This information is presented to allow clients to determine if the publication’s content is relevant, Halberd Bastion advocates reading the 36-page report in its entirety. Vodafone’s Report Can Be Downloaded Here.
The world’s largest non-state owned telecommunications company, Vodafone Group (www.vodafone.com) publishes an annual survey that provides insight into how the Internet of Things (IoT) is powering transformation in businesses around the world. This is the fourth issue of the annual report and, consistent with other major telecommunications organisations, shows how the market for connected devices has truly come of age. Perhaps a telling sign of IoT’s maturity is the inclusion of analyst’s remarks that were contributed by the market research firm Machina Research which is a company that provides, exclusively, market intelligence in M2M / IoT.
With 28% of businesses already deploying IoT in projects and a further 35% less than a year from an IoT project launch interest is at its highest level. Categorized into five key findings are the best practices that are driving success in 2016.
- Bigger commitment produces better results.
- IoT is at the heart of IT strategies. Organisations that have adopted IoT assign 24% of their entire IT budget to it with the businesses that have allocated larger budget and more projects seeing the strongest Return On Investment (ROI).
- Interest in IoT is higher than ever. 76% of businesses state that IoT is going to be “critical” to their future success and 63% expect to have live projects in the next 12 months.
- Adopters see strong results. 2015 had 59% of adopters seeing “significant” ROI, this is now up to 63%.
- IoT supports business transformation.
- IoT is driving transformation. 29% or adopters state that they are using IoT to connect many different organisations into an ecosystem and 48% say they’re using IoT for large-scale business transformation.
- Connected products are the growth area. The top performers are deploying IoT to connect products and services with 46% of all adopters anticipating the launch of connected solutions inside the next 24 months.
- IoT improves customer experience. 44% of adopters claim that IoT enhances customer experience and state that this is its most attractive benefit.
- Leaders measure IoT within business processes.
- IoT produces measurable results. Adopters saw an average of 20% improvement in central business indicators including; revenue, system uptime, cost and asset utilisation from using IoT.
- Effective planning is critical. 68% of adopters agree on setting “clear targets” for IoT projects with top performers being the most likely to execute this.
- IoT is a business initiative, not technology. 61% of businesses view IoT as an integral component of wider business initiatives.
- IT integration is key to using IoT data effectively.
- Businesses are integrating IoT with business systems. Over 90% of adopters’ store IoT data in the cloud, use analytics to support decision making, and integrate IoT data with core systems.
- IoT is all about data. Businesses overwhelmingly agree that IoT can only deliver tangible value if the data generated is used effectively.
- Sharing data is part of ecosystems. Over two-thirds feel safe sharing data between organisations.
- Security needs end-to-end attention.
- Organisations are investing widely in improving security. Recruitment + training, process improvements and relationships with providers are key focus points for organisations.
- Businesses are cautiously optimistic. 30% of organisations have changed or restricted IoT projects in some way to mitigate security risks however 75% also said that risks are a part of life.
- Providers have a big role to play. 76% of businesses say that IoT should be secured end-to-end.
