Holistic IoT for Smart Cities

David Fortini

December 20, 2018

How can government organizations rise above pain points to achieve digital transformation?

This blog is an extract of the interview published on CIOReview, following the listing of Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise among the 20 Most Promising Smart City Solutions Providers of 2018.

Advances in technology can be a double-edged sword. The benefits are often clear, but a secure implementation, across vast areas, serving thousands if not millions of constituents, can be daunting when it comes to Smart Cities. IoT has a dark side, and various pain points, such as security, can hinder the adoption of a digital transformation.

The impact of mobility
The growth of mobility in the workplace transformed the way public organizations collaborate internally, manage to break internal silos, and interact with their citizens, residents, tourists, and others. With IoT there’s potential to transform services and more by changing how government entities gather data and information.

The role of Internet of Things
As technologies advance, one is proving to have a broader purpose in enabling transformation for Smart Cities and government organizations. It’s Internet of Things (IoT). IoT has the potential to transform the public sector by profoundly altering how government entities gather data and information, and by bringing together the significant technical and business trends of mobility, automation, and data analytics. However, IoT introduces the risk of cyberattacks, which public sector organizations simply cannot afford to fall prey to.

A multi-level security approach
As Smart Cities begin to explore the road to digital transformation with IoT as a key element, a multi-level security approach should be considered. One that offers protection at the individual user, device, and network level. Organizations can find further supporting technology, such as an IoT containment strategy, to protect government systems by securing the onboarding process of devices and deploying the right network resources to run the systems efficiently.

Simplicity of deployment and maintenance
The lack of a skilled IoT workforce in government organizations due to less funding proves to be yet another pain point. An Intelligent Fabric tackles this pain point by automating various manual tasks to simplify a network’s design, deployment, and operations. Automation also reduces the risks of vulnerabilities associated with manual errors.

A look at the future of public services with geolocation
A good deployment of IoT can allow innovative services such as Location Based Services (LBS). LBS is a wireless solution which enables such as way-finding and geo-notification, empowering cities to gather relevant information about their visitors’ and staffs’ locations. LBS can transform all public services such as tourism and most of all public safety, offering innovative ways to rethink crowd safety. 

The big picture needs to be considered in digital transformation
In short, there should be a holistic approach to digital transformation. Because, leveraging the significant technical and business trends of mobility, automation, and data analytics is the basis for how Smart Cities will achieve a successful digital transformation.

Clearly, this blog is meant to introduce you to ideas on how to approach digital transformation to create a smart city. There’s no need to die by the sword if you want to live the digital life…read more on IoT Containment in the CIOReview report.