Investigation of challenges and opportunities for the adoption of cloud-based Internet of things (IoT) in Australian agricultural SME

Increasing adoption of the Internet of things (IoT) is bringing revolutionary changes in the agricultural, manufacturing, retailing and finance industries, as they improve the existing business processes and reduce cost. IoT is seen as a powerful tool for agricultural SMEs in Australia, with the potential to transform farming and food production into a smart web of interconnected objects and, thus, improve the general productivity and sustainability of the food chain. However, as some of the innovative solutions may need to store the data locally on the device, and mostly on the cloud, it raises serious privacy and regulatory concerns. This paper used a pilot online survey to investigate the challenges and opportunities for adoption of IoT for Australian SMEs in agriculture and it is expected that it will help application and solution providers to address any issues that may arise in the Australian scenario.   Keywords: Internet of things, cloud systems, small-to-medium enterprises, adoption issue, agriculture, Australia.