There are currently two major challenges in the IT sector. One is the shortage of skilled workers. Second, the threat of cyberattacks is continuously increasing. According to a study by ISG Research, these problems are increasing because digitization is currently being driven forward in all industries. As a result, skilled workers are urgently needed in many different areas to cope with the rapidly increasing number of cyberattacks.
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Results of the study from ISG Research
Information Services Group, or ISG for short, studied the portfolio attractiveness of 42 service providers operating in the IoT space. Interesting results emerged from this study. Of particular interest is the finding that, due to the increased use of cloud computing, many companies no longer have any reservations about outsourcing important IT services.
Furthermore, most companies have now realized that there is a previously unknown potential in the IoT. There is a growing realization that the Internet of Things does not have to be just individual self-contained projects. It can be used to capture and optimize company-wide processes.
The increasing threat of cyber attacks
The more complex IT services become, the greater the threat of cyberattacks. In the study by ISG Research, it became clear that IT departments in companies are not always in a position to recognize the dangers and introduce appropriate measures. There is not only a lack of know-how, but also a lack of human resources. The shortage of skilled workers is also clearly noticeable in this area. That is why tasks are increasingly being outsourced to providers of managed IoT services.
Managed IoT services are becoming increasingly important
In order to withstand the threat of cyber attacks, numerous things in the company need to be perfected and optimized. However, a critical problem arises in the process. Both the hardware and the software exist in different variants in a company. As a result, it is not so easy to close security gaps in all areas, if only for technical reasons. Managed IoT services offer a quick solution here. The advantage for the company is that it does not have to invest a lot of money in new hardware and software to defend against the threat of cyber attacks.
Security requirements in the IoT sector are increasing
A major problem is that a significant portion of the IoT is made up of operational technology (or OT) that is not state of the art. As a result, many components do not offer much protection against cyberattacks. Integrated security mechanisms are sometimes even completely absent. Everyone is probably aware that security in a system is only as strong as the weakest link in the chain. For this reason, external providers are often commissioned to identify and close security gaps in this area as well.
Since neither the shortage of skilled workers nor the threat of cyber attacks can be remedied in the short term, external providers of managed IoT service continue to gain in importance. In the future, artificial intelligence, as well as other technologies, will become more prevalent. Most companies will not be able to implement the associated security requirements without help.
