How to ensure your IoT project succeeds – Information Challenges

This post is the third in a series of seven chapters intended to help individuals and organisations on the journey to deploying a successful Internet of Things (IoT) transformation. The first chapter covered preparation, the second covered how to choose the right hardware. This particular chapter covers the Information challenges. If it’s helpful to go back to the beginning and read in sequence you can start with an introduction to this series here, along with a list of the other topic areas you will need to assess on your journey.

3.1      The Data

A key objective of the digitisation process is to collect data using devices/sensors that you then put through analytics to deliver business benefits. Depending on your particular IoT project, you may be collecting a small or large amount of Data. Either way, you need to consider the 5 “V”s of Big Data: Volume, Velocity, Variety, Variability, Veracity. I will also touch on two more “V”s: Visualisation further below in this blog and Value in an upcoming blog.

The five key focus areas for data/information are:

1. Volume: For example, while an ultrasonic sensor reading could result in a small data packet (e.g. <50KB), an image based sensor could deliver large picture or video files of the size 1000KB and above. Estimating the volume of data being generated is an important task
2. Velocity or the “duty cycle”: Data will need to be uploaded at certain intervals of time. This could range from real time (always on) to once every 24 hours or more and anything in between. Ask your vendor for the number of connections per battery lifetime and check how often you need to collect this data from the field.
3. Variety if you are using different sources of data from different devices vendors, or different systems then you need to assess how to derive value from each source, individually and collectively. Most of the time your new IoT solution is part of your overall picture…make sure it fits and you can derive business value by combining with other data as you need to extract full value from your investment.
4. Variability: Is the data reliable when it comes to availability and/or interval of reporting? Does it describe the event reported in a correct way? or in the event that data is variable, assess whether it is just noise and should be disregarded or if you must interpret each set of data differently.
5. Veracity or the accuracy of the data. If automated decisions are made based on this data, you need to be sure that the data is always reliable, not just sometimes.

The five Vs could have various impacts on your IoT project such as storage, connectivity, infrastructure, cost, business continuity, choice of technology, choice of supplier to name but a few.

Therefore, when you choose your solution, make sure you understand: what data is being collected? Who owns the data? With whom the data is being shared? How long is it retained? Who it is retained by? Who has access to the data and for what purpose? How secure is the data in question? What measures are taken to ensure its security? And how accessible is your data to you and your organisation and in what format?

Trust is a fundamental issue in selecting your solution (or ideal solution provider) and these questions will get you closer to the right answers. Ultimately this is your data, you own it and you must decide how and who you share it with, what risks you can tolerate and what you cannot. Trust extends beyond the solution into the supplier and the people you are dealing with and this is something I will cover further in a future blog.

3.2      Analytics & Visualization

What is the business value of the data generated by your IoT solution? The answer will be found in the analytics and visualisation. Many businesses are creating new business models thanks to ...

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