Is your Enterprise Ready for Internet of Things?
The Internet of Things revolution is here, and it is going to change the way we interact with the devices. The modern businesses are thriving on globalization and mobility, offering better accessibility, interactivity and empowerment to the employees, thus enhancing the operations and ringing in more productivity and flexibility across the enterprise.
While, IoT is gaining momentum in the digital transformation era, it is not a new concept that we are seeing. The exact beginning cannot be determined of this transformation, but this term was coined somewhere in the year 1999 by Kevin Ashton, when he introduced RFID (Radio-frequency Identification) systems at MIT. But, the connected world existed much before the term for it was coined. As back as 1982, the coke machine was wired to mainframe for inventory tracking and management. The technique used then was known as frequency-hopping, which is the premise for IoT as well as the Bluetooth-enabled devices.
If we see the IoT era, we cannot really know when it started or, what the future of this connected world is going to be like. What we surely know is that it will have a huge impact on the data ecosystem.
According to a research conducted by Gartner, approximately 26 Bn devices will be connected to the Internet by 2020, which is a huge number.
This is going to impact the enterprises enormously, and it is time to check if the enterprises are ready for this huge transformation. The connected devices will come with large volumes of data that need to be processed and analyzed in real-time. At this point, the deployment of the devices, as well as the infrastructure, network and security concerns, are riding high. Enterprises will need to review their infrastructure and network, and invest in more interactive DCIM portals to get ready for the future of Internet of Things. It is time to incorporate Big Data tools and techniques and migrate to IPV6 for a better future.
At the same time, the employees are bringing in their own device, which is also a cause of concern for the organization.
Read on to know the challenges, and the pre-requisites for the enterprises to get IoT ready.
Challenges that Enterprises Face with IoT
Organizations that are starting to prepare for a connected future are likely to face a few challenges. Let’s have a quick look at these challenges.
- Mobile Device Management: With IoT, a range of devices such as sensors, televisions, smart watches, refrigerators, and home appliances will be part of the connected network. Managing and monitoring these devices will become a huge task, and in most cases, the mobile devices will be used to control and manage the devices. This will bring in data security issues, which can pose to be a challenge to the enterprises. They require an efficient MDM system for better management
- Robust WiFi Infrastructure: The WiFi access for IoT can get complicated, which is precisely why enterprises need to go for more robust WiFi infrastructure. When you are connecting numerous sensors and devices over the WiFi, the security can become a huge challenge. Most enterprises have well-configured access points in their WiFi network, which can obstruct the growth of this connected network. Again, the newer and emerging IoT models connect headless sensors over the WiFi to the cloud service. Some of them override the WiFi and connect directly to the cloud service. The growth of IoT suggests need for WiFi that secures wired-like performance, and comes with the ability to handle high density wireless clients. The need is also to have WiFi technologies that can be easily managed and upgraded.
- Security: Security is the biggest challenge with the huge networks, grand infrastructure and numerous devices & sensors reigning Internet of Things. The need here is for an integrated security system that can induce encryption in the wireless traffic, and take care of the access controls, user tracking and provision of services for the devices within the network. Along with the security, the enterprise is saddled with the additional responsibility of managing the huge numbers of devices.
- Backend Support:Â When you are dealing with such a magnanimous infrastructure, you surely need the support of a highly capable and enterprising IT department. Real-time control of devices, checking into device break or malfunction, and managing the devices from the backend proves to be a major responsibility for enterprises, which requires a huge team and mighty resources.
Read Also : Â Top IoT Trends for Manufacturing Sector
Overcome the Challenges with Perfect Measures
Here are a few requisites that can help you prepare your enterprise for the transformation IoT will bring in.
- Infrastructure & Network: The enormous data coming from the connected devices requires adequate storage, servers, security, data compliance and network infrastructure for smooth flow, proper storage, analysis and possibilities of action in real-time. The idea is to cope with the continuous flow of information, which is why enterprises should ensure they invest in efficient and futuristic capacity management systems like DCIM which can help meet your priorities & data management needs
- Interactive DCIM: In the digital disruption era, enterprises should have a real-time access to the datacenter. The network teams should be able to submit access requests, submit tickets, organize contracts, organize SLAs, and make payment via the DCIM portal. Enterprises should possess complete visibility over the activities related to datacenter and network as well as usage that include bandwidth and rack activity. This calls for custom and secure DCIM portals that allow enterprises to monitor the rack usage and network activity. This interactive portal also allows enterprises to interact with the account management team, and get complete backend support 24/7
- Migrating to IPV6: Â This is a pre-requisite in case you are thinking of moving forward with IoT for your organization. The enterprises should migrate to IPV6 in order to tackle the growth in the number of connected devices, and the huge volumes of data that will be generated in the future. The IPV6 has access to 7.9*10^28 times IP addresses, which will definitely match the future requirement of IP addresses that need to be hosted.
- Security: Â The time has come to secure your network from malicious attacks, for better performance, and possibility of using Big Data to detect network hops and packet loss. In order to improve security, you will need to audit BGP Internet Routing Table, and opt for for the best strategy to route the traffic, and enhance network performance & availability
To make your enterprise ready for the big transformation that IoT is bringing along with it, you will need to improve your networks and infrastructure and bring in more security to your systems.
Partnering with one of the best IoT Solutions Provider Company will do justice to your IoT needs. Silver Touch has been facing the IoT solutions with innovative & highly reliable systems to meet you unique business needs. To collaborate with us to convert your ideas into reality, connect with us at info@semaphore-software.com