The Internet of Things is having an impact on overall business and driving innovation leading to new insights.
Those are among the findings of a new worldwide study attempting to benchmark
IoT progress in business.
The study, funded by IBM and ARM, comprised a survey of 825 business leaders, 400 of whom were C-level executives representing 10 industries around the world. Those
surveyed were split evenly between companies with revenue of more than $500 million and small to mid-sized businesses.
The majority (73%) of executives said the Internet of Things has had at
least some impact on business, with 21% saying it has had a major impact.
The number one impact is the sparking of a new wave of innovation thanks to data that provides better insights.
This doesn’t mean all is rosy in IoT land, since there are a number of roadblocks ahead.
Among obstacles to businesses adopting IoT technologies are the cost and concerns about
security and privacy. Here are the chief obstacles:
- 29% -- High cost of required investment
- 26% -- Concerns about security and privacy
- 23% -- Lack of senior
management knowledge/commitment
- 16% -- Weakness or organization’s technology
- 12% -- Regulation
- 10% -- Immaturity of industry standards
- 10% -- Products or
services do not have an obvious IoT element to them
- 8% - General economic uncertainty
- 6% -- Undeveloped consumer awareness
- 5% -- Absence of business case
Obstacles aside, the longer-term benefits of consumer insights can be felt throughout an organization