The Internet of Things (IoT) has, for a while now, been a technology that held a lot of promise, though there were still many taking a wait-and-see approach, sitting on the sidelines to see how it would all work out. In recent years, that's changed to more active use, and with nearly half of U.S businesses turning to IoT functions according to a Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA (News - Alert)) study, IoT Enterprise Survey, the IoT market may be poised to reach a much wider audience.
With 48 percent of businesses engaged in IoT, and another 43 percent set to launch IoT solutions within the next 24 months, that brings the total to 91 percent of businesses either using or actively planning to use IoT in short order. What's more, companies are projecting that they will put a lot of resources behind IoT use and operations: 44 percent of IT budgets, starting in 2020, will be dedicated to the development and maintenance of these systems.
Companies have clear goals in mind for these IoT systems:
- 98 percent want the ability to capture real-time data from products,
- 72 percent want to use IoT systems to capture data on product feature usage, a measure which would allow businesses to better understand the market's needs and desires.
- 29 percent of surveyed businesses expect operations applications to get benefit from IoT operations above all else
- 24 percent expect business intelligence to get the most benefit
- Mobile apps came in at 17 percent
- Customer relationship management (CRM) tools came in at 13 percent
- Enterprise resource planning (ERP) tools rounded out the list at 12 percent
Report author and principal analyst for Machina Research, Andy Castonguay, noted “The exciting take away is that U.S. companies have begun embracing the strategic and tactical value that IoT data contributes across the enterprise. The study results point to the fact that a critical mass of U.S. enterprises has started to engage IoT solutions to enhance product design and development, inform operations and customer service, and enhance profitability.”
Based on the study, it appears we really have entered the IoT era. We've known about the theoretical benefits of IoT systems for some time, and now we're seeing these systems actually get put to work and generate bottom-line impact. That's driving plenty of interest, as companies realize the value of having another source of information to feed into big data analytics projects.
Edited by
Peter Bernstein
