Nations, Inc.

Post-independence, the United States of America saw its first spurt of notable growth in the early 1800s. This growth had profound effects on the Social, Political and Economical landscape of the country. This phenomenon is owed to the development of the Railroad. Developing infrastructure to connect coast-to-coast, be it through Railroad, Roads or Canals/Channels proved to be the golden ticket. The same can be said about India, China, and other Breakout Nations. Then, large settlements and trade-centers were built around some of the more desirable locations where the roads, railroad hubs and rivers/canals intersected. Entertainment hubs, attractions were all advertised. Beautification of the land alongside roads was heavily invested in. However, as these settlements and hubs grew in the economy, it attracted more people. This led to an adverse impact on the infrastructure where the quality of the roads suffered, rivers were polluted. To expand roads and have bigger canals and channels, and also to maintain the infrastructure, a management team had to be created. After running into these issues for the longest time, some cities in India and some counties in the USA started factoring maintenance costs and resources when a new infrastructure project was commenced.

As companies are traversing the uncharted territory of Modern IoT (Internet of Things), an entity can follow the blueprint these nations have helped create.

• The first step for a company will be to invest in the infrastructure. Get Gateways, Sensors and the infrastructure required to connect and generate value.
• The second step, however, should be something that we learned from the nations and not repeat the mistakes of the two IT waves. Invest in Management. Infrastructure management can grow and help secure the infrastructure that’s in place and grow with you. Security and management had been an afterthought in the IT waves and there was a lot of investment required to bring management into the existing setup. The money required for an IoT Fleet to ensure compliance and security will be astronomical owing to the scale of the deployment.
• Finally, Invest in Analytics. This will help derive value from the data obtained from those sensors including trends and deep currents. You can apply ML and AI to the data to help with your decisions and assist growth.

Bottom Line: Infrastructure, Management, and Analytics are the three things that need to be invested in simultaneously to set yourself up for success.