that’s set to be 30 billion by 2020. Particularly for business this statistic cannot be ignored and implementing IIoT is on the strategic plan for many organisations.
Given the huge numbers of devices that are capable of being connected to the Internet of things there are clearly vast areas for application for IIoT across an equally vast number of organisations and industries. For business, accessing assets via the internet can maximise their ability to reduce human intervention, increase efficiencies, boost accuracy and improve ROI.
Unfortunately adopting IIoT can present itself as a bit of a minefield; working out what your strategy is and how to go about implementing it. There are however some key components that you do have to have clarity on as an organisation before you embark on IIoT implementation.
Have Vision
There is an initial outlay for the hardware and ongoing cost to support your IIoT implementation and vision is required to see that this monetary spend is worthwhile. Sometimes the business case or “monetisation” of IIoT can be difficult to articulate. However, when implemented correctly the Return on Investment pays for that spend, but without vision that can be hard to see.
Have a goal 
Be clear about what you require out of your solutions and what areas of your business need focus. So, whether its growing sales, improving customer experience, reducing costs or managing risks know what your goal is and how you are going to measure it. Your goal may not present a cost saving but have another purpose, so it needs to be clear it’s been achieved.
Be open to change
when embarking on amending your approach to your organisation you need to be in a place to be open to the change that it will bring with it. Whether a large or small firm, decisions made at the top with the best intentions can be blocked by any unwillingness to adopt new approaches. Organisational buy in is key to swift and seamless adoption of any aspect of business not just IIoT.
Be adaptable
When you start to assess your organisation and the capabilities that an IIoT solution may offer you may have a pre-described notion of what may work well and what area of your business it will serve. As you get into the understanding and implementation of it then other opportunities may present themselves both in approach and areas of your business. Make sure that you can adapt to take full benefits during your strategy creation and implementation.
Be unique
Although the technology may be the same, the implementation across businesses is different, so you need to adopt a unique approach to it that doesn’t follow that of competitors or similar businesses but one that is totally tailored to you. If you don’t have the internal capabilities, ensure that you task someone who tailors things to you. Any investment will be useless if it doesn’t work inline with your uniqueness as a business.
There is one thing for certain though given the earlier statistics, accessing our ‘things’ via the internet is coming fast and businesses should be asking themselves – if not now then when, and as a business leader if not you then who?
We are an agile and passionate company that care about your success. If you would like to know more about our Industrial IoT solutions and how we can help you monitor implement the ‘internet of things’, please call us +44 (0) 1905 754 078 and ask for one of our IoT Application Specialists.
