IoT is ready for business in 2019

IoT is not a buzzword.  IoT is not a fade. In fact, it is around us today and because it seems no normal and obvious, we don’t give it a moments thought.

The Internet of Things (IoT) sounds like a geeky term but at its root, think of sensors that are embedded into physical objects which collect and send data. These physical objects could be anything such as buildings, vending machines, air conditioning, parking meters, watches etc. etc. The sensors are programmed to monitor, collected and send data to a central location where that information is analyzed and acted upon.

For example:  Instead of your sprinkler system blindly watering your lawn at 3pm as it is programmed to, it makes a connection to the local weather station and based on the actual weather it makes a decision to water the lawn or not. This system is available today excluding the human from the equation and saving us money by not wasting water (and better for the environment too).

We get that “connecting devices” and saving us money is a good thing, but when will these types of systems be available in everything and everywhere?

We finally have a date.

Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company asked this question to 3100 executives from 20 countries about their IoT plans. The research, ‘The Internet of Things, Today and Tomorrow’, found that 85% of businesses plan to start using IoT technologies by 2019.

So next year if the year for IoT to get out of the hype and into the practical.

What did the study find?

Morten Illum, VP of EMEA, Aruba shared “the good, the bad and the ugly:”

• IoT is over-delivering. Yes, you heard correctly—our survey discovered an ‘expectations dividend’: the real-world benefits gained from IoT are exceeding original expectations in all areas. In other words, believe the hype (and how many times can you say that about a new technology?).
• ROI is looking good, very good. Four-fifths of companies that use IoT technology report seeing an increase in business efficiency, while the average return on investment from an IoT deployment is 34%.
• A lot of people claim to know what IoT means. But few really know. A massive 98% of those surveyed think they have the true definition, but there’s no consensus. Keep reading: we’ll come back to this in a moment.
• IoT has some hurdles to clear. IoT has proven its value, but barriers still exist. Cost of implementation (50%), maintenance (44%) and integration of legacy technologies (43%) are the top three. But there is hope: technologies are already available that both cut infrastructure costs and smooth the integration process.
• IoT brings incredible opportunities, but also credible threats. Alarmingly, 84% of organizations that use IoT have experienced an IoT-related security breach. As IoT continues to grow, businesses need to take steps to protect their networks and devices. Without gaining visibility of IoT activities, organizations are leaving themselves open to attack.
• IoT varies. Arguably Europe and the wider EMEA region have a more conservative approach towards IoT today. Europe, the Middle East and Africa showing a 50% take up of IoT technology, compared to 60% in APAC and 66% in the Americas. This could be from a lack of preparedness and a lack of willingness to explore IoT’s benefits: Currently, 17% of EMEA respondents claim their IT infrastructure isn’t ready to support IoT yet—nearly double that of the Americas— but 82% of EMEA companies plan to adopt IoT technologies by 2019. So there’s still a little way to go yet to take full advantage of IoT.

A renowned tech pioneer, Kevin Ashton coined the phrase ‘Internet of Things’ back in 1999. In his new eBook ‘Making Sense of IoT’, commissioned by Aruba, Ashton offers this “What defines the Internet of Things is data capture… The ‘Internet of Things’ means sensors connected to the Internet and behaving in an Internet-like way by making open, ad hoc connections, sharing data freely and allowing unexpected applications.”

So it seems that pretty soon, our air conditioner will connect to our cars to see when we will be home and set the right temperature while sharing the info with the kettle so the water boils just as we walk through the door…