Only 50 percent of manufacturers see IoT as a priority. Perhaps that’s what the iceman said about the neighbor’s fridge? (Image courtesy of Autodesk.)
Engineers have likely heard the prediction that by 2020 Gartner predicts that 30 billion connected devices will be on the market. However, per Autodesk’s report only 50 percent of manufacturers list IoT as a priority to their business strategy.
Additionally, only 56 percent of manufacturers are working on an IoT product within the upcoming year, while only 30 percent claim they are IoT ready or enabled. So is Gartner wrong? Is IoT just hype?
Doubtful.
The benefits that IoT brings to customers and the industry are great. It seems that 58 percent of respondents said that IoT gives manufacturers a competitive advantage, 52 percent say it can help them create new services for customers and 49 percent say it will improve the uptime of their designs.
What these results likely indicate is that we are still seeing the birth of something new. Additionally, there is still time to become a market leader by implementing IoT as soon as possible. And the industry is noticing. When asked if companies plan to work on an IoT product in the next three years, instead of the previous one year question, the number shot up to 78 percent from 56 percent. Of those working on IoT, while its true that only 30 percent are ready now, that other 38 percent is not far behind, and an additional 32 percent have gotten a start.
In short, if your industry hasn’t seen the IoT creep into the mythos of a major player, chances are you will see it soon. And if the hands of those major players are tied, a disruptor company might just be on the horizon. Maybe those 50 percent that don’t see IoT as a priority should give the idea a second thought.
To get onto the IoT bandwagon, readers might be interested in the white paper: Top 10 Considerations for a Successful IoT Implementation and the eBook: Comparing Platforms to Add Internet of Things Capabilities to Products.