MANAGING IOT SYSTEMS

ABSTRACT

The Internet of Things Systems, or IoT Systems, can have the potential to add substantial value to institutions, such as university campuses, cities, and corporate campuses. However, if these systems are not thoughtfully selected, implemented, subsequently managed, they can instead bring substantial risk to the same. This erosion of value manifests itself in negative ROI on the systems as well degraded cyber risk/cybersecurity posture for the institution, city, or corporate campus. Amongst all of the excitement of what added value IoT Systems can potentially bring – all of the ‘bling’, it is easy to miss the nuanced, but substantial systemic costs that acquisition, implementation and operation/management of these systems bring. The aggregation of this systemic loss can bring the whole value proposition to its knees, both in terms of lost financial and resource investment as well as appreciably degraded cybersecurity posture. IoT Systems are sociotechnical systems that encounter systems loss, as do all systems. As such, they need to be reviewed in that context to serve the needs of the institution, city, or corporation. This article will review differences between IoT Systems and traditional IT systems, what IoT Systems implementation success looks like, systems of systems, boundaries and seams between systems, the importance of manageability of IoT Systems, IoT vendor relationships and vendor management, planning considerations, and strategy.