Most businesses, despite understanding the benefits Internet of Things (IoT) can bring, are still struggling to tap into any value from their IoT projects.
This is according to a new report from Cognizant and Forrester, which bases its findings on a poll of 550 C-level executives, IT executives, directors and functional managers at companies in the US and EMEA.
According to the report, 55 percent of companies have moved beyond the proof-of-concept stage with their IoT projects, but are failing to realize any business value.
Many ran multiple in-house IoT pilots and concluded that they needed a coherent strategy to deploy their initiatives enterprise-wide. Without them, new IoT capabilities often don’t get the necessary investment or leadership support.
But there’s an upside to the story, as well. A strong minority – 45 percent of respondents – confirmed their IoT projects did deliver business value. This was most emphasized in the manufacturing industry, where IoT provided a bridge between previously siloed operations, improving overall operations and reducing manufacturing costs “significantly”.
The sentiment towards IoT is overwhelmingly positive, the report further states. Most leaders support implementing multiple IoT use cases, with many planning broader, enterprise-wide adoption.
With analytics and process improvement being the main drivers, investment in IoT will only grow from this point on. Almost half of the respondents said they needed more visibility into processes and operations, as well as automated data collection. They also want more energy efficiency, improved compliance, optimized use of machinery and less equipment downtime.
As a result, a significant majority increased spending in the last two years, many of which have done so by more than 10 percent. Roughly three quarters expect spending to increase by 2022.
Cognizant’s full report can be found on this link.
