The IoT is with us now, as I think everyone can agree. But it’s not coming without its problems. Security concerns are still ever-present, and platform issues of standardization are not going away anytime soon. Who will solve these problems moving forward? If you’re smart, it’s your IT department.
They’re your experts and they are learning to look beyond traditional IT responsibilities like availability and capacity management to get closer to the decision-making processes and work more closely with business leaders on how M2M connected devices can contribute to enterprise operations and revenue models without introducing untoward risk.
Sarah Lahav, CEO, SysAid (News - Alert) Technologies, says the growth of the IoT will forever change the IT industry and she’s getting prepared.
“I believe IT departments are going to become ever more important as the IoT grows,” she said. “But IT will need to change.”
She says that IT professionals will need to become Jacks and Jills of all trades instead of specialists. “BYOD has made it so IT people need to have Android and other mobile platforms in their knowledge base,” she said. And that’s only the first step. As IoT-specific platforms emerge, corporate IT professionals will also need to learn them if they are going to be able to protect their organizations for organically evolving risks.
“Everything is going to be connected to everything,” she said. “And IT people are going to become more open to learning the platforms that make those connections possible.”
One thing won’t change, however. IT departments will keep guarding the doors. This extra knowledge will be used to maintain data security and protect mission critical and proprietary assets from malicious exploits.
“IT will always be the gatekeepers for security,” she said. “Regulation by governments will help and we are getting smarter now. IT people will incorporate the new devices and networks and learn to protect them.”
IT is transforming along with the IoT, and the two are becoming more and more entwined. And that’s good. “The IoT is changing the atmosphere, making it easier to run fast, be agile,” said Lahav. “We need to give our companies an advantage so they can be agile and adaptable, too.”
Keep an eye out, friends. The IT Crowd is going to move out of the basement and into the boardroom faster than you think. And that’s great.
