brandon_butler
Senior Editor

5 reasons IoT projects fail

News
May 24, 20172 mins

Hint: It's not usually because of the technology

fail frustration laptop user head desk
Credit: Thinkstock

If you’re doing an Internet of Things deployment, prepare for failure. That’s the overarching takeaway from a survey Cisco conducted of more than 1,800 IT leaders in the U.S. and U.K.

Up to 60% of IoT projects that respondents started stalled at the proof of concept phase, Cisco found. Just 26% of respondents said they had what they considered a successful IoT deployment. So where do IoT projects go south?

+MORE AT NETWORK WORLD: Cisco: Secure IoT networks, not the devices +

Cisco found that in most cases, it was not a technology problem. In most cases, problems arise from company culture, organization and structure. The top five most common reasons IoT projects fail are:

  • They take too long
  • The enterprise has limited expertise
  • Quality of data is sub-par
  • Lack of integration across teams
  • Budget over-runs

The survey did not just look at failures, but also examined what ingredients make an IoT project successful. Of the respondents who did have successful deployments, 54% said collaboration between the IT and business departments was absolutely critical. Cisco also recommends asking fpr vendors help guiding IoT projects to provide added expertise that may be lacking in the organization that’s doing the deployment.

brandon_butler

Senior Editor Brandon Butler covers the cloud computing industry for Network World by focusing on the advancements of major players in the industry, tracking end user deployments and keeping tabs on the hottest new startups. He contributes to NetworkWorld.com and is the author of the Cloud Chronicles blog. Before starting at Network World in January 2012, he worked for a daily newspaper in Massachusetts and the Worcester Business Journal, where he was a senior reporter and editor of MetroWest 495 Biz. Email him at bbutler@nww.com and follow him on Twitter @BButlerNWW.

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