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Vodacom Business unpacks key findings from its IoT Barometer 2019

Earlier this week Vodacom Business unveiled its IoT Barometer 2019 report, which looks at the much talked about technology platform, and how organisations across the globe feel about, and are preparing for it.

It’s also the sixth report that Vodacom Business has compiled to look at the state of the Internet of Things (IoT), which gives you an idea about how long industries all over the world have been discussing the potential of IoT. For this report Vodacom collected information from 1 430 respondents.

In 2019, we could finally see the beginnings of these technological platforms and projects take shape, with the key trends from Vodacom Business’ report pointing heavily to this.

Confidence is growing

To that end the IoT adoption rate has increased to 34 percent in 2018, which is up by 5 percent compared to last year’s barometer.

As for the reason why there has been a rise, Vodacom Business believes it is being driven by a growing availability of enablement platforms and new, cost-effective connectivity options.

Added to this is a steep rise in confidence too, with 84 percent of organisations that have adopted an IoT strategy or project showing greater faith in its potential. This as organisations have greater access to information around IoT, and are therefore left feeling far more reassured when it comes to matters like security and privacy, says Vodacom Business.

Scaling up

The firm adds that things are scaling up as well, with 80 percent of adopters stating that they have more live projects on the go, with 83 percent also noting that scale of said project has increased. Added to this 70 percent of adopters have expressed their desire to invest more in IoT in the coming years.

This increased investment should result in a greater reach for many companies, with 45 percent already reporting that their IoT projects cross international borders.

This too will spark heated debate over data sovereignty and where the information from such initiatives will be housed and handled, with PoPI and GDPR already having a significant influence on the technology sector.

Becoming mission-critical 

Looking at how this technology is being adopted, Vodacom Business believes many organisations will be highly reliant on these platforms in the future. At the moment 8 percent of adopters say they’re entirely reliant on IoT, and that number is only expected to rise in the coming years.

This as 76 percent of organisations say their IoT projects are mission-critical, and is becoming a central part of the way they do business. Over the span of one quarter for example, 27 percent of adopters have multiple full-scale IoT solutions.

“This year, adoption doesn’t vary dramatically by industry vertical. This could mean that the attitude of companies towards new technologies in general has more impact than the sector they operate in. In time, there will be potential IoT applications in almost all vertical markets,” adds Vodacom Business in its report.

Delivering results

So is this yet another hyped up buzzword, or is it actually yielding benefits?

According to the Barometer 2019, it is definitely the latter, with 95 percent of adopters stating that they’re already benefit from having these projects in place.

Furthermore 52 percent are reporting significant returns and 70 percent say IoT is enabling positive outcomes for their business where it could have been previously impossible without it.

“The benefit most often cited by adopters is reduced operating costs – over half (53 percent) have seen this. But the rewards go far wider. Many say their ability to collect accurate data has improved, employee productivity has gone up, asset utilisation and uptime has increased, and customer loyalty has improved,” says Vodacom Business.

“A third (33 percent) of adopters say that IoT has enabled them to unlock entirely new revenue streams,” the IoT Barometer 2019 concludes.

[Image – CC 0 Pixabay]

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