Much has been made of the emerging market for IoT (Internet of Things) or, as we at Citrix say, the Integration of Everything (IoE). From negligible impact in 2010, IoT is expected to grow to more than 8 billion connected devices in 2018.
Many of the early examples of IoT tend to highlight smart cities or home automation. For most enterprises, however, the ability to connect and integrate everything can solve current problems and open up new opportunities.
Most enterprises have a complex combination of legacy systems, SaaS services, thousands of devices, multiple locations and unending new requirements from business leaders looking to expand revenues or cut costs. Having the ability to integrate and connect all these systems, services, people and things into automated workflows can make a lot of sense.
For IT, leveraging IoE can improve multiple operations, including:
” Notifications of critical system status before business interruptions
” Network security monitoring, looking for anomalies
” Automated diagnostics for error logging and support resolution
” Data center operations for server operation and facilities
” Big data analytics to understand and optimize operations
On the user side, IoE can make workspaces more productive and secure via:
” Application request, approval and deployment workflows
” Conference room automation to eliminate wasted time at meetings
” Workplace automation for enabling flexible open workstations
” Leveraging modern flexible workspaces to save millions in real estate
” Enabling multiple devices to share content and multifactor authentication
” Beacon-enabled app access and proximity security
Marketing automation is an increasing business requirement for IT; IoE can help:
” Sales force integration with legacy systems
” Real-time Twitter sentiment notifications analysis and workflows
” Big data sales collection and analytics for revenue optimization
” Automated support incident logging and response
Next time you hear IoT, think broader of IoE and what the possibilities could be for your enterprise organization. ?
Chris Fleck is on the board of the South Florida Technology Alliance and vice president of mobility systems and alliances for Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS), a Fort Lauderdale company that provides secure remote access to data and applications.
