MEF this week published in a new report its findings from a wide-ranging IoT Enterprise Survey that probed business on the key issues, drivers, innovations, and supplier preferences for enterprises in the IoT sector. Here, MEF IoT Programme Director and report author Andrew Parkin White shares an overview.
The results and findings of our wide-ranging IoT Enterprise Survey are in and we have been digging deep to explore the key issues, business drivers, appetite for innovation, current and future technology choices and enterprise supplier preferences. Above all, our aim is to identify where opportunities lie in enterprise IoT and how suppliers can best prioritise and refine their approaches.
Over the past few months, MEF has spoken with senior individuals in 450 organisations, ranging from 250 employees to large enterprises, across nine key global markets in Africa, North and South America, Asia and Europe. Our cross-sector focus is on key IoT sectors and verticals – Automotive Manufacture, Transportation, Storage, Logistics, Utilities, Healthcare Manufacturing, Retail and Agriculture – and all have deployed cellular IoT solutions.
At a global level, we see that 83% of enterprises state that using technology for business advantage is the most important driver in IoT uptake. Digital transformation and cost savings appear as much lower drivers. Globally, 63% of companies expect IoT implementations to grow by at least 5%“
At a global level, we see that 83% of enterprises state that using technology for business advantage is the most important driver in IoT uptake. Digital transformation and cost savings appear as much lower drivers. Globally, 63% of companies expect IoT implementations to grow by at least 5%.
Phil Todd, report co-author and research consultant, draws out of on the key findings: “Of particular interest, Covid has had a significant impact on of the enterprise appears as over 77% of organisations say that it has completely or significantly changed their business.”
Enterprises are still making extensive use of legacy technologies with 94% of organisations using 3G and 75% using 2G. These technologies will not dominate the future technology landscape – the most immediate connectivity technology priority is 4G NB-IoT.
5G has a key role to play in the future – 66% of companies are evaluating or have active plans for 5G in their IoT deployments and 3% have already begun to use 5G.
Phil adds that – “Beyond connectivity, IoT security emerges as the most important requirement and this supports the view that cybersecurity generally is a pressing issue for all enterprises.”
What qualities are enterprises looking for in IoT suppliers? Support and technical innovation are the most important criteria. We asked enterprises about who would be their trusted partner for IoT solutions. The field was relatively narrow with 89% saying that the mobile network operator would be their choice. While price has a key role to play in purchasing decisions, only 28% of organisations cite cost as a driver for the choice of supplier.
Phil believes it is important to stress the three essential requirements of suppliers to ALL vertical sectors – “integrate all elements of a solution, handle the complete project and offer ongoing support.”
A full, in-depth version of the survey report is available to members with the in-depth data tables for each question segmented by country, vertical and enterprise size. Non-members can receive the Executive Summary.
Also – register for the webinar on Thursday the 14th October for an overview of the report.
Available to download now
We undertook a large-scale global survey of 450 enterprises in nine key countries – Brazil, France, Spain, Germany, UK, South Africa, Indonesia, India, USA, interviewing Chief Technology and Digital Officers and Heads of IoT in those organisations. Our focus was on companies that are already using IoT and we covered a range of core IoT sectors including Automotive Manufacture, Transportation, Storage, Logistics, Utilities, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Retail and Agriculture.
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