What is IoT Device Management?

There are many smart devices that are in use already and are connected to the internet, but for those purposes, each device still needs to be connected to the internet at least once. The IoT Device Management process is important not just in the early development stages but for the starting the whole business. Secure and high-end provisioning helps to speed up the marketing time and dodges the risks associated with the attacks. If not solved on time, it can result in major drawbacks in business success.

An essential part of onboarding is the authentication of the device, which relies on building a secure link in between the IoT and the device. The device, as a part of the process, represents the qualifications to the server, and if that can be trusted, it receives the configured data. Relying on the implementation specifications, the process details can vary, but it generally has authentication processes like certifications of the device or pre-shared keys.

Configuration

When the device is on board, it cannot be left relying on its resources, as it can be the scene of “fire and forget”. In many cases, the preconfiguration is given by the manufacturers with the sensors or internet-linked gears. It means that the service provider has the choice to configure the fleet considering the deployment specifications, like the location, installation of the devices and their role in the IoT emerging ecosystem. Hence, the basic key factor in the success of IoT management is being able to fine-tune the device provision far from the revert settings. 

Monitoring

One of the major objectives of IoT device management is remote monitoring that supports the wide range of application objectives:

  • Metrics: Use the dashboard to check the uptime of the device along with other events that occur in the network
  • Reporting of Data: Get the points of data defined by the user. It may include the sensor data and other insights.
  • Notifications: To support the maintenance predictions and decision criticism, build user-defined notifications for every event. The administration needs this feature to prevent the risk of system failure, data loss, or performance changes in the network.
  • Security: The major benefit of a highly integrated IoT platform is the capability to detect and remove the security risks like the attempt to change the configurations of devices. 

Diagnostic

The administrators have the right to perform the diagnostics on the whole network as well as on every single device. These processes allow the admins to run the diagnoses from a management platform for troubleshooting and to remediate the issues quicker with efficiency.

Following are the key benefits of performing remote diagnostics:

  • To prevent downtime, it spots the issue fastly
  • The ability to get access to offline or out of band devices to remediate the remote issues
  • Avoid expensive “truck rolls” for troubleshooting and issue fixing

Maintenance

Unless you want to stay out of touch with the world, you will need the best things to remain linked and on the top. The firmware may consist of bugs that can change the project scope and add new functions which might be handy, or the lack of security might impose a risk to your smart deployment. To resolve all this, the IoT offers advanced mechanisms for the over the air firmware and software updates, which ensure every device is secure, updated, and free from bugs. 

 End of Life Management

Now that the IoT is working properly with configuration and fine-tunes, you can relax while the IoT does all the work for you. Many assets still need to be decommissioned, but this must be done in a more secure and cost-saving manner. In case of replacement, the environment for deploying new devices must be provided. On the other hand, to the smart project phase-out, to avoid the data leaking, the decommissioning efforts should be properly implemented. End life management is important as it is important to handle the devices through their cycle of life.

Integration with Cloud Platforms and Business Processes

Many IoT applications within an organization are designed for giving the data to analysts, operators, and decision-makers. These actions need the IoT platform to be linked with the IoT cloud providers like Amazon Web Services, etc. It can be achieved with the protocols of IoT device management and web services like MQTT, HTTP, etc.

Contextual IoT Device Management

Following are some of the examples which show the need for the IoT contextual device management, given the data variation needs and data functionality needs:

  • Agriculture: The farming IoT apps deliver a variety of data given the changes from temperature to moisture conditions. IoT Device Management represents the processes involved in the provision, authentication, configuration, maintenance, monitoring, and diagnosing of the linked devices, which operate as part of the IoT environment which provide and supports the functional capabilities of the overall spectrum.
  • Therefore it is clear that IoT device management which is effective and reliable, is needed to keep the smart devices connected, updated, and secure. For instance, all the cloud providers like Google Cloud, Azure IoT Hub, or AWS IoT have additional IoT device management services in their packages.

  Fundamentals of IoT Device Management

  • The fundamentals of IoT Device Management refer to the standards and practices which are needed to make the IoT devices reliable and easy to handle. Knowing the processes will not only facilitate you in the process of decision making in the project yet provide you with a huge awareness of the processes that happen in the linked devices through their whole cycle.

       Onboarding

  • Solar System: Many solar panels don’t geographically move but can be positioned according to the Sun’s position and the conditions of the weather.
  • Electric Vehicle Charging: EV charging stations are integrated, which makes it easy for drivers to find them. It can also give usage reports, servicing, and so on.

Be Smart About Managing Your IoT Devices

Whether you are looking to upgrade your device network or planning to get a new IoT system, IoT device management is a crucial part of it. These abilities can help you to save time costs and get better security along with monitoring and management. You will need the devices to be kept online, updated, and optimized according to your needs. These benefits can lead to success in the business, but it’s not as easy as it may seem. 

You will need a lot of information to start with it, and we know just the right people who can help you set up or upgrade the IoT device management platform for you. 3STechLabs has IOT experts and IOT consultant that can give you ideas and help to shape those ideas according to your needs. You can get the help you want to think, sketch, and release your IoT device management platform. With 3STechLabs, you can make a path for the success of your business.