60pc of IT teams say it will be ‘impossible’ to maintain IoT networks

20 Sep 2019

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Business leaders keen to shepherd in enterprise-wide IoT adoption may find that security concerns hamper development.

Internet of things (IoT) is increasingly being hailed as an excellent way to make workplaces more efficient, yet for many IT teams the prospect of keeping all devices on a network that is secure and up to date seems “impossible”.

As many companies encourage the rapid adoption of IoT networks to drive business transformation, IT decision-makers are unsure that scaling and maintaining such vast networks is feasible, according to the latest research from Kollective.

“There are also genuine challenges to overcome before industry-wide adoption can be achieved, starting with overcoming concerns about who will regularly manage, monitor, update and test these IoT devices to make them more efficient for users and businesses,” the report reads.

“Following the move towards Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies, enterprise IT teams are already struggling to keep on top of an increasingly diverse list of employee devices.

“As these emerging technologies begin to shape how people work, it’s clear from our research IT leaders will need to ensure that measures are in place to make this process as reliable, effective and secure as possible.”

‘These concerns are overshadowing the potential business benefits of IoT’
– KOLLECTIVE

The professionals surveyed also cited employees bringing their own apps (86pc) and the move to cloud computing more broadly (69pc) as creating both current and future security risks.

Kollective surveyed 270 US and UK-based IT decision-makers and explored the challenges arising from incorporating internet-of-things devices into their businesses. The research also explored what these people can do to ensure that devices at the edge of the networks can be reached efficiently, expediently and securely.

The vast majority (88pc) of respondents said that updating the devices will be their sole responsibility, and 90pc feel that every single device will need to be tested prior to installation.

These concerns surrounding security have been echoed by other research into the area of IoT adoption. In July, Microsoft’s IoT Signals report indicated that almost all adopters (97pc) expressed security concerns when implementing IoT, however, this has not necessarily hindered adoption.

Roadblocks to IoT installation

Only 5pc of businesses claim there is nothing preventing enterprise-wide IoT adoption. Others are less convinced and more than half (55pc) of IT leaders agree that security risks are a major roadblock to the implementation of this new technology while 72pc see IoT itself as a security risk to their firm.

The report continues: “These concerns are overshadowing the potential business benefits of IoT, limiting the likelihood that IT teams will deploy them at scale and slowing the overall adoption of IoT networks. This could lead to companies being left behind as their competitors potentially race towards better products or faster digital transformation.”

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Eva Short was a journalist at Silicon Republic

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