IoT Initiative Planning: 8 Tips

Whether you want to streamline your supply chain, better manage your workforce or improve customer relationships, the Internet of Things is expected to transform how businesses operate. The idea is that with all things connected and capturing data, we can analyze and map it to business processes. The potential of IoT is tremendous, but the danger rests in poor implementation. If you don’t properly plan and execute a sound IoT strategy, you risk your competition leaving you in the dust.

As is true for virtually every IT project, the first place to start your IoT initiative is  the network. Your first consideration revolves around how you will provide connectivity and sufficient bandwidth to any number of IoT data collectors. Depending on your current and future ambitions, this could mean looking at your LAN, WAN and Internet capabilities and upgrade options.

Once you understand and look past how IoT endpoints collect data in a distributed manner, what you’re left with an exercise in big data. You’re going to be collecting a huge amount of information and using intelligent software to organize and analyze this information so meaningful and accurate decisions can be made. That means that the data center will play a key role in any successful IoT architecture.

Finally, a successful IoT initiative will be one of scalability, security and sufficient support.  The underlying IoT infrastructure must be able to expand for future IoT projects,  data must be protected from end-to-end, and all IoT endpoints need constant maintenance.

Continue on to see how you should go about planning for your upcoming IoT initiative.

(Image: Weedezign/iStockphoto)

To learn more about IoT and its impact on IT, attend the Internet of Things Summit at Interop Las Vegas this spring. Don't miss out! Register now for Interop, May 2-6, and receive $200 off.