Business View Oceania - Oct 2023

9 BUSINESS VIEW OCEANIA VOLUME 5, ISSUE 10 INTERNET OF THINGS ALLIANCE AUSTRALIA (IOTAA) SETTING SIGHTS ON THE GLOBAL STAGE OPENING L INES What if there was a way for Australia to set itself up for an economic and competitive advantage on the world’s stage? Internet of Things Alliance Australia (IoTAA), the premier industry body in Australia representing Internet of Things, has the solution. Internet of Things is a system of interconnected computing devices that transfer data over a network without the need for human involvement. That data can be then used to help businesses, governments, and individuals to analyse their efforts and find ways to operate more efficiently and economically. “Our purpose is to accelerate the adoption of IoT for our economic and social benefit,” says IoTAA CEO Frank Zeichner. “This is our purpose, this is why we’re here.” IoTAA was incorporated as a standalone association in July 2016, following a study commissioned by the Communications Alliance, which Zeichner had completed with a colleague around the opportunity for Australia in Internet of Things. “The study came up with the observation that there was no industry grouping or government initiative that was there to help underpin our adoption of IoT,” he explains. “The biggest problem we saw was the issue across the technology-domain divide. We have a whole lot of vendors who know their technology, but know nothing about their customer.” Today, IoTAA aims to connect data, devices, people, processes and things to the internet as a way to help people make more informed decisions and get the best outcomes. The ultimate goal is to boost Australia’s future success, productivity, competitiveness, jobs and economy. The Alliance has faced challenges in getting people to adopt IoT solutions, but those challenges are also why it’s so important that the organisation exists. “The reason for the challenges are a whole lot of interesting cultural and organizational factors in Australia,” Zeichner explains. “There’s complacency here. There’s resistance to collaboration, which can be an advantage in many ways but in other ways it’s not. That independence also means there’s a lack of sharing, which although fundamental in the Internet of Things, runs contrary to ingrained business practices and is not something we naturally do.” To face those challenges, the association has plans to accelerate the adoption of IoT in Australia through supporting and activating collaborations, promoting and enabling evidence-based policy and regulation, and identifying strategic opportunities for economic growth and social benefit. “Australians, I wouldn’t