Only 10 Percent Of Businesses Use The Internet Of Things

The world around us has become more inter-connected than ever before as the so-called ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) continues to expand rapidly, a report has found.

A study by Verizon and ABI Research has estimated that the number of business IoT connections is expected to quadruple from 2014 levels over the next few years to reach reaching 5.4 billion devices globally by 2020.

Huge investment is predicted to come from a wide range of industries as the true potential of the IoT is realised, helped by a combination of technological, political and social factors, such as social media, consumer expectations and declining hardware costs, the company says.

Booming

Using data gathered from the 15 million connected devices it manages, Verizon was also able to make some observations on the current state of IoT adoption, including the fact that despite huge growth in 2014, only 10 percent of organisations are current using it extensively.

This is in spite of a 45 percent increase in Verizon’s IoT business in 2014 over the previous year, with the company experiencing a 135 percent increase in IoT activations using 4G LTE year-over-year.

The manufacturing industry showed the highest signs of growth in IoT adoption, the report found, with a 204 percent increase in 2014, followed by Finance and Insurance (128 percent) and Media and Entertainment (120 percent).

According to the report, more than 13 million health and fitness devices will be introduced to businesses by 2018 and, come 2025, smart cities will attract companies looking to invest or expand.

“When you look across the spectrum, IoT covers a multitude of solutions, from wearable devices, to remote monitoring of energy management devices to industrial transportation to improve safety and efficiency. New use cases are created every day; however, the business case for IoT and enterprise adoption often gets overlooked,” says Mark Bartolomeo, vice president IoT connected solutions at Verizon.

“Within the past year, amid an improving economy, we’ve seen a number of new entrants starting to use IoT as a roadmap to improve their customers’ experiences, accelerate growth and create new business models that are driving societal innovation.”

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