With only a minority of CIOs and other executives expressing much confidence in their company’s ability to manage the scale and scope of data integration needs, the vast majority are looking to the industrial internet of things (IIoT) to help address the shortcomings, according to a recent survey from Bit Stew Systems. The resulting report, titled “CIOs Survey: IIoT Adoption – The Real Barriers and Opportunities Ahead,” defines IIoT as tech which leverages IoT “to track and manage real-time aspects of businesses and assets, from processes and equipment to predicting when a critical component will fail.” (Meaning IIoT remains of interest to a broad range of organizations—representing multiple industries—as opposed to strictly manufacturing companies.) Through IIoT initiatives, businesses are looking to improve operational efficiencies while reducing costs. They also hope to create new revenue streams through new products and services. Having the right data management strategy in place to support these efforts, however, remains key. Without such a strategy, companies may miss out on making key business decisions due to a lack of rich data insights—and even create security issues due to a wealth of unmanaged data. More than 100 CIOs, CTOs, C-suite execs and other IT/business managers took part in the research.
Only 31% of survey respondents are either “very” or “extremely” confident that their current tools and solutions can accommodate the scale and scope of data integration needs over the next 12 to 24 months.
57% said their organization is either considering or planning an industrial internet of things (IIoT) initiative, and 31% said their company is already either piloting or implementing such a project.
50% said IIoT tech has the potential to improve operational efficiencies, and 39% said it could reduce operational costs.
32% said IIoT tech has the potential to create new revenue streams through new products and services, and the same percentage said it can spark innovation.
Challenges associated with integrating data from disparate sources and systems: 39%. Inability to get concise and actionable details from the vast amount of “noise” received from connected devices and operational systems: 33%. Complexities of industrial data: 32%
47% said that, without a data management strategy to support IIoT efforts, they will face “lost data” risks that will result in missed opportunities to make strategic business decisions based upon rich data insights.
40% said that a lack of data management strategy for IIoT will cause their company to get overwhelmed by the data it generates.
34% said that, without this strategy, unmanaged data will increase security concerns.
33% said that the absence of such a strategy will cause their company to become marginalized – or disappear entirely.
33% said that, without this strategy, systems will breakdown due to a lack of cohesive integration for unstructured and structured data.
32% said that a lack of such a strategy will result in “brain drain,” with a massive loss off knowledge and competencies when waves of workers retire.