Anyone who has been involved in the Digital Transformation (DX) and IoT markets for any length of time will be aware of the tendency of many participants of these industries to run around like their hair is on fire saying “you can’t have enough security”. Well, firstly, as discussed here, just focusing on security misses the point – it’s overall system Trustworthiness that is important.
More importantly though, it is possible to have too much Trustworthiness. Consider the following table, outlining possible consequences of overinvesting in a particular Trustworthiness characteristic and providing hypothetical illustrative examples:
What the table above really highlights is that (once regulatory and other non-negotiable parameters have been complied with) all aspects of DX system trustworthiness (and including security) should be viewed in contention with a full business case for the relevant system. The business case should take into account all aspects of the business of which the solution is a part, since increases (or reductions) in trustworthiness can have knock-on effects to the wider business, for instance via channels such as brand image or affecting shareholder value via the risk assessment of a business. If the failure of a system might affect customer churn then this needs to be taken into account, as do any implications for process efficiency that might flow from increases or decreases in trustworthiness.
Included below is a high level process flow developed to assist with ‘rightsizing’ the level of trustworthiness associated with a DX, or IoT, solution:
The industry debate around Trustworthiness is clearly at a very early stage, but we at Transforma Insights expect these kinds of discussion to become increasingly prevalent as adoption of DX ramps up.
Footnote: this blog is based on content extracted from the IIC’s “Managing and Assessing Trustworthiness for IIoT in Practice” white paper, of which I am a co-author. The full white paper is available to download here.
