Most companies see the Internet of Things (IoT) as a means for operational efficiency, yet many have not tapped into the potential for IoT solutions to transform their business models, a study finds.
The study, conducted by Forrester Consulting for SAP and Intel and conducted last May, involved an online global survey with 366 organizations in China, India, the UK, US, France, Germany, Brazil and Mexico that had implemented or were planning to implement IoT solutions.
Results show that even early adopters have only scratched the surface of IoT benefits in current use cases.
IoT solutions and applications are gaining momentum, as 83% of respondents rated “improve the experience of our customers” as critical or high priority, and 71% of companies noted that improving the use of data and analytics to make better business decisions and outcomes was a critical/high priority in the next 12 months.
In addition, more than two-thirds of companies surveyed believe their use of IoT will make these imperatives easier to address.
Yet, as companies create IoT roadmaps, implementing relevant solutions can bring up new and unfamiliar challenges as operational systems get connected to business systems across organizational boundaries.
Furthermore, most organizations have not yet defined clear ownership of the IoT life cycle, with respondents reporting IoT fragmentation among three or more executive sponsors at 75% of the companies surveyed.
Despite these challenges, companies continue to embrace IoT because of its potential to transform business processes and open new revenue streams.
The study found that the majority of business leaders see greater operational efficiencies as the strongest benefit of IoT, while fewer are only just beginning to imagine new business models.
When prompted, the majority of executives surveyed can envision new service offerings, but only 31% can envision new products enabled by IoT.