IT departments unprepared for internet of things

Just 41% of IT professionals are working on projects to prepare their business for the internet of things (IoT), despite 71% realising it will affect both consumers and businesses.

There is also a lack of focus and investment on security, despite 86% of IT professionals expecting security and privacy issues to be caused by IoT.

IT community Spiceworks questioned 440 IT professionals for the research report The Devices are Coming!

It revealed that 30% of IT professionals are preparing for IoT with 68% investing in hardware infrastructure and 55% expanding bandwidth.

A total of 68% of respondents said they support two or more devices per employee, and 61% expect the number of supported devices to grow in the next five years.

“This acceleration of internet-connected devices in the workplace will have a dramatic impact on how IT professionals manage the devices in their network,” said Spiceworks.

The research revealed that 43% will assign a separate network for these devices, while 23% anticipate putting them on the corporate network. More than a quarter of respondents said they don’t know how they will manage the influx of new connected things. 

“The data technology trends we’ve seen emerge over the past few years, like BYOD, coupled with the IoT, will have a dramatic impact on how IT professionals do their jobs,” said Kathryn Pribish, voice of IT program manager at Spiceworks. “IT professionals understand the inevitability of the IoT but the reality is, though the impact will be gradual, resource-strained IT departments and others who haven’t jumped on the IoT bandwagon will be playing catch-up if they don’t adequately prepare.”

According to Cisco’s The internet of everything: Bringing the future to life report, five sectors in the UK are embracing the potential of connecting people, processes, data and things.

Healthcare, retail, transport, energy and manufacturing are the verticals likely to benefit first from the internet of everything (IoE), said Cisco. It said by 2020, 50 billion devices will be connected to the internet, creating a market of $19tn. Cisco also identified that global private-sector businesses are set to generate $613bn in global profits – with $28.4bn to be generated in the UK.