A Verizon report said 73 percent of executives are either researching or currently deploying Internet of Things (IoT).
The number of connected devices has grown 31 percent to 8.4 billion in 2017.
Verizon, a leading telecom operator in the U.S., said manufacturing, transportation and utilities are making the largest percent of investments in IoT globally. Industry verticals such as insurance and consumers represent the fastest areas of spending growth in IoT.
Meanwhile, a BT research revealed that CEOs regard the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, mobile computing and social media as the technology trends which are likely to have the most significant impact on their organizations over the next two to three years.
Bas Burger, CEO of Global Services – BT, said: “Our research confirms that digital transformation has become a prevalent topic on the boardroom agenda.”
highlights of IoT survey
# Businesses focus on IoT as an enabler of sustainability, safety and economic growth
# Customer service (33%), management of assets (26%), and production and delivery capabilities (25%) are top IoT deployment objectives
# Absence of IoT standards, security, interoperability and cost considerations are concerns
# IoT platform market is expected to grow 35% per year to $1.16 billion by 2020
The economics of IoT are increasingly compelling and the B2B space will benefit first, generating nearly 70 percent of potential value enabled by IoT.
Cost reductions and regulatory pressures are driving the adoption of IoT among enterprises. While enterprises across industries continue to develop and pilot use cases, there are concerns in the IoT space. Four concerns for over 50 percent of business executives when exploring IoT include IoT Standards, Security, Interoperability and Cost.
Verizon said these uncertainties, along with apprehension around scalability and simplicity, are holding businesses back from full IoT deployment, with many still in proof-of-concept or pilot phase.
Early adopters seem largely focused on proving out simple use cases to track data and send status alerts, just starting to realise the full value IoT has to offer in driving growth and efficiencies across business, the Verizon report noted.
“Over the past year, industry innovators in energy, healthcare, construction, government, agtech and beyond have not only piloted, but in many cases, deployed IoT technology to improve business efficiencies, track and manage assets to drive value to the bottom line,” said Mark Bartolomeo, vice president of IoT Connected Solutions at Verizon.
Verizon has strong presence in the global IoT market and competes with China Mobile, Vodafone, AT&T, Orange, among others.
