Three things to consider if Internet of Things is part of your digital transformation

Spencer Lourens
·2 min read

From daily consumer conveniences such as turning lights on and off from your smartphone to robust systems that help organizations manage supply chain, employ predictive maintenance, or monitor environmental data — the Internet of Things (IoT) plays a critical connective role.

If you’re considering a change to your IoT services, or a change to another software solution, review the following key steps.

Assess your current state

Keeping up in an ever-changing and competitive environment could be stressing your systems. Are there new features or functionality you regularly wish you had at your fingertips? Do you feel the pressure of rising data security requirements? Do you wonder if your technology is near obsolete? Are manual processes costing you time and money? Are your technology systems holding you back rather than scaling with you?

No matter where you are on your digital transformation journey, if you answered “yes” to some of these questions, now may be the right time to make a change.

Assemble key criteria

Take stock of how you’re operating today, then envision how your organization could be transformed with a strategic technology shift by considering the following questions.

  • Could edge analytics move you out of the drag of inefficient data latency constraints?

  • Are you employing only remote monitoring today — and could a predictive, analytics-based approach deliver a lower cost or higher value?

  • Do you have an IoT solution that measures effectiveness and helps you capture additional efficiencies?

  • Would you like to employ predictive maintenance to reduce downtime and likelihood of fault or bad product based on system and environmental conditions?

From here, collect and document your requirements, considering what you need today and what you may need in the future. This can include additional functionality, improved security, scalability, and lower operational cost.

Avoid pitfalls

It’s critical to put adequate time into helping your service provider understand your needs from an organizational perspective, not just an operational or IoT standpoint. Understanding your current infrastructure and culture can help streamline the migration efforts over the life cycle of the project.

Spencer Lourens
Spencer Lourens

In addition, it’s important to leverage skilled and experienced professionals to avoid consuming valuable time from internal resources who may not be as experienced in migration.

For more information on IoT services in New England, contact Michael Pelletier at michael.pelletier@CLAconnect.com or 860-561-6869. For more information on CliftonLarsonAllen LLP, visit CLAconnect.com.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Internet of Things plays a critical connective role