International study reveals IoT adopters are seeing strong gains in innovation and business efficiency, yet security remains a key concern with 84% reporting an IoT-related security breach
A new global study ‘
The
Internet of Things: Today and Tomorrow
’ published by
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company (NYSE:HPE), reveals that IoT
will soon be widespread as 85% of businesses plan to implement IoT by
2019, driven by a need for innovation and business efficiency. While the
analysis confirms the clear business benefits from investments in IoT,
Aruba’s report cautions that connecting thousands of things to existing
business networks has already resulted in security breaches for the
majority of organizations.
The research questioned 3,100 IT and business decision makers across 20
countries to evaluate the current state of IoT and its impact across
different industries. The study shows that while virtually all business
leaders (98%) have an understanding of IoT, many are unclear of the
exact definition of IoT and what it means for their business.
In his new eBook ‘
Making
Sense of IoT
’, commissioned by Aruba, technology
visionary Kevin Ashton—who coined the term 'Internet of Things’—
presents the following definition:
“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 computers
can understand the world around them and become humanity’s nervous
system.”
The Expectations Dividend
When examining the business benefits of IoT, Ashton discovered that the
real-world benefits gained from IoT exceeded even the original
expectations. This ‘expectations dividend’ is evident in two key
performance areas: business efficiency and profitability.
As an example, only 16% of business leaders projected a large profit
gain from their IoT investment, yet post-adoption, 32% of executives
realized profit increases. Similarly, only 29% of executives expected
their IoT strategies to result in business efficiency improvements,
whereas actual results show that 46% experienced efficiency gains.
Chris Kozup, vice president of marketing at Aruba, comments: “With the
business benefits of IoT surpassing expectations, it’s no surprise that
the business world will move towards mass adoption by 2019. But with
many executives unsure of how to apply IoT to their business, those who
succeed in implementing IoT are well positioned to gain a competitive
advantage.”
How Global Organizations are Using IoT
Aruba's research reveals varying levels of IoT maturity across different
industry sectors. The following five vertical industries are leaders in
their adoption of IoT and have realized tangible business benefits from
a focused, use case approach to adoption.
Enterprises
create a smart workplace for productivity and efficiency:
-
Over seven in ten (72%) enterprises have introduced IoT devices into
the workplace. Indoor location-based services ranks as the second most
promising use case to improve employee productivity, after remote
monitoring. Twenty percent report remote operation of building
lighting and temperature as a key use case, but that number more than
doubles to 53% when asked about future IoT implementations.
-
Looking at the tangible results being realized today, 78% say the
introduction of IoT in the workplace has improved the effectiveness of
their IT team, and 75% find it has increased profitability.
The
industrial
sector increases business efficiency and visibility through IoT-enabled
monitoring and maintenance:
-
More than six in ten (62%) respondents in the industrial sector have
already implemented IoT. Using IoT to monitor and maintain essential
industrial functions was identified as the most impactful use case in
the sector. Today, the use of IP-based surveillance cameras for
physical security within industrial organizations is still in its
infancy, with only 6% having implemented it. However, when asked about
future implementations, surveillance jumped five-fold to 32%.
-
Across the sector, 83% report increased business efficiency and
another 80% have found improved visibility across the organization.
Healthcare
introduces IoT to improve patient monitoring, reduce cost and foster
innovation:
-
Coming in as the third most advanced in its implementation of IoT, 60%
of healthcare organizations globally have introduced IoT devices into
their facilities.
-
Across the sector, 42% of executives rank monitoring and maintenance
as the number one use of IoT—higher than all other sectors. This
underscores the importance of IoT-enabled patient monitoring in the
modern healthcare industry.
-
Eight in ten report an increase in innovation and another 73% report
cost savings.
Retailers
engage with customers and boost sales using indoor location technology:
-
Just 49% of retailers are using IoT technology, but 81% of these
report improved customer experiences. An improved customer experience
is likely to have a significant impact on customer loyalty and
ultimately, revenue.
-
In-store location services delivering personalized offers and product
information to shoppers was touted as the number one implementation
for IoT, alongside monitoring and maintenance. Four in ten retailers
ranked surveillance in their top three key use cases.
Governments
lag in IoT adoption, struggle with legacy technology but still reduce
costs:
-
The slowest sector to adopt IoT, only 42% of municipalities have
deployed IoT devices and sensors. A third (35%) of IT decision makers
claim their executives have little to no understanding of IoT, double
the global average, suggesting that lack of education is the biggest
barrier to mass adoption in this sector.
-
While nearly half (49%) of government IT departments are struggling
with legacy technology, seven in ten IoT adopters in the public sector
report cost savings and improved organizational visibility as the
major benefits.
The Data Context and Security Challenge
Alongside these positive returns, the study also uncovers a number of
obstacles that IT leaders feel are preventing IoT from delivering
greater business impact. In particular, the cost of implementation
(50%), maintenance (44%) and integration of legacy technology (43%) were
highlighted as key issues.
Most notably, security flaws were found across many IoT deployments. The
study found that 84% of organizations have experienced an IoT-related
security breach. More than half of respondents declared that external
attacks are a key barrier to embracing and adopting an IoT strategy.
This confirms that a holistic IoT security strategy, built on strong
network access control and policy management, will not only protect
enterprises but also simplify the security approach for IT.
The ability to capture and effectively use data is described by Kevin
Ashton as “what defines the Internet of Things”, but this appears to be
another clear challenge for global organizations. While nearly all (98%)
of organizations that have adopted IoT claim that they can analyze data,
almost all respondents (97%) feel there are challenges to creating value
from this data. Well over a third (39%) of businesses are not extracting
or analyzing data within corporate networks, and are thereby missing out
on insights that could improve business decisions.
Kozup comments, “While IoT grows in deployment, scale and complexity,
proper security methodologies to protect the network and devices, and
more importantly, the data and insights they extract, must also keep
pace. If businesses do not take immediate steps to gain visibility and
profile the IoT activities within their offices, they run the risk of
exposure to potentially malicious activities. Aruba is enabling
customers to rapidly assess IoT deployments within their facilities and
determine any potential threats that may be present.”
Ashton concludes: “Since its inception in 1999, the Internet of Things
has been ridiculed, criticized, and misunderstood. And yet here we are,
less than two decades later, in a world where tens of thousands of
organizations are saving and making hundreds of millions of dollars from
the Internet of Things, using cars that drive themselves, subway
stations that sense passengers, algorithms that diagnose deadly diseases
using phones, and many other once apparently-impossible technologies.
The future promises far more amazing things. The most important decision
you can make now is how to be a part of it.”
Additional Resources
Research methodology
A total of 3,100 IT and business decision makers were interviewed in
November and December 2016. The respondents were from organizations of
at least 500 employees, and were from both public and private sectors,
but with a focus on the industrial, government, retail, healthcare,
education, construction, finance, and IT/technology/telecommunications
sectors. Interviews were conducted both online and via telephone using a
rigorous multi-level screening process to ensure that only suitable
candidates were given the opportunity to participate. Respondents were
interviewed in the UK, Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain,
Sweden, Norway, Turkey, UAE, Saudi Arabia, the US, Singapore, Japan,
Australia, India, Brazil, Mexico, China and South Korea.
About Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, is a leading provider of
next-generation networking solutions for enterprises of all sizes
worldwide. The company delivers IT solutions that empower organizations
to serve the latest generation of mobile-savvy users who rely on
cloud-based business apps for every aspect of their work and personal
lives.
To learn more, visit Aruba at
http://www.arubanetworks.com
.
For real-time news updates follow Aruba on Twitter and Facebook,
and for the latest technical discussions on mobility and Aruba products
visit Airheads Social at
http://community.arubanetworks.com
.
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company
Pavel Radda, +1-408-419-0294
pavel.radda@hpe.com
or
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company
Lori Hultin, +1-818-879-4651
lori.hultin@hpe.com