Enabling digital transformation with IoT performance and properties measurement

The Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), the world’s leading organization transforming business and society by accelerating the adoption of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), announced the publication of the Enabling Digital Transformation with IoT Performance and Properties Measurement White Paper.

Written for all IIoT stakeholders, the white paper explains why measuring the efficiency and efficacy of industrial digital transformation solutions across industries is essential.

Jacques Durand, co-chair of the Digital Transformation working group and lead author of the technical report, said: “Digital Transformation leverages connected things to transform processes and operations to produce better outcomes and enables more efficiency, new business, operational opportunities and flexibility. But, digital transformation solutions are developed through cycles of improvements and trials that require an objective assessment of what works and what does not." ‘A compilation of testbed results - Toward best practices for developing and deploying IIoT solutions.’

Establishing the right metrics and related measurements is crucial to these improvement cycles. Will the process or product enhancements empower the Digital Transformation journey or create risks for it? What are the gains in efficiency or efficacy and are they worth the investment costs and process changes?”

Digital transformation solution metrics include:

* Business model validation and improvement, which focuses on monitoring the financial and strategic KPIs of the solution, measuring overall IIoT maturity and implementing corrective actions if needed.

* Solution validation and improvement, which focuses on monitoring and improving the operational side of the solution from the perspective of functionality, non-functional service level agreements (SLAs) and service level objectives (SLOs), and other system characteristics, including trustworthiness properties.

“Metrics are useful for communicating expectations as well as managing a system, both when determining whether a system is ready to deploy as well during operation,” said Frederick Hirsch, one of the authors of the white paper and co-chair of the Trustworthiness task group. “Important for functional management, they may also be considered for insight into trustworthiness properties such as security and safety.”

Performance metrics such as operational performance, product or service quality, business effectiveness, and properties such as security, safety or reliability, have all been subject to metrics. However, these metrics have often been designed for a narrow purpose and have served an auxiliary monitoring role. As digital transformation solutions evolve in complexity, interdependency and operational context, metrics and related monitoring functions will help organizations configure, control and manage these solutions as they evolve.

“Digital transformation solutions must be measured throughout the overall digital transformation journey with each move being validated as promptly as possible to avoid disruption and unnecessary costs,” said Bassam Zarkout, co-chair Digital Transformation Working Group, Executive VP, IGnPower Inc. and one of the authors of the white paper. “Successful digital transformation requires a culture of measurement.”