A Majority of Enterprises Are Mulling IoT Tech: IDC

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Hype or no hype, the Internet of Things (IoT) is already affecting the technology strategies of enterprises.

In a survey of 2,350 enterprise decision makers from International Data Corporation (IDC), 73 percent the respondents said they had already deployed IoT solutions or are planning to deploy them within the next 12 months. A total of 2,350 respondents were polled by IDC for the study.

The new report stands in stark contrast to recent indications that the IoT hype may be overblown. An earlier survey from Red Hat and TechValidate found that only 12 percent of enterprises were currently rolling out solutions as they take a calculated approach to the IoT.

“IoT momentum continues to grow and our survey shows that it is seen as strategic to the enterprise,” said IDC senior vice president and research fellow Vernon Turner, in a statement.

Healthcare organizations appear poised to take the lead in IoT with 72 percent of those surveyed saying they view IoT as strategic initiative. The transportation and manufacturing industries are close behind with 67 percent and 66 percent, respectively.

High IoT awareness was reported in retail (56 percent) and manufacturing (53 percent), IDC found, lending support to a rosy forecast from the research group released earlier this year.

In May, the IDC said growing demand from retailers and manufacturing plants would help the market for IoT solutions expand by 19 percent this year. “Digital signage use in retail outlets will grow from $6.0 billion in 2013 to $27.5 billion in 2018, a 35.7 percent five-year CAGR, as retailers continue to digitize the consumer experience,” said IDC in a statement at the time.

In total, 58 percent of respondents said they consider the IoT a strategic initiative, according to IDC. Another 24 percent have higher hopes for the buzz-generating technology, describing it as “transformative.”

The study also found that in terms of challenges, security, while still a major concern, is giving way to upfront and ongoing costs of implementing IoT solutions. Likewise, IoT leadership has switched hands, from hardware vendors to software providers.

IT decision makers are also wrestling with IoT’s impact on data center design and management. “IoT processing at the edge of the network (compared to processing back at the enterprise) is a clear requirement and will challenge many IoT architecture designs,” stated IDC.

Pedro Hernandez is a contributing editor at Datamation. Follow him on Twitter @ecoINSITE.

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