How to Achieve IoT Implementation at Scale

With the emergence of the Internet of Things IoT, there are several ways telecoms operators can generate value from IoT. One obvious way is by providing connectivity via their networks. However, it presents opportunities for them to position themselves in the IoT space as IoT access providers with customized platforms for users to manage their equipment proactively and in real-time. Taking advantage of these new opportunities will require putting in place an IoT implementation program. How can they go about doing this?

Managing the Scope, Time, and Cost of your IoT implementation program.

Dan Mo, an executive director leading IoT initiatives at Syniverse Technologies, explains how telcos can go about IoT implementation at scale. According to Dan, "a telco's asset is their network." The IoT world, however, includes three layers - device, network, and application. Telcos only have the second layer. "They need partnership from other companies, particularly a device company, and application company, in order to have a full-stack solution for IoT." He says.

Therefore, for a telco to be successful in the implementation of their IoT projects in terms of scope, timeline, and cost, it is vital to collaborate with companies that operate at the other layers of the IoT world to create a full-stack player to pursue IoT opportunities.

Build a cross-company team

An IoT program is usually a large-scale project that will require multiple partners, usually companies themselves, and building a team from all these partners is a challenge. The team will include individuals with business-oriented skillsets and those with technical skills. Before assembling an IoT program team, Dan states that it is necessary to "get all the business leaders and technical leaders from every single company to come together and collaborate and figure out the strategy and plan."

You want to approach this aspect of the program in a top-down manner by first getting the business and technical leaders together, then getting the leaders to build out their respective work teams. By doing this, you will have two levels of teams across all companies involved in the program - the leadership team and the project implementation team.

Skilling of the workforce can also present some challenges. While IoT is no longer an entirely novel concept, and it is easier to recruit and retain individuals with IoT skillset, it is imperative to note that each IoT project is different in terms of the industrial vertical of focus. For example, you could have an IoT program focusing on health, retail, or transportation. Each of these industries requires different expertise. You are going to be looking for different IoT skill sets in these different verticals. Therefore, "it's really important to identify the key skillsets you need for an IoT project. So you really have to spend some time do some due diligence to find out the right skillset for your IoT program," Dan notes.

Align different development methodologies

An IoT program might involve different companies, and each of these companies applies different development methodologies from the traditional waterfall model to the agile development methodology. For an IoT program to be successful, you want to "really think about what is the simplest methodology that can align all those companies together," Dan says. For a large-scale IoT program, you want to think in simple terms what the requirements of the solution are, how to design, implement, test, and launch it. "Just use a simple waterfall," Dan advises.

Terminologies used by one company can have a different meaning in other companies on the project. The inability to align and unify development methodologies will incur the risk of having misunderstandings about changes made in the middle of a process because of these different methodologies used by the individual companies.

For example, in the design process, the need for a change might arise. In an IoT program with aligned methodologies, all companies in the program will know the exact phase they are dealing with. All the design engineers can then come together to analyze the change, its impact on the scope of the project and timeline, and the cost of your project and implement it successfully. Hence we see the significance of a unified methodology across partnering companies.

Understand phases of Software Development Life Cycle for an IoT Program

"Traditionally, a waterfall methodology really worked very well for IoT program," Dan recalls. In the waterfall methodology, there are five phases - requirements gathering, design, implementation, testing, and launch. According to Dan, the requirements phase is the most critical because it provides "the opportunity to avoid risks upfront."

If the requirements are clearly defined, you run at a much lower risk of having an unsuccessful project. You want to make sure that the companies get the requirements properly so that every other thing falls into place.

Using Long Pole Items

A major long pole item in an IoT program is infrastructure building. It takes time to set up an end-to-end lab environment with VPNs and firewalls to allow traffic flow across the various partnering companies connected.

Building physical infrastructure like servers can also be time-consuming. In addition to that, you also have to manage production environments across different companies, and this can be challenging because "all these companies have different rules and processes you'd have to follow," Dan says.

While cloud infrastructure is easing and speeding up the process, the infrastructure building phase of an IoT program is a long pole item that should be taken note of and handled appropriately as a result of the challenge it poses.

Managing Changes

As a project progresses, understanding of the project evolves, and this might call for some changes. Managing those changes in an IoT program involves having what Dan calls a "change control board". This is a committee made up of representatives from different companies who are responsible for analyzing the change, the impact on the project, and approving or disapproving the change. Their presence on an IoT program ensures that changes are adequately analyzed in order to manage the scope and cost of the program.

Implementation Challenges and Security Considerations

Two challenges Dan has encountered in the implementation of IoT programs include legacy devices and the difference in industry verticals. There are a lot of old devices, some without a communication port, and had to be fitted with adapters to get data for analysis from them. Industry verticals are different and have different technical jargon, compliance requirements, and regulation.

There is also the challenge of security. The bulk of the security challenges lie at the device level. In addition to having a lot of legacy devices, these devices are small, cheap, and cannot be fitted with more software because it is expensive. They are also located outside the data centers of telcos and are more susceptible to security attacks. Threat detection and threat prevention, Dan points out, “are the two key things for device security." Therefore, a major security consideration at this layer is how to keep them secure.

In conclusion, telcos can take advantage of the opportunity presented by IoT emergence by partnering with companies at the device, and the application layer of the IoT world to successfully manage and launch IoT programs in terms of scope, timeline, and cost. Collaborations with these companies should follow a unified development methodology, preferably, the waterfall model. The requirements gathering phase is critical and should be performed diligently to avoid risks. Infrastructure building is a time-consuming activity in an IoT program which should be given adequate attention. Lastly, IoT programs have certain challenges and security considerations and understanding these and how to manage them can prove to be beneficial in the implementation of any IoT program.

The full interview with Dan is available at www.telcoglobalforum.com

You can reach Dan Mo at Syniverse www.syniverse.com or via linked in linkedin.com/in/dan-mo-357111