Smart city projects are challenging for consultants and project managers. They differ from an ordinary IT project, making them tricky. Before launching any initiative, it is necessary to have a set of smart city project management consultants for assistance.
While the task is demanding due to several challenges involved and requires mature technological competence as well as planning. However, technology is not the only challenge, financial and political complexities are also contributing factors.
Such projects also require several departments to be in agreement, which can be difficult, especially when options are limited. In addition, stakeholders often turn sceptical as there’s no guaranteed ROI.
Noted below are some of the major challenges that smart city project management consultants face:
#1: Long-term projects
Smart city projects are long-term, and an evolutionary process. As a result, these ongoing projects comprise several sub-projects such as smart water, smart lighting, smart traffic, etc. Each project is implemented within a specific time gap, which causes problems with resource allocation. The only way to address the challenge is to have a clear and comprehensive projection roadmap focusing on the major factors of long-term planning, including:
- Scope of the project
- Requirements of the project
- Expected deliverables
- Budget
- Duration
The best way is to build a flexible core solution and expand on it.
#2: Major investments
As these projects do not pay-off fast, they need substantial investment. Some cities may deploy an extensive network comprising of expensive field components such as gateways and sensors. However, such investments only add to the cost.
Businesses must try to reduce the cost of components without losing the overall functionality. This may be possible by involving collective sensing – using data collected by citizens portal or collected from mobile phones, mobile apps and social media accounts of the city.
#3: Avoid rigidity
Cities must be treated as living organisms that grow and change. To start IoT-based smart city management projects, consultants would have to consider future expansions. This could be challenging as the infrastructure expands both horizontally and vertically.
Addressing such challenges is directly related to the project architecture. The architecture should ensure the scalability of a project. Hence, the key is to focus on a cloud-based platform that would allow businesses to ramp up new service integration.
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#4: Connectivity
To make a smart city project successful, businesses should come up with ideas to ensure secure and effective communication.
The idea is to think strategically and build ways to provide secure, flexible and reliable networks. As there are many options for connectivity, the business model should be considered for adequate coverage and monitoring.
#5: Citizen engagement
Businesses can avoid excess investment by allowing citizens to engage in the project. Citizens’ engagement ensures more data and more savings.
But how can one engage citizens?
The best way is to make the benefits of the smart city visible to all. Sending notifications can be a good idea. Similarly, engaging with citizens through online platforms and citizen portal can also be beneficial.
Businesses can find a smart city project management consultant for insolvency services and hire them for in-house work.
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