InsightaaS: CIO Dashboard is a blog run by PwC principal Chris Curran. This post, co-authored with Curran’s PwC colleague Daniel Eckert, provides a counterweight to the ‘helium’ around IoT: it lists 12 obstacles to the widespread adoption of IoT.
The post is not intended to provide a detailed treatment of each of the 12 barriers. Instead, it offers a high-level perspective across many different issues. Very few professionals would have a span of responsibility covering infrastructure, physical and virtual security, privacy, Big Data and analytics, power and the other issues considered here – but each of the 12 will have an impact on how and how fast IoT expands, and anyone responsible for some part of the equation will benefit from having insight into the ‘big picture’.
While the Internet of Things (IoT) accounts for approximately 1.9B devices today, it is expected to be over 9B devices by 2018–roughly equal to the number of smartphones, smart TVs, tablets, wearable computers and PCs combined. But, for the IoT to scale beyond early adopters— it must overcome specific challenges within three main categories: technology, privacy/security, and measurement. Following are 12 hurdles that are hampering the growth of the IoT:
1. Basic Infrastructure Needed
IoT technology is still being explored and the required infrastructure must be developed before it can gain widespread adoption. The cost of sensors also needs to shrink for usage to expand into mid-market companies.
2. Few Standards
Interconnectivity between platforms is now only starting to emerge. (i.e. I want to turn my lights on when I walk in the house and turn down the temp, turn on some music, and lock all my doors — that’s 4 different ecosystems, from 4 different manufacturers.) Competing protocols will create demand for bridge devices.
3. Security Immaturity
Many products are built by smaller companies and/or in open source environments that do not have the resources or time to implement the proper security models…
