What is IoT standardization?
According to McKinsey & Co., the IoT could generate up to $12.6 trillion in value globally by 2030. The mission-critical technology is becoming more expansive by the day, with billions of devices already connected and more being added every moment. Service Council’s 2023 State of Digital Transformation: Service Technology survey found that 72% of service organizations are currently planning new or expanded investments in IoT. While it might be difficult to imagine, many of these devices are largely connected to the IoT without regulation, which can open the door for various vulnerabilities, disruptions, and unplanned costs down the line.
IoT systems collect enormous volumes of data as frequently as multiple times per second. Despite this vast reservoir of information, there is currently no set of overarching guidelines regarding the storage, processing, and management of this data. Enter standardization, which allows for specific protocols to guide the interoperability of IoT devices. Technology integration has become a top priority for many best-in-class service organizations. According to the Service Council’s survey, interoperability is the number one area of focus for 43% of service leaders’ transformation efforts—which makes it critical to address standardization. A lack of standardization can derail interoperability efforts, leading to compatibility, security, and functionality issues, and can potentially become a roadblock to the development of new IoT use cases. As innovative companies expand their digital transformation initiatives, IoT missteps can push manufacturers further behind the competition. The Service Council™ predicts “Data Democratization” as a top 10 agenda item on the 2024 Service Leader’s Agenda which includes sorting, arranging, presenting, explaining (visually) and ultimately standardizing data. By 2025, it is estimated that IoT devices will collect 79.4 zettabytes of data, so this issue should be of utmost priority to any IoT journey.
Why is IoT standardization important?
Smart devices are integral to today’s digital manufacturing environment. Security measures must be strong and dependable to avoid costly vulnerabilities. Data silos and security chasms make the plethora of data being communicated within the IoT susceptible to attack, so it’s important to ensure that standards are in place to protect and manage it.
If a manufacturer picks the wrong IoT platform and doesn’t understand their data rights, it could potentially be shared, sold, or distributed without their knowledge. IoT standardization would allow for agreed-upon methods of data flow to keep valuable information from landing in the wrong hands.
Without proper standardization, even the best IoT frameworks can potentially lead to reduced efficiency, increased costs, and hindered innovation. Interoperability gaps can even derail an IoT-led implementation. For companies to unlock their IoT system’s full potential, they must have regulations put in place to guide communications, security, and scalability.
Successful IoT standardization in practice
To illustrate the benefits of standardization, consider an asset- and privacy-intensive industry such as healthcare, which is governed by The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Patient data privacy and protection requires the data gathered from connected medical devices to be secure, given its sensitivity. A typical medical and healthcare OEM will deploy IoT to collect data, which is most beneficial for monitoring asset condition and efficiently (and accurately) diagnosing performance-related issues. Changes in performance may trigger a field service dispatch scenario for either preventive maintenance or to resolve a break-fix scenario. The data collected can serve many purposes to the organization, including more accurately diagnosing the incident prior to a dispatch, in some cases remotely resolving issues (avoiding dispatch altogether), as well as serving the purpose of enabling future design for serviceability and supportability which drives future innovation in terms of product and service design.
What are the advantages of IoT standardization?
Guaranteed credibility and quality
By establishing guidelines for communication and data exchange between IoT-connected devices, standardization can foster a seamless integration process. IoT standardization minimizes the risk of connectivity and compatibility issues so that devices can get connected quickly and easily – and stay consistent when it comes to performance, safety, and reliability.
Interoperability and innovation flexibility
Interoperability – the ability of systems to exchange information – is crucial unlocking the value that IoT-driven data can grant to operations and users across the organization. Smooth, ubiquitous interoperability keeps users from struggling to connect incompatible systems that are incapable of sharing data. Without interoperability, an IoT system can be is rendered useless as devices remain siloed and cannot exchange information. Removing those silos increases data visibility across the organization and boosts insights, unlocking opportunities for innovation.
Global scalability
Global manufacturing organizations are incorporating the IoT into their operations because it can be safely and effectively scaled across all their factories. When all processes are standardized and global rules are consistently regulated, it doesn’t matter where data is generated – employees across the organization can access that data through the IoT, from anywhere in the world. In many ways, global operations, particularly those assembled through mergers and acquisition activities, represent a natively heterogenous, siloed environment. The disparate nature of these systems make it critical that IoT systems are supported with strong standardization to achieve global, enterprise scale.
What are the main challenges of IoT standardization?
Platform selection
IoT platform challenges can arise due to compatibility issues, conflicting device protocols, and mishaps with product integration. Further, standardization may struggle to keep pace with the rapid advancement of IoT platforms. It’s critical that organizations vet IoT platforms with an eye for standardization that reflects their own realities, such as brownfield operations and factories with disparate OT infrastructure. Platforms that boast a rich feature set dependent on a “perfect-world” view of native compatibility and interoperability will likely fall short of enterprise scale and value.
Connectivity gaps
Interoperability is crucial when it comes to IoT standardization, but unfortunately, it can also be one of the greatest challenges for manufacturers implementing the technology. Not all IoT devices are the same, and some adhere to different connectivity standards, which can impede communication between devices. In fact, a standardized connectivity layer is a critical foundation to any enterprise IoT strategy. The good news is that there are proven platforms that can extend standardized connectivity, even deep into brownfield and disparate factory environments.
Business model
IoT standardization can complicate many aspects of an organization’s business model, including:
- Increased costs: To keep up with standardization protocols, organizations might need to adapt their current IoT framework to make it compatible with new standards. For those with extensive existing frameworks, this can take a significant investment of time, money, and personnel.
- Security issues: IoT standardization might entail security or privacy requirements. Even if organizations already have some of these procedures in place, they will likely need to modify or augment them to be compliant with new standards.
- Marketplace flexibility: Certain vendors might be better suited for the implementation of new standards, limiting the options organizations can choose from. This could also open the door to a lack of marketplace competition and even a monopoly if other vendors are not equipped to adapt their offerings to support the latest standards.
Compatibility issues
- Protocol incompatibility: Not all IoT devices use the same communication methods, meaning that incompatibility issues may arise when using equipment from multiple manufacturers.
- Security Protocols: Just like IoT devices might struggle to communicate with each other, they might also face incompatibility due to conflicting security systems. If a device utilizes a more secure encryption method, it may be unable to communicate with equipment with less stringent protocols.
- Firmware Updates: Disconnects between devices may occur when they are not updated to the latest firmware.
- Power Requirements: Devices with different power requirements can also face difficulties maintaining compatibility.
- Physical Compatibility: Physical characteristics of the equipment, such as required wiring or connectors, can also affect an IoT connection.
How do IoT solutions for manufacturing help with standardization?
When implemented correctly, IoT solutions can yield a major impact on the manufacturing floor. From increased throughput and improved yield to a reduction in scrap and rework, IoT solutions can help your manufacturing team operate at peak efficiency and boost overall equipment effectiveness (OEE)—a commonly used benchmark of manufacturing productivity that measures available uptime, processes, energy, scrap, and more.
- IoT solutions can reduce the total cost of ownership and focus on solving the highest-impact opportunities with off-the-shelf solutions. IoT solutions for manufacturing can:
- Standardize losses and automatically identify top loss reasons to be prioritized by continuous improvement for faster resolution
- Regulate and reduce the number of DIY applications in use
- Provide off-shelf analytics and innovative capabilities
Standardization plays a huge role in how IoT solutions can benefit your organization. A lack of standardized reporting and visibility across, and within, multiple factories can result in a lack of actionable data and little insights into performance. The right IoT solution should help enable supporting myriad standardization protocols, and will make it easier to implement and enforce standardization. The right platform can provide the connectivity and the visibility needed to ensure operations are standardized.
What is the future of IoT standardization?
Challenges with IoT standardization don’t have to be a roadblock to successful digital transformation. With the prevalence of artificial intelligence (AI), IoT processes are becoming more widespread, autonomous, interconnected, and reachable for manufacturers of all sizes and types. New standards, such as the Matter Protocol, are beginning to make devices more integrated and secure. Matter is an open-source connectivity standard that boosts interoperability and security for certain IoT devices. While many companies have adopted the protocol, there is still a need for a universal standard to guide the entire fast-growing IoT market.
Setting Up for Success
It’s important to understand how industry analysts evaluate IoT platforms, so you can better vet solutions based on your organization’s needs.
Learn More