The Internet of Things (IoT) trend grabs attention with all of its futuristic and hopeful possibilities. The notion of tens of billions of things, from devices to sensors and actuators, connecting on a scale never seen before has tremendous potential?for good and perhaps not so good. For example, the upside for efficiency gains in buildings or new preventive maintenance insights is tempered by potential hacks of IoT devices or systems. Regardless, the lofty vision for the IoT is a broader, deeper, and more intelligent ecosystem. The rapid adoption of Internet-connected devices supports a new digital foundation for the energy industry. The emerging IoT touches, or will touch, nearly all aspects of energy generation, transmission, and distribution. IoT represents one of several emerging technology integration platforms within the Energy Cloud, which describes a dynamic energy ecosystem. The Energy Cloud leverages ubiquitous connectivity, intelligent sensors and devices, information and operations technology, and data-driven machine-learning functionality across the grid value chain. A new landscape is emerging in which a more sophisticated two-way grid of networked distributed energy resources (DER) and digital technologies will pave the way for an Energy Cloud ecosystem valued at $1.3 trillion in new annual industry revenue by 2030. This Navigant Research white paper explores the market dynamics, opportunities, and challenges embodied by the emerging IoT trend and its impact on the Energy Cloud. The paper provides meaningful insights about IoT platforms and introduces the IoT Playbook, a framework for making key business decisions for harnessing the benefits to drive growth. It also provides a high-level assessment of some of the risks involved as the IoT market shifts and matures.