85% of businesses worldwide plan to implement IoT by 2019: Study

Emirates Business

A new global study which includes data from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), ‘The Internet of Things: Today and Tomorrow’ published by Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, reveals that IoT will soon be widespread as 85% of businesses globally plan to implement IoT by 2019, driven by a need for innovation and business efficiency. While the analysis confirms the clear business benefits from investments in IoT, Aruba’s report cautions that connecting thousands of things to existing business networks has already resulted in security breaches for the majority of organizations.
The research surveyed 3,100 IT and business decision makers across 20 countries to evaluate the current state of IoT and its impact across different industries. In his new eBook ‘Making Sense of IoT’, commissioned by Aruba, technology visionary Kevin Ashton—who coined the term ‘Internet of Things’— presents the following definition: “The ‘Internet of Things’ means sensors connected to the Internet and behaving in an Internet-like way by making open, ad hoc connections, sharing data freely and allowing unexpected applications, so computers can understand the world around them and become humanity’s nervous system.”
When examining the business benefits of IoT, Ashton discovered that the real-world benefits gained from IoT exceeded even the original expectations. This ‘expectations dividend’ is evident in two key performance areas: business efficiency and profitability.
As an example, only 16% of business leaders projected a large profit gain from their IoT investment, yet post-adoption, 32% of executives realized profit increases. Similarly, only 29% of executives expected their IoT strategies to result in business efficiency improvements, whereas actual results show that 46% experienced efficiency gains.
Ammar Enaya, Regional Director – Middle East and Turkey, Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, comments: “With the business benefits of IoT surpassing expectations, it’s no surprise that the business world will move towards mass adoption by 2019. But with many executives unsure of how to apply IoT to their business, those who succeed in implementing IoT are well positioned to gain a competitive advantage.” Aruba’s research reveals varying levels of IoT maturity across different industry sectors. Five vertical industries are leaders in their adoption of IoT and have realized tangible business benefits from a focused, use case approach to adoption.
Over seven in ten (72%) enterprises have introduced IoT devices into the workplace. Indoor location-based services ranks as the second most promising use case to improve employee productivity, after remote monitoring. Twenty percent report remote operation of building lighting and temperature as a key use case, but that number more than doubles to 53% when asked about future IoT implementations. Looking at the tangible results being realized today, 78% say the introduction of IoT in the workplace has improved the effectiveness of their IT team, and 75% find it has increased profitability.
In-store location services delivering personalized offers and product information to shoppers was touted as the number one implementation for IoT, alongside monitoring and maintenance. Four in ten retailers ranked surveillance in their top three key use cases.
Governments lag in IoT adoption, struggle with legacy technology but still reduce costs. The slowest sector to adopt IoT, only 42% of municipalities have deployed IoT devices and sensors. A third (35%) of IT decision makers claim their executives have little to no understanding of IoT, double the global average, suggesting that lack of education is the biggest barrier to mass adoption in this sector. While nearly half (49%) of government IT departments are struggling with legacy technology, seven in ten IoT adopters in public sector report cost savings and improved organisational visibility as major benefits.
Alongside these positive returns, the study also uncovers a number of obstacles that IT leaders feel are preventing IoT from delivering greater business impact. In particular, the cost of implementation (50%), maintenance (44%) and integration of legacy technology (43%) were highlighted as key issues.
Most notably, security flaws were found across many IoT deployments. The study found that 84% of organisations have experienced an IoT-related security breach. More than half of respondents declared that external attacks are a key barrier to embracing and adopting an IoT strategy. This confirms that a holistic IoT security strategy, built on strong network access control and policy management, will not only protect enterprises but also simplify the security approach for IT.