The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is projected as the fastest growing sector of the IoT. However, a survey conducted by IndustryWeek showed that “Manufacturers are convinced the Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) will help them improve operations and profitability by 10 percent or more, but most are struggling to develop the right plans to take advantage of the technology.”
There are a number of interesting points to highlight from this survey including:
- About 60 percent are exploring or investing in Industrial IoT pilot projects, but only 5 percent are investing against a clear business case for how to best implement the technology.
Discussions with other IIoT providers have supported this finding. A majority of Industrial IoT investment is in POCs and in small-scale tests. The most successful ones focus on measurable operational efficiency programs.
- Company culture (47 percent); lack of clear business strategy (41 percent); and knowing which technology will deliver measurable improvement (34 percent) were the largest cited roadblocks for operational efficiency program initiatives.
I’ve written about the people factor as a major barrier to IIoT in a previous article. Integrating the IIoT requires collaboration across OT and IT. It also requires a culture that understands how to collect and use data for business decision-making. All change management initiatives (which IIoT certainly requires) demands a clear business strategy to help reshape behaviors, create a vision and generate buy-in.
In terms of “knowing which technology will deliver measurable improvement” the IIoT space is very noisy right now. There are many different solutions being marketed that claim to solve numerous opportunities. This noisiness makes it particularly difficult for companies to select the right providers. However, as case studies emerge and peer-to-peer sharing occurs following successful IIoT implementations, a best of breed set of providers should also rise to the top making selection a little easier for manufacturers.
Read the entire article at www.emerson.com
Also published on Medium.
