Let Your CIO Worry About the IoT, You Worry About the IoB
For years we’ve all heard about the Internet of Things – the connectivity of all sorts of devices via the web through combinations of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The IoT is what lets your refrigerator decide when you are low on milk, place an e-commerce order for groceries automatically, and have the milk delivered at your house before you even realized you were low.
There are lots and lots of useful purposes for the IoT – some mere convenience, others safety related – but one big vulnerability has been exposed. Now a hacker can hack into your refrigerator, not to see how much milk you have, but to see what other devices it is connected to. If you have your PC on the same Wi-Fi router, they can navigate from your refrigerator to your checking account!
The Internet of Things brings great promise for connectivity along with great fear for IT professionals who see past the convenience to the vulnerabilities. That’s why we have CIOs and Chief Security Officers to worry about the safeguards our companies need as the IoT finds its way deeper and deeper into our businesses.
The Internet of Behaviors (IoB)
As HR and compliance professionals, we see the IoT as interesting, but we need to focus on the IoB – the Internet of Behaviors – and what insight we can gain about coming threats. By 2023, they predict that the individual activities of 40% of the global population will be tracked digitally to influence our behavior. That’s more than 3 billion people! The IoB will challenge what it means to be human in the digital world. We’ve moved from merely adopting technology to now seriously considering its ramifications.
At its core, the IoB is only possible with the continued advancement of the IoT. Remember, the IoT brings the interconnection of devices that ultimately reflect access to incredible troves of data. A lot of marketing and sales professionals are very interested in greater insight into customer buying patterns. Suddenly companies know a lot more about you, and how much they know grows exponentially with every click of a mouse or flip of a screen. They know your interests, likes, dislikes, the way you vote, and the way you purchase!
As companies learn more about you, they can then affect your behavior. This is primarily to influence how we purchase, but consider the future use of the data. There are already advances being made in data science that will allow the use of the data for greater insight into the behavior of your employee population.
Behavior & Policy
The current best practices in policy creation are not as complex as they may seem, assuming interconnectivity and an actual compliance platform is in place. At ETHIX360, for example, policy and case management are closely linked. This gives your HR and compliance professionals insight into what policies are most often researched or violated. This is far better than where the industry was only a couple of years ago, but imagine a future where the data includes trends and tendencies so you can update policies to realize a new or emerging threat.
That’s what gets us closer to a compliance panacea. Finally, the ability to create and manage policies about what is likely to occur and not only retrospectively based on what has already happened. By aligning policies with where we are headed, we’re able to get in front of training as well. Imagine seeing a trend coming but not yet here, adjusting policies, and informing your workforce of the policy change and why.
Imagine the impact that could have had on the #metoo movement by getting in front of it instead of just responding to it. Granted, that’s a pretty extreme example, but it makes the point of the importance of incorporating trending behavior when we visit policy updates. What policies would you change if you had a crystal ball to see the next #metoo moment before it arrives?
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MEET THE AUTHOR
J Rollins is the co-founder and CEO of ETHIX360. J is a well known leader and innovator who has served on senior leadership teams ranging in responsibility from Chief Revenue Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, SVP of Product Strategy and Chief Operating Officer.
ABOUT ETHIX360
At ETHIX360, our goal is simple: to provide an affordable, flexible, and comprehensive answer to employee communication, policy management, corporate training and case management on issues related to corporate ethics, code of conduct, fraud, bribery, and workplace violence.
