• Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technologies are key for SMEs to digitally transform their industrial operations and stay competitive

• IIoT adoption is still a complex and costly process for SMEs, and concerns about security remain a significant barrier

• DIGITAL SME has published a practical guide on IIoT for SMEs to facilitate adoption, address common security concerns, and emphasise the importance of standards as a go-to resource for both of these issues

The Internet of Things (IoT) is continuously proving to enhance accessibility, competitiveness, and resilience of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). IoT paves the way towards the improvement of industrial operations and the digital transformation of traditionally analogue companies. As such, it is a key priority of the European Commission’s plan for the “twin transition” to a green and digital economy.

In the framework of the ICT sectoral approach at Small Business Standards (SBS) to support SMEs in standardisation, the European DIGITAL SME Alliance (DIGITAL SME) has published a practical guide on Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technologies with a special focus on security. The guide was developed by a group of experts in IoT and Information Security led by SBS Expert Massimo Vanetti.

This guide is an effort to provide small businesses with a lightweight guide to adopting industrial IoT solutions to digitalise and improve their operations within a secure environment. It starts by providing a rationale to adopt IoT and provide use cases that shows how IoT is capable of solving common issues in an industry setting.

Acknowledging the importance of working in a secure environment, the guide provides SMEs with security guidance at an organisational and operational level based on international standards such as Security for Industrial Automation and Control Systems (ISA/IEC-62443) and Information Technology Management (ISO/IEC 27001).

Download the SBS SME Guide on Industrial IoT here.