Internet of Things: A Top Priority for MSPs in 2014?

The Internet of things (IoT) has made its way onto conference agendas and editorial calendars over the past year, but is this concept something managed services providers (MSPs) should be concerned with in 2014?

This blogger doesn’t believe so. While MSPs need to be ahead of the game, keeping up with trends across multiple markets, next year may be a little too soon for them to put a great deal of energy into the concept — despite its projected growth.

MSPs will be already juggling a lot of demands from 2013 in 2014. MSPs are still trying to tackle bring your own device (BYOD), balancing security demands from employers and privacy concerns from employees. They’re looking for the best way to monetize mobile device management (MDM) and shifting toward the user-based pricing model. They’re testing file sync and share solutions, while also sifting through an overcrowded backup and disaster recovery (BDR) market.

The message is clear: There’s no room on the 2014 priority list for the Internet of things. Priorities are not made by MSPs, but by MSP customers. And the majority of these customers are small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) still trying to understand cloud, not C-level executives of enterprise-level cloud computing companies.