Big Data & Analytics Is The Most Wanted Expertise By 75% Of IoT Providers

• 75% are prioritizing big data and analytics expertise in their hiring decisions, stating that having these skills is critical for any candidate to be considered an IoT expert.
• Overall, 68% of vendors developing IoT solutions are struggling to find and recruit employees with relevant IoT expertise.
• Additional skill sets in demand today include embedded software development (33%), embedded electronics (32%), expertise in IT security (31%) and an understanding of Artificial Intelligence (AI) (30%).
• 57% of IoT professionals support the standardization of IoT platforms as a means of ensuring better IoT security.

These and other insights are from Canonical’s latest study, Defining IoT Business Models (PDF, 20 pp., free, opt-in). Canonical commissioned independent industry publication IoT Now to complete a quantitative survey of 361 IoT professionals. For purposes of the study, Canonical is defining IoT professionals as those actively working within the IoT industry in a broad spectrum of roles including product developers, manufacturers, vendors or engineers. For additional details regarding the methodology, please see page 20 of the study.

Key takeaways of the study include the following:

• 75% of IoT providers say that data analytics and big data skills are the most in-demand skill set they look for in candidates. Embedded software development expertise is a close second at 71%, followed by IT security (68%) and embedded electronics (64%). Three out of every ten IoT providers (35%) say that finding candidates with data analysis and big data expertise is the most difficult to recruit for today. The following graphic compares IoT provider’s perceptions of which technical skills are necessary for IoT experts to have versus the difficulty of hiring for these skill sets.

• When it comes to accomplishing higher levels of IoT adoption across enterprises, 34% say quantifying business benefits is essential. Being able to evangelize and improve the understanding of IoT benefits (24%), improving security (17%) and attaining greater integration with everyday items (11%) are also foundational to accomplishing higher levels of adoption. Data use and insight will increase as IoT providers recruit more developers, engineers and software architects with big data and analytics expertise.

• Improving the quality of life (26%), gaining greater insight into business (25%) and creating new services and categories (25%) are the top three benefits IoT will deliver. IoT’s potential to be the catalyst of entirely new business models and supporting services is one of the primary factors driving the venture capital community to invest in this technology area. One aspect of what venture capitalists are looking at is how IoT can revolutionize manufacturing. Capturing data at the machine level to track, predict and improve overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) is one of many areas IoT platforms can reduce costs and improve quality.

• 78% of IoT providers predict their greatest source of monetization will be from value-added services and maintenance. IoT platforms and technologies and ideally positioned to revolutionize business models today, with the study finding sales of value-added services and maintenance having the greatest potential for revenue gains. 55% of IoT providers anticipate generating revenue from hardware. The challenge with a hardware-based business model is achieving long-term product differentiation. IoT device manufacturers are choosing to create devices that include general-purpose single-board computers (SBCs) or system-on-chips (SoCs) to differentiate their products in an increasingly commoditized market space.

Sources: 68% of businesses are struggling to hire talent for IoT August 9, 2017;  Internet of Things Business Report, Defining IoT Business Models (PDF, 20 pp., free, opt-in)