"People with M2M knowledge are a scarce resource," Vodafone’s director of machine-to-machine, Erik Brenneis, said at an event in London this week.
Indeed, 26% of respondents in Vodafone’s M2M Barometer 2015 cited lack of knowledge as a potential barrier to the increasing use of M2M by their business (see chart).
To get around this, "people will educate themselves, or hire people with experience," Brenneis said, although the latter could be easier said than done. While big companies have more skills at their disposal, smaller firms "have big trouble finding the right people,& quot; he said.
Getting the most out of M2M requires the right staff, but it also needs the buy-in from major decision-makers.
With the Internet of Things (IoT), enterprises will have to adapt to a new operating environment, working with greater flexibility, said M2M specialist and CEO of Machina Research Matt Hatton, speaking at CommunicAsia in Singapore last month.
"This has to come from the top," Hatton said. Companies need what is "effectively a chief IoT officer."
Vodafone did not list that particular job title among the 659 CEOs, CIOs, and technical, sales and IT staff in 16 countries that responded to this year’s M2M survey. The headline findings were that awareness and usage of M2M are growing, and companies are generating returns on their investment in the technology within 12 months. The study also showed a greater involvement in M2M from the top echelons of management.
While CIOs and IT executives still consider M2M projects to be part of their domain, CEOs view them more as innovation projects, Vodafone’s data shows. In 41% of cases, CEOs are directly involved in M2M deals, alongside the CIOs, Vodafone said.
M2M is no longer a siloed IT project within an organisation, said Phil Skipper, Vodafone’s head of M2M business development. "It’s now impacting multiple parts of the business," he said.
The chief IoT officer is not necessarily a role within an enterprise though; the concept has wider implications.
There has been much hype around the concept of smart cities, and in that context the mayor, or even a country’s president, fulfils the CIoTO role, i f you’ll excuse the initialism.
"It’s very important they have a leader pushing for these kinds of services," Alex Chau, head of Asia at Machina Research, explained to Total Telecom last month. "He needs to have a vision for the city or for the country," he said.
Smart city-type projects essentially need both funding and a strong idea of what they are looking to achieve, although the latter is arguably more important. Even cash-strapped places can usually "get money somewhere," Chau said, because there is plenty of funding available for IoT projects if those driving them know where to look.
However, "without vision, you’re a lame duck," he warned.
And you’re likely to bump into the other ducks…
