People often talk about deploying the Internet of Things (IoT) as if it's a discrete project-something you do once, and then you move on to the next thing. Nothing could be further from the truth.
IoT is a multi-year journey, not a one-time event.
IoT is not just about implementing IoT technology, it's about changing your culture, processes, and skills. It may start with just one small project-and, in fact, that is exactly what I recommend in my new book,Building the Internet of Things-but it's never just "one and done." That is why, before you implement the smallest bit of IoT technology, you need to step back and take a comprehensive approach:
When you begin this IoT journey, you don't know exactly where it may take you. As I have said, start with a small project, preferably in one of the four fast paths to payback I have identified-connected operations, remote operations, predictive analytics, and predictive maintenance. These areas of IoT have been tried and proven by thousands of your peers over the past several years. With the success of one project you can then more easily obtain investment in more complex-and impactful-initiatives.
Let's look at the experience of Rockwell Automation, Cisco's long-standing IoT partner. They decided to "eat their own dogfood" and implement the Internet of Things as part of their connected enterprise. They began by placing all elements of the assembly lines and operations in one plant on a single Ethernet/IP network, then expanded to more plants, and linked those plants to each other and the enterprise network. The results were impressive:
This kind of success can only happen if you take your entire company with you on this journey. Make sure you have buy-in from stakeholders and support from the top. Break down silos, over-communicate, and check in often to make sure that everyone is along for the ride.