The Internet of Things (IoT) is not just a trend, it is a crucial way to get business done, according to a new survey from Aeris.
IoT’s true value has yet to be fully realised, but executives consider IoT initiatives to be increasingly valuable and important to their organisations, particularly when it comes to achieving greater operational efficiencies and gaining competitive advantages.
Illustrating the positive impact of IoT, 74% of all respondents indicate they feel IoT provides their organisations with the opportunity to better meet key business objectives, and 71% agree IoT will help them achieve a competitive edge. However, despite the consensus, U.S. executives (86%) were found to be more optimistic than their U.K. counterparts (51%), in regard to how IoT would enable them to better meet their objectives.
Recent industry forecasts estimate nearly 5 billion connected devices will be utilised in the enterprise this year alone, so it is no wonder that managing devices and connectivity to reduce operational costs is a big priority for the coming year. In fact, Aeris discovered 72% agree managing connectivity to reduce costs is a major priority, and 78% feel connectivity, provisioning, and device management will be a challenge for the upcoming year.
“While the research uncovered some intriguing differences across geographies and industries, the generally held consensus is that the opportunities will be met with challenges,” said Janet Jaiswal, vice president of enterprise marketing at Aeris. “As the number of connected devices grows, organisations will not only be under increased pressures to better manage their devices and obtain data-generated insights to improve operational efficiencies, but they will also need a deeper understanding of how best to address the complexities associated with connectivity and data consumption to lower operational costs.”
Big data and application development are other significant concerns within the enterprise. Most (72%) find it difficult to analyse sensor and connectivity data to obtain useful insights, and 73% noted collecting, managing and storing device sensor data as a major worry. When developing IoT applications, the survey revealed that 65% are building IoT and M2M apps in-house, with the U.S. (70%) proving more likely to take in-house, versus 55% of the respondents in the U.K.
The survey was conducted in partnership with research firm Vanson Bourne, polling 300 enterprise-IT decision makers from the United States and the United Kingdom in order to examine IoT’s perceived impact on the business in the year ahead, as well as to determine how perspectives on IoT have evolved since 2013 which, generally, represents an increase in the importance of IoT.
As leaders in the growing IoT marketplace and veterans of the M2M industry, Aeris understands the difficulties customers face in all aspects of deploying a successful program – from building an IoT application, ensuring connectivity, as well as managing and optimising the deployment.
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