64% of Enterprises Want an Off-the-Shelf IoT Solution

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AUSTIN, Texas — A recent report shows that 64% of Internet of Things (IoT) decision makers at enterprises prefer an off-the-shelf IoT solution over a custom offering.

The report by Oracle, “5 Best Practices of Leading IoT Adopters,” indicates that enterprise adopters of IoT are “increasing demand for an easy route to IoT capabilities that provides faster time to value,” according to Oracle in November. 

The report shows 75% of respondents want connectivity to be “baked-in” or bundled by the solution provider, and 70% want providers to include data and analytics tools as part of a comprehensive solution. 

Other key findings from “5 Best Practices of Leading IoT Adopters”

• Commercial off-the shelf products accelerate deployments: Deployment times for commercial solutions average 8.5 months, compared to an industry average of about 11 months, suggesting that the increasing use of standardized solutions is accelerating go-live times. Public safety/government (51%) and utilities (45%) have the most accelerated timelines, aiming for IoT deployment within six months.
• IoT projects are shifting from internal and non-core to critical and customer-facing: Almost 90% of projects were described by the respondents as “fundamental” or “very important” to their core business, and just over half of all projects are visible to their customers. This is reflected in cost being ranked as the most important aspect to manage. Deploying the solution ranked highest for utilities (61%) and public safety and government (60%). Other industries such as health care (58%) and enterprise IT (59%), ranked cost to operate the solution highest.
• Buyers seek complete solutions: Three-quarters (75%) of respondents wanted connectivity to be bundled in by their IoT solution provider, and 25% are happy for it to not even be a visible component to them. For projects in the planning phase, the trend is even more pronounced, implying bundled IoT offerings will likely be more common in the near future.
• Industry standards will drive solution design: Almost all (85%) of respondents have some requirement, either regulatory or based on a desire to comply with standard operational practices, for compliance with standard data formats. This is especially key for industries like health care (71%) and utilities (61%), which reported strict requirements for regulatory compliance. Even in projects where standards are less rigid, such as enterprise IT, 45% still anticipate strict regulatory compliance requirements.
• Increased need for analytics built into IoT platforms: IoT use cases based on simple data gathering are diminishing rapidly. Survey respondents said that over 80% of their projects involve bidirectional data flows, rather than simple data gathering from device to application, which will result in a greater requirement for an analytics-driven control loop within the IoT solution. 

“Custom solutions are introducing increasing levels of cost and complexity to the deployment of IoT solutions, with enterprises now seeking the fastest path to value in the form of ready-made IoT solutions with connectivity and analytics capabilities built in,” said Andrew Morawski, senior VP and GM, Oracle Communications, Networks. 

“5G is critical to establishing this next generation of IoT, especially when deployed as truly cloud-native, leveraging all of the benefits of cloud technology.”

Report methodology

The “5 Best Practices of Leading IoT Adopters” report is based on a survey by Oracle, conducted with Transforma Insights.

The survey polled 800 respondents who held a recommender or decision-maker role for deploying IoT.

Responding organizations had all implemented, or were in the process of implementing, an IoT project supporting a key initiative.

Respondents worked at a company with at least 500 employees (1,000 in the U.S.) and in several countries: Australia, France, Germany, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the ƒnetwrU.K., and the U.S.