Initial results from the International Data Corporation (IDC) 2016 Global IoT Decision Maker Survey show that the market is pivoting away from proof of concept projects to scalable Internet of Things (IoT) deployments that are incorporating cloud, analytics, and security capabilities.
The survey, now in its third year, serves as a way to gain insights from enterprise IT and business decision makers about their perception of IoT as well as their early deployments or plans for deployment of IoT solutions. Topics covered in the survey include: levels of enterprise awareness of IoT; deployment plans; IoT adoption drivers and inhibitors; perceptions of IoT vendors and vendor selection criteria; organizational factors; and security, cloud, and analytics requirements.
Some key findings from this year’s survey include:
* 31,4% of organisations surveyed have launched IoT solutions, with an additional 43% looking to deploy in the next 12 months.
* 55% of respondents see IoT as strategic to their business as a means to compete more effectively.
* While security/privacy and upfront/ongoing costs are top concerns for decision makers, lack of internal skills is a new, top concern for organisations looking to deploy an IoT solution.
* Improving productivity, reducing costs, and automating internal processes are seen as top benefits of an IoT solution. This highlights an internal and operational focus by organisations over the short term as opposed to external, customer-facing benefits.
“Setting strategies, finding budgets, and supporting IoT solutions have contributed to an ongoing tussle between line of business executives (LOBs) and CIOs. However, that race may be over, because in many cases LOBs are now both leading the discussions and either paying in full or sharing the costs of IoT initiatives with the CIOs,” says Vernon Turner, senior vice-president: enterprise systems and IDC fellow for the Internet of Things.
“This year we see confirmation that vendors who lead with an integrated cloud and analytics solution are the ones who will be considered as critical partners in an organization’s IoT investment,” adds Carrie MacGillivray, vice-president: mobility and Internet of Things. “We also note that network and traditional IT hardware vendors are slipping down the charts, as software and systems integrators makes strides in customers’ minds.”
