The Impact Gap

The perceived risk of failed IoT projects is not viewed equally between IT and OT.

The value of IoT can clearly be identified for internal operations, particularly when it comes to optimizing for efficiency and cost controls. The value of IoT also extends an organization’s ability to better serve the customer, utilizing supplier, internal, and customer data. Time to market, quality control of products, and improved maintenance (including the availability of replacement parts) all benefit the customer and help drive both satisfaction and revenue. As more products include IoT sensors, the ability to gather data from actual use also increases, as improved service and support can be realized. IoT sensors in customer products can also be used to connect the supply chain to the customer, and better inform parts providers of issues in real time. But how do organizations perceive the value of IoT against possible risks? One way to understand the value (and risk) of IoT is to look at the impact of failed initiatives. Like any technology or business initiative, the impact of failure can be viewed from two perspectives: internally (operations and costs), and marketfacing (customer operations and sales).

When it comes to the impact of failed IoT initiatives, half of all respondents understand that failed IoT initiatives impact both internal costs and customer revenue. The larger issue is that over a quarter of all respondents believe that failed IoT initiatives impact their jobs more than the customer, overlooking the reality that customer success is driven directly by the operational efficiencies.

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

Impact Gap - Bottom Line

Survey respondents were asked to assess the impact of failed IoT initiatives both internally and to customers. Overall, just over half of all respondents agreed that failed IoT initiatives would impact both internal and customer groups. But in a head-to-head comparison, over a quarter of respondents felt that internal teams would be impacted more than their customers if an IoT initiative failed.