IoT goes mainstream as companies consider it critical to success

Eighty-nine per cent of companies investing in Internet of Things (IoT) have increased their budgets over the last 12 months, according to Vodafone's IoT Barometer Report. The survey, conducted by Circle Research and involving 1,096 companies across 17 nations including India, also found that 76 per cent of the surveyed firms believe that taking advantage of IoT technologies will be critical for the success of any organisation, while 63 per cent of IoT adopters are seeing "significant" returns on investment, up from 59 per cent in last year's report. IoT investment now accounts for 24 per cent of the average IT budget, on a par with cloud computing or data analytics. The report also found that IoT technologies play a key role in mainstream business activities in an increasing number of companies. For example, 48 per cent of the companies interviewed are using IoT technologies to support large-scale business transformation, with the figure rising to 61 per cent in the Asia Pacific region. Similarly, 52 per cent of consumer electronics companies are using IoT technologies as the basis for a new generation of applications for connected homes.