Editor’s note: In the age known as Internet of Things, the companies that will be successful are those that prepare to embrace continual innovation, says Technology Business Research Analyst Ezra Gottheil. This is the second of a two-part report.

HAMPTON, N.H. – Centralize support is crucial to enterprise Internet of Things adoption.

To fully leverage IoT, projects will proliferate throughout an organization, initiated and implemented in different business units and locations. Without coordination, this would result in sprawl, security vulnerabilities and inefficiencies. Overly restrictive coordination, however, would result in slower innovation and failure to fully realize the potential benefits of IoT.

The solution to this dilemma is to provide central, standardized resources and support services that facilitate innovation while ensuring compliance with standards. In a company organized to fully leverage IoT, this is the role of the IT department.

While this is the role IT has always provided, in the past, there were fewer projects, moving forward at a slower pace, each one less deeply entwined with the physical processes of the company. This corresponds to the role for IT envisioned by Dell EMC, in the company’s concept of “IT transformation.”

Dell EMC seeks to enable IT to support digital transformation, a business model change, by providing the supporting IT resources quickly, flexibly and efficiently through automation, virtualization and hybrid cloud architecture. This approach serves IoT, which TBR believes to be a flavor of digital transformation, very well.

An IT department supporting distributed IoT innovation will do more than provide infrastructure; it will provide IoT-related services that cut across different IoT solutions.

This includes a common IoT platform, as well as tools such as analytics that can be helpful in a variety of solutions. These tools, along with training and support, will supplement solution-specific modules purchased or created by business unit groups.

Implications for vendors

• The organizational impact of IoT is an opportunity for consulting companies that have organizational practices.

• Vendors involved in creating IoT solutions, such as systems integrators and vendors with systems integration services, will adapt to distributed engagements, in which vendor personnel become part of each implementation team.

• As the role of IT in IoT becomes more clearly defined, IT vendors will find it easier to define the IoT offerings.

• IoT platform vendors will find themselves increasingly in head-to-head competition as companies seek to standardize on a single platform.

Conclusion

IoT is a long-term revolution in the application of technology to business processes. It will permeate business, with each large company having hundreds or more solutions, each specifically bought or built to fit specific business needs of specific parts of the enterprise.

Companies that adapt to the possibilities offered by IoT will be most successful, as will IT vendors that support their customers in embracing distributed IoT innovation.

Part one is linked with this post.

(C) TBR