The Success Gap

When it comes to successful collaboration, IT and OT have different perspectives on how well they work together. These differences in how IT and OT perceive their respective roles in supporting and driving IoT initiatives create the Success Gap.

The Success Gap was verified when we asked respondents to evaluate the success of IT and OT collaborations. The good news is that 78 percent of respondents believe that the working relationship between IT and OT is either Good or Very Good.

Source: Futurum Research, Bridging the IoT Perception Gap, Survey of 500 IT/OT Professionals

Where is the best coordination? Media and Technology, where 88 percent of respondents cited a Good or Very Good working relationship (68 percent cited a Very Good relationship). But in Healthcare/Pharma and Public Sector roughly only a third of respondents believe they have a very good working relationship. When IT and OT responses are compared, however, a perception gap emerges. While 56.6 percent of IT respondents believe that IT/OT coordination of IoT initiatives is very good, that number drops to only 43.9 percent for OT respondents. Even worse, almost a quarter of OT respondents feel that the collaborative relationship either Adequate or Barely Adequate.

Success Gap - Bottom Line

The success of any project can only be a strong as the collaboration and cooperation of the teams planning and implementing the project. For IoT to drive true business value, collaboration needs to be consistent and strong. The gap seen here, where IT has a much better perception of the collaborative process, invites dissatisfaction within operational teams. When combined with the leadership gap, where IT is seen to be a more dominant driver of IoT initiatives, a pattern emerges—OT may be underrepresented at the IoT table.