The Internet of Things, the shift to cloud, and big data will create a "perfect storm" of enterprise IT challenges, according to Mac Devine, CTO of cloud services at IBM.

For businesses, IoT will likely come in the form of vast sensor networks feeding data to the cloud: sensors tied to building management systems, company vehicles, or manufacturing operations, to name a few.

That will bring an explosion of network endpoint connections to manage, and a massive increase in data to sift through.

"Data is really the new currency for business," Devine said in remarks at the DCD Converged conference in Manhattan on Tuesday. "But just having more data can give you a big mess of data. You've got to have good insights."

The outcome, Devine predicted, is that analytics and policy decisions will shift to the network edge, as opposed to living in a central data center. "Connectivity can vary widely," he said, predicting that IoT devices will rely on a diverse range of access methods and protocols to transmit data. "You want to be able to respond with localized knowledge."

That kind of shift could create significant disruption in the networking industry.

"I've never seen so much venture capital pouring into a space like it is pouring into IoT," Devine said. "The companies that are able to focus on providing real business value will succeed. If you're focused just on connectivity and connecting devices, and aren't focused on business outcomes, you're not going to succeed."