US Federal agencies are missing IoT opportunities, report finds

Although IoT technology offers many opportunities to automate and improve daily activities and cut costs, US federal agencies haven”t yet fully grasped how connected devices could help them work more efficiently, the Center for Data Innovation says.

“While early adopters in the federal government have already demonstrated the potential of this technology with projects that improve public safety, reduce energy use, enhance military capabilities, and improve worker health, overall adoption across federal agencies is still very low,” researchers found.

22 experts from the US federal government and private sector and 14 senior leaders from the private sector who had been involved in activities related to IoT were interviewed regarding future possibilities, benefits and challenges.

They blame slow deployment of IoT on “lack of leadership, skills, and funding as well as cumbersome procurement policies and a risk-averse culture.” At the federal level, a lack of workers trained for IoT development and implementation, insufficient funding for IoT projects, tedious procurement policies, ROI, and a lack of a clear vision about security and privacy risks have further slowed public sector IoT adoption.

Still, some important projects have been or will be implemented to modernize federal government. Smart buildings will help reduce energy costs, sensors will help make vehicles more effective by monitoring their location, performance and behavior, and automation of manual processes will help employees work faster.

Other IoT projects like connected aircrafts will be used for national defense while sensors will monitor the structure of buildings for public safety and pollution levels for public health.