Forty-three per cent of organisations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) have plans in place to leverage the Internet of Things, while a majority is not ready for wearable technology in the workplace, a report said.

More than half (57 per cent) said their “bring your own device” (BYOD) policy does not address wearables and a further 24 per cent do not even have a BYOD policy in place, in the survey “2014 IT Risk/Reward Barometer” conducted by global IT association Isaca.

This is a concern, as approximately 8 in 10 respondents (81 per cent) say BYOW (bring your own wearables) is as risky as—or riskier than—BYOD, the report said.

Overall, half of Isaca members across EMEA believe the benefit of the Internet of Things outweighs the risk for individuals (50 per cent), while nearly a third believe the risk outweighs the benefit for enterprises (31 per cent).

Yet despite the risks, nearly a third (30 per cent) says the Internet of Things has given their business greater access to information and a quarter (25 per cent) say it has improved services in their organisation.

Approximately four in 10 hope to benefit from improved services (40 per cent), increased customer satisfaction (39 per cent), and greater efficiency (38 per cent) as a result of connected devices.

Despite the benefits of connected devices, more than half (51 per cent) of respondents believe the biggest challenge regarding the Internet of Things is increased security threats, while a quarter (26 per cent) are concerned about data privacy issues.

Two-thirds (68 per cent) admit they are very concerned about the decreasing level of personal privacy. More than a quarter of respondents say the general public’s biggest concerns about connected devices should be that they don’t know how the information collected on the devices will be used (28 per cent) or they don’t know who has access to the information collected (26 per cent).

“The Internet of Things is here to stay, and following the holidays, we are likely to see a surge in wearable devices in the workplace,” said Ramsés Gallego, international vice president of Isaca and security strategist and evangelist with Dell Software.

“These devices can deliver great value, but they can also bring great risk. Isaca’s research found that more than a third (35 per cent) of EMEA Isaca members believe Big Data has the potential to add significant value, yet one-fifth (21 per cent) admit their organisation lacks the analytics capabilities or skills to deal with it.

“Companies are seeing the benefits of these technologies but also the challenges that represent for the Privacy, Assurance, Risk Management and Cybersecurity dimensions, With these new technologies and tools at the forefront of business innovation, companies must begin an ‘embrace and educate’ and ‘adapt and adopt' approach with connected devices and Big Data,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service