A recent Gartner survey has predicted widespread adoption for the Internet of Things (IoT), but only after it has overcome some significant hurdles.
Canvassing the opinions of 465 IT and business professionals spread across 18 business sectors, the results indicate that many organisations are keen to embrace IoT technologies, but a sizeable proportion are yet to be convinced.
Just 29 percent of respondents are currently using the Internet of Things, but an additional 14 percent are planning to implement the technology in the next 12 months. A further 21 percent plan to employ IoT solutions after 2016, meaning that 64 percent of organisation ultimately intend to adopt the IoT. There was some discrepancy across business sectors, with “heavy” industries more likely to use the Internet of Things than lighter, service-oriented businesses.
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Overcoming IoT hurdles
Conversely, more than a third of businesses have no plans to implement these connected devices, including nine percent that fail to see the relevance of the technology.
Chet Geschickter, research director at Gartner, explained the reasons why many businesses are holding back, for now at least, when it comes to adoption.
“This is largely because of two reasons,” he said. “The first set of hurdles are business-related. Many organisations have yet to establish a clear picture of what benefits the IoT can deliver, or have not yet invested the time to develop ideas for how to apply IoT to their business. The second set of hurdles are the organisations themselves. Many of the survey participants have insufficient expertise and staffing…and lack clear leadership.”
While the survey highlighted many of the oft-mentioned challenges to Internet of Things adoption, including cybersecurity, integration and demonstrating ROI, Nicole Tyquin, marketing communications manager at Swann, told Internet of Business that one the biggest barriers is finding practical implementations for these technologies.
“There is a lot of intrigue in IoT at the moment from home and business communities, but the biggest barrier is making sense of it in the practical world,” he said.
“Many potential users won’t see ‘real life’ IoT scenarios in action such as the 30 percent in the Gartner survey who have no plans to implement. Manufacturers in this space should aim to provide and market solutions that really add value to organisations and make a practical difference to their lives.”
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