Thanks to the IoT, business is finally investing in trust

At its core, the internet of things is an infrastructure technology that allows companies and individuals to get more data — and different data — than they’ve ever had in the past. Cheaper sensors and ubiquitous connectivity let us see what’s historically been unseen, while cheap computing lets us make sense of this new information.

Like any infrastructure, it’s neutral. It can be used for good — to streamline operations or help improve air quality by targeting polluters directly — or it can also be used for evil. One only has to look at how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is using data gathering tech to target people for deportation to see an example.

The two primary challenges created by the IoT involve trust. The first is ensuring the data being used is trustworthy, and the second is that businesses, governments and consumers use the insights they glean in ways that benefit society. And let’s be clear: I’m thinking about society, not a company’s bottom line. Or rather, it should benefit a company’s bottom line, but only to a point where it doesn’t conflict with the mores of a society.

For example, my insurance company might be able to better price my insurance if it knows exactly what I eat every day, but most people would balk at sharing that information. Or a manufacturer might have the data available to work every employee at 100% to reduce the need to hire more people, but setting those expectations can lead to employee burnout.

I’ve been thinking and writing about trust and the IoT for years, and it seems that finally, businesses are coming around. PwC surveyed 1,000 U.S. executives as part of its annual IoT survey that was released last month and concluded that trustworthiness was becoming essential for companies trying to invest in the IoT. The survey places companies along a spectrum in terms of adoption IoT technology, from trailblazers to laggards, and among the trailblazers, trust has become a huge point of action.

According to the survey, respondents with active IoT projects are working to solve trust-related concerns in cybersecurity (61%), data integrity (56%) and consumer or employee privacy (51%). Roughly a third of them (36%) are also trying to help employees upgrade their skills to handle the demands of the IoT, which I think is a way to boost trust among the employee base. To be sure, most of the actions around trust are focused on securing infrastructure and data, but I’ll take any effort to build trust.

As an industry, the tech world is still trying to figure out how to ensure data delivered via sensors is trustworthy, and to develop frameworks that allow companies to exchange data with confidence. For example, I wrote about Project Alvarium, an open-source effort in this realm, a few weeks ago. But it’s more important to me how companies are trying to ensure that they roll out IoT projects that employees and consumers can trust.

For example, when companies deploy IoT projects, employees’ workloads can change and those employees can also have fears about surveillance. In the PwC report, a breakout segment on the hospitality industry notes that 43% of hospitality executives are distributing safety alert buttons to staff that they can press when they feel threatened. What’s notable is that these buttons don’t track employees’ locations until they are pressed.

When it comes to consumers, the report is a bit more mixed. In the retail industry and in hospitality, companies are boosting security by using cameras and facial recognition technology to ensure that bad actors are barred from entry or tracked. While it may boost safety, it also raises some questions about the quality of the algorithms that are used to recognize faces.  Helpfully, the survey notes that 66% of the “trailblazer” respondents are worried about algorithmic bias, which makes me think some of the concerns around misapplied algorithms will be addressed.

Finally, it does seem that companies are building better security into their products and are gaining an understanding of what that looks like. Regulations, such as the EU’s GDPR and California’s upcoming privacy act will help. Companies are also recognizing that they are only as secure as their weakest link and that security is the job of an entire ecosystem. Companies are willing to do their part but are also looking for partners that are as well-versed in security best practices as well.

Fifty-eight percent of the survey respondents said that tech providers have a role in cybersecurity, 47% said regulators will play a role, and 45% cited that their ecosystem partners will have to shoulder part of the burden. Those numbers should be higher, but at least I no longer feel like I’m shouting into the void when it comes to the importance of building trust when the world is awash in data.