Will Big Data Drive Big Revenue in 2017?

The volume of IoT data will be stratospheric as the technology gains momentum, says Macario Namie, Cisco Jasper’s vice president of strategy. “Not only will there be more data, but there will be different types of data, and data from sources that have yet to be considered,” he says.

The flood of data will make untenable the traditional centralized architecture for analyzing data, Namie predicts. “Big Data analytics will evolve into a distributed analytics model, which will help with the monetization of IoT data,” he explains. “We will see more devices capable of analyzing data locally, processing and capturing the most important data for more real-time IoT services.”

In the following Q&A, Namie shares his perspective on dealing with data deluge and the types of culture needed to drive IoT projects.

Q: What is your advice for making sense of the deluge of IoT data?

A: What is fascinating is that there is just so much IoT data out there waiting to be monetized. But before that can happen, the data needs to be analyzed so enterprises can get to useful data. Excessive data can distract from what worthwhile data can do to improve your business. It all comes down to deciding what is the specific goal you want to achieve, and then focusing on collecting data that helps accomplish that result.
IoT is really about the services that can be provided once devices are connected. The companies who we’ve seen be most successful in IoT are the ones who first define the services that they want to enable with all this IoT data, then work backwards from there.

Data matters, but only if you can easily parse out the noise. And there's lots of noise.

So, before IoT applications are deployed, enterprises should identify the business benefits they specifically want to accomplish and then develop an IoT data strategy that aligns to those goals.

Q: What advice would you give companies looking at Edge analytics and Big Data analytics?

A: The important thing for companies, cities or other enterprises to understand is that it's all about parsing out what is important. Data matters, but only if you can easily parse out the noise. And there's lots of noise.

There is tremendous opportunity with Edge computing, and at Cisco, we anticipate it will become a huge growth market. Devices that record huge amounts of data will need new systems to connect so that they can process their data. What enterprises need — and what’s getting built now — is intelligence between the devices collecting data and cloud-based data repositories.

Culturally, companies need to make the shift to a service-oriented mindset.

Rapid changes are taking place at the Edge, so that the massive amounts of data being generated by the IoT can be processed, reduced, and analyzed to home in on actual, actionable insights.

Q: What kinds of cultural shifts are necessary to get the most out of IoT projects?

A: Culturally, companies need to make the shift to a service-oriented mindset. They need to make the shift to running their business as a service, using information gathered in real time. This is the only way that they can meet customer expectations, which have also shifted as they expect new connected experiences.

Another shift that needs to take place is the way the industry thinks about IoT security. IoT-based attacks are going to get more ambitious and more damaging. But the good news is that network is evolving to enable greater security for IoT. So the shift that needs to take place is how we view the role of networks and devices in the security schema.

As today’s network evolves it can restrict the type of traffic it will accept from an IoT device. While personal computers and smartphones get unrestricted access to the Internet and the Web, there’s no reason that a webcam or a connected thermostat should have the same rights. For example, a sensor shouldn’t be allowed to send millions of Web page requests a second.