Businesses should bypass conducting proof of concepts for Internet of Things developments, according to a keynote presentation at IoT Evolution Expo today.

“Never do a proof of concept,” said Chase Hawkins, strategic engagements, Azure IoT Engineering at Microsoft. “Go to proof of value. We know the technology works.”

Most of the focus in the presentation, “IoT as Gateway to Digital Transformation: Leveraging Innovation to Drive Business Change,” was on business rather than technology.

“The Internet of Things is about competitive advantage and revenue,” said Hawkins. “By 2025, $11 trillion of economic value will come from IoT.”

Hawkins said companies typically go through three primary stages of IoT: 

However, businesses face numerous challenges in IoT implementations. 

“There are organization challenges, investment challenges and technology challenges and 100% don’t have a comprehensive plan,” Hawkins said. “There are challenges in scaling, lack of expertise and infrastructure and no end-to-end plans for adoption and security concerns.

“There’s a gap between operational technology and information technology. Information technology stakeholders and operational stakeholders have operated separately.”

Hawkins suggested that the Internet of Things can mean artificial intelligence, edge, 5G, digital twins or metaverse.

He also touched on the impacts of artificial intelligence (AI). “AI should really stand for algorithm intelligence.”

Hawkins said that for IoT projects, companies need to focus on business outcomes.

“IoT empowers digital transformation across industries.”