Cost keeping Kiwi companies from making the most of IoT

New Zealand's ability to deploy commercial Internet of Things (IoT) solutions is being hampered by cost barriers, according to global technology research company IDC.

IDC has just released its 2018-2019 Global IoT Decision Maker Survey, which reports that while one-third of New Zealand enterprises already have at least one IoT solution, cost barriers are slowing the deployment of commercial solutions.

"The cost barriers aren't just the direct costs related to IoT devices, connectivity and implementation," says IDC ANZ practice research manager Monica Collier.

"Companies are finding that their proof-of-concept projects are uncovering wider issues around security and infrastructure that must be addressed before they can deploy commercial IoT systems."

Collier says New Zealand enterprises have told IDC that they want IoT vendors to improve their security offerings and expertise.

"Of those companies with active IoT pilot projects, 75% are planning on expanding their trial systems into full-scale solutions. But they can't easily do that until security concerns are addressed and infrastructure barriers removed," adds Collier.

However, according to the IDC analyst, security concerns are neither uniform nor consistent.

"Across the IoT ecosystem industry, it is becoming plain that security is a complex topic with many layers across applications, network, data and devices," she continues.

"Interestingly, while companies said they are concerned about security at the application and data level, there is little or no concern about device security. Endpoints can be quite vulnerable and organisations should not overlook this potential weakness. We need more IoT platforms that do a good job of IoT endpoint device management.

"To move past the barriers inhibiting production scale IoT, organisations have to solve the broader security and upgrade issues. IoT vendors should be supporting enterprises with IoT-specific security expertise, more comprehensive analytics and better guidance on measuring how the solution is performing against business requirements."

The report focuses on New Zealand organisations that have deployed IoT initiatives or are planning to deploy in the next two years, understanding their plans, influences, challenges, success, infrastructure and vendor mindshare.