Leading up to our Internet of Things Twitterchat on July 30, here are a few facts and figures gleaned from two recently-issued reports on the IoT that CIOs and IT managers should keep in mind. Despite predictions of a huge boom in IoT connectivity coming, an IDC Canada survey done for Telus found that only six per cent of Canadian businesses have implemented an IoT solution — everything from fleet monitoring to health care devices — although another seven per cent will deploy this year. All images from Shutterstock
The number of smart connected devices in Canada is poised to balloon from 28 million in 2013 to 114 million in five years, according to a study on IoT adoption by Telus Corp. and market analyst firm IDC Canada. Proponents say the data collected from these devices can help automate processes and enable improved decision making.
As many as 13 per cent of Canadian medium and large sized companies have adopted IoT solutions as of this year, according to IDC. About 30 per cent of respondents said they planned to adopt IoT solutions over the next 24 months. IoT spending in Canada will jump from $5.6 million in 2013 to $21 billion by 2018.
In a study for Infoblox of 250 pros who work on network and infrastructure teams in the U.S. and Britain, just under one-third of respondents figured their organizations already have up to 10,000 IP addresses for IoT devices, including office equipment. Another 44 per cent figured they have up to 1,000 addresses.
Just over 60 per cent of respondents believe cost or operational efficiencies will drive the use of IoT, the U.S-British study found. Half believe it will improve knowledge of business operations, 48 per cent believe it will create new revenue streams, while 46 per cent believe their organizations want the IoT to collect more data across the business.
Despite understanding the advent of the IoT, those in the U.S.-British study acknowledged some concerns: 62 per cent were worried the Internet of Things raises security problems, 53 per cent fret about budget constraints, and 37 per cent wonder if their organization has the bandwidth to support the data flow. On the other hand, 31 per cent believe IoT benefits are over hyped.
Currently, according to the U.S.-British survey, IT believes it is driving IoT deployments (79 per cent) but about a quarter see operations/manufacturing, customer service, marketing and sales also contributing to driving deployment
