IoT boosts biz revenue, strengthens customer ties: Survey

DUBAI / Emirates Business

Governments and businesses in the Middle East and Africa will invest over $6.6 billion in Internet of Things (IoT) hardware, software, services and connectivity by the end of the year, according to figures released by the International Data Corporation (IDC). And, according to the findings of a new study sponsored by LogMeIn and conducted by Harbor Research, The Internet of Things Journey, nearly all companies to have embarked on a connected-product journey report both financial and customer experience benefits as a result. The research, which surveyed 600 product companies in various stages of deployment, found that 87% have seen increased revenue as a direct result of connecting a product, and over 90% have seen improvements in business efficiencies and product uptime.
As per LogMeIn’s study, the biggest reported improvement was in customer insights. Only 25% of all companies surveyed expected customer and product insight improvements when they started their connected product project, yet 95% of these manufacturers reported valuable customer insights on customer behaviour, needs and preferred modes of interaction, as a result of connecting a product. Additionally, 93% reported customer support as a business improvement since connecting products, while 88% also cited improved
customer relationships.
These benefits do not come without their challenges, however. According to the survey, 44% of companies in both early and active IoT deployment phases say that data management is the biggest challenge when it comes to using IoT data to make better business decisions. Of the organisations that have existing IoT deployments, 43% cited integration with existing business systems as one of their biggest challenges.