How to get the most out of the industrial internet of things

No question: the market for the industrial internet of things (IIoT) is set to take off. Global predictions suggest IIoT investments will reach $8.9 trillion in 2020, up from $2.99 trillion in 2014. What’s more, IIoT spending in manufacturing will likely hit $890 billion in 2020, nearly double the amount manufacturing companies were spending on IIoT investments only four years ago.

Analysts have noted that multi-billion dollar corporations are investing in IIoT in a big way and hoping to see immediate results. But a substantial number of IIoT projects are failing. In this paper, we’ll explore the reasons this happens.

But first, let’s review some survey data from Cisco.

• 60% of IIoT initiatives stall at the proof of concept or pilot stage
• Only 26% of companies describe their IIoT deployments and initiatives as successful
• While 35% of IT executives say their IIoT projects were completely successful, only 15% of other business executives agree, suggesting a serious perception gap

What can we conclude from this? We would argue that although many competent people are trying hard to get the most out of IIoT projects, they may be launching them before they have a fundamental understanding of what they want to accomplish. Before they begin, therefore, they should ask themselves:

• Why have other IIoT projects failed or not seen the expected level of return on investment?
• Have we aligned our strategy and approach to the business impact we want to achieve?
• Have all the relevant stakeholders bought in to the project, and will they participate?