In the last two years, the IoT has gone from being one of those technological trends that companies start experimenting with, launching pilot programs, to becoming spearheads of all kinds of digital transformation projects.
Hardly anyone within the ICT sector is unaware that the Internet of Things is rapidly changing the world around us, providing analytical capabilities and even artificial intelligence to a huge range of physical objects and sensors. As a consequence, the IoT is in many cases changing the way companies do business, helping them to be faster, more efficient and even smarter.
To precisely study the evolution of the IoT sector and how companies are embarking on the use of these solutions, Microsoft has been publishing its IoT Signals study since 2019, in which it also analyzes the main challenges that need to be overcome, as well as the new trends that are developing in this field.
In its latest edition, which collects data from 2021, more than 3,000 business development managers from different companies in Europe, the United States and Asia have participated. The report first highlights the rapid growth in the adoption of IoT solutions around the world. (leankitchenco) In the European case, it calculates that up to 90.8% of the companies analyzed have adopted IoT solutions in their business (94% in the United States and 89.7% in Asia). But beyond measuring the growth of these types of solutions, the report shows other key findings:
IoT solutions boost the productivity of organizations
The IT decision-makers who have participated in this study highlight that the Internet of Things continues to be adopted for a series of uses that lead to improved efficiency and productivity, so that 66% respondents He assures that he plans to implement more IoT in the coming years.
On the other hand, professionals who say they use IoT solutions to strengthen their cloud security and supply chain management are convinced that this technology is essential to ensure the success of their organization.
COVID-19 has accelerated the adoption of IoT solutions
The pandemic caused by COVID-19 has ended up accelerating different digital transformation processes, promoting, for example, the adoption of IoT solutions.
According to the study, up to 44% of those surveyed expect to increase their investment in IoT as a result of the pandemic (compared to 31% in 2020). grow too the number of cases and scenarios of use for which this type of solution is going to be applied and “obtaining a competitive advantage” is positioned as the main reason for betting on this technology.
AI, Edge Computing and Digital Twins, main allies in IoT strategies
Most of the organizations that work with IoT solutions, do so in strategies that propose their combined use with other Artificial Intelligence, edge computing or the development of digital twins.
But despite the fact that these technologies are increasingly popular and have more support from companies, many projects end up “stuck” in their pilot phase, either due to the lack of infrastructure, or due to the complexity of scaling and managing the systems.
Looking to the future, organizations will need more and more specialized help, since the level of implementation of this type of solutions varies according to the sector (for example, the energy sector is the one that advances the most in the adoption of the edge computingwhile that of the industry does so in that of digital twins).
Although IoT projects are maturing, technological complexity persists
Business challenges are often easier to overcome than technical ones (especially for those who outsource part of the IoT implementation).
In fact, as IoT solutions become broader and more deeply integrated into organizations, overcoming that technical complexity is even more difficult. This is prompting IT departments to look for more direct investment in this area, both to acquire new solutions and to hire more staff (which are in short supply) capable of managing large volumes of complex data.
IoT for a sustainable future
Nearly a third of respondents (34%) see sustainability as a business priority and believe IoT is key to improving it.
73% of organizations with net-zero emissions goals rely on the IoT to achieve their purpose: for example, building energy management solutions are helping organizations become more sustainable and reduce your consumption by up to 25 percentwhile reducing operating costs.
Focus on data security
Improving the security of IT infrastructure and assets has become a top priority for businesses, and as Microsoft’s survey found, nearly a third of companies are concerned about potential risks to that security. posed by IoT devices, especially when it comes to ensuring data privacy.
To keep IoT projects secure, the main focus is on preventing and detecting security breaches, although there is no widely adopted best practice. Those who outsource at least part of their IoT implementation tend to feel more confident with their IoT strategy.
