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10 IoT Implementation and Management Tips for Businesses – Part 2

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IoT Implementation and Management Tips for Businesses

Welcome back to the second half of our article about integrating new IoT technology into your business network. Last time, we covered the basics of IoT in the office including how to choose your hub and set up your first routines. Today, we’re here to discuss how to secure your IoT so your business network is safe while these devices communicate constantly with the internet. Join us as we pick up where we left off.

Secure IoT Setup

Your next concern, after deciding the hub and devices you want to start with, is to make sure your IoT network is secure. IoT devices are notorious targets for hacking. Some older models are very poorly designed for defense and even modern business IoT devices with good security are still under-secured by the companies that implement them. Here’s how to properly secure your IoT:

5. Create a Separate Wifi Network for IoT Devices

First, create a completely separate wifi network for all IoT devices. Not a spin-off or a subnetwork, but completely security-separate. This way, if even one IoT device is hacked, it cannot possibly provide the hacker with access to your internal business network. A separate wifi network is your first and last line of defense. Hackers (and their malware) will not be able to reach your employee workstations, your servers, or customer data because they will find nothing but other IoT devices if the IoT network is hacked.

6. Rock-Solid Firewalls and Virus Detection Software

Along the same lines, equip that separate network with the strongest firewalls and virus detection software available to you. Be sure to take the time and customize the settings on the firewall to be sure that only IoT activity is allowed through. This is another line of defense that will keep your IoT devices safe from opportunistic hackers. If it’s too difficult to access your network, hackers will generally seek greener pastures.

7. Change Default Login Credentials for Each Device

Finally, be sure to change the admin login credentials for every single IoT device you integrate. Many devices don’t make this easy or offer to help you change these credentials, so many IoT devices are still accessible through their factory-set credentials. Hackers then learn what the default credentials are which can grant them direct access to any IoT device that has not been secured.

 

Improving IoT Performance

With everything else secured, you may want to put some thought into improving the performance of your IoT Devices.

8. Check Wifi Strength in Device Locations

One of the problems businesses have had in the past with IoT is weak wifi signal. IoT devices like lightbulbs and security cameras are sometimes placed high up and away from where employees use the wifi on a regular basis. Your wifi signal may have trouble reaching the locations where you want to put them.

One way to help your office is to check the signal strength of each location before you place the device. Signal boosters and repeaters may extend the wifi range so that you can have more far-flung IoT devices.

9. Prioritize Security and Streaming Bandwidth Use

IoT functions are sometimes demanding in wifi bandwidth, but some functions are more important than others. Work with your network admin to prioritize the security, communication, and streaming bandwidth use while de-prioritizing less important functions and features that can wait their turn for bandwidth.

10. Integrate Mobile Control

Voice control is the primary focus of IoT smart devices, but mobile control should not be underestimated. The ability to control your business IoT devices through manager and employee mobile devices is incredibly powerful. Devices can be controlled or communicated with by someone out of the office, by any employee inside the office, or with greater precision using the right mobile app. Consider mobile control integration potential for your business when optimizing your company IoT.

IoT is the future of business technology, but integrating it with your business naturally requires some amount of effort and care. With the help of skilled IT professionals, you can quickly have your business IoT plan in place, secure, and ready to use. Contact us today to find out more about the best implementation strategies for IoT in your business.

10 IoT Implementation and Management Tips for Businesses – Part 1

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Implementing IoT in the Office does it have a place in the office?

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a trendy term for an incredibly useful new type of device: Smart devices. Devices that respond to Wi-Fi commands through web portals and mobile device. And they have an undeniable place in the modern office. The uses for IoT range from turning off an entire floor of lights with a word to remotely managing building security. With specialized business IoT devices, your office can likely do even more than the basic applications that have been imagined. Particularly if IoT is combined with “Smart Home” voice hub technology.

This article will outline the top tips for implementing and managing a network of IoT devices in your business.

 

Implementing IoT in the Office

Bringing IoT into the office starts with your choice of IoT technology.

1. Choose Your Hub

The first step is to choose the smart hub you want to use. While you can manage your IoT devices through individual portals and apps, the most complete and useful experience comes from something only offered by a hub that can use ‘skills’ to manipulate all of your IoT devices on command without worrying about which brand made them or which app controls them.

Alexa is winning the race for Smart Home hubs, and more devices respond to Alexa than other hubs. However, Microsoft is quickly dominating the market for a business IoT hub through Azure. The important thing is that you choose a hub that works with the devices you want to use and interacts in a way that works for your business.

Whatever hub you choose, you’ll need to place a hub speaker anywhere you want commands to be heard.

2. Start with Smart Lights

If your business is new to IoT, the best place to start is smart lights. It is cool to turn one light on and off with a voice command, without walking to the switch. It’s an efficiency miracle to turn on or off an entire floor of lights without running from switch to switch. Smart lights can improve your energy efficiency and save loads of time for anyone who opens or closes each day. Not to mention the ability to control brightness and the occasional use of party colors.

3. Create Helpful Routines Anyone Can Use

An IoT routine is a group of device commands enacted by a single trigger. For example, you can set every single light on a routine and turn them off by saying “Turn Off All Lights” or you can separate the routines floor by floor with commands like “Turn On Finance Lights”. Of course, routines can do much more than that. You could, for example, set up a routine called “Good Morning Office” that turns on the lights, starts the smart coffee pot brewing, warms up the printer, and unlocks the smart lock on the front door as well.

Be sure to create a few routines that everyone in the office can use on command, like lights or coffee pot controls, to make your office more responsive and intuitive overall.

4. Specialty Routines for Business Purposes

You will also likely want a few specialty routines known only to the teams meant to use them. IoT security, for example, does not need publicly available routines but the security team may be able to do some interesting and useful tasks with voice-command cameras and other IoT Security devices.

Of course, installing IoT in your office is only the first half of the process. As any IT security professional can tell you, the cost for all that accessibility is an increased cybersecurity risk. Fortunately, IoT can easily be secured by following the right separation and recovery steps which we’ll be covering in the second half of this article. Join us next time for part two where we’ll talk about how to ensure your new IoT gadgets are not a security risk for your internal business network. Contact us today to find out more about adding IoT functionality to your business!