IIoT adoption increasing, but projects still in development

A survey from Bsquare finds that few industrial companies are using advanced analytics to make sense of Internet of Things (IoT) data as they begin to adopt it on the plant floor.

By Rene Millman, Vinelake December 8, 2017

Almost nine out of ten of industrial organizations are currently adopting Internet of Things (IoT) solutions and 84% believe them to be "very" or "extremely" effective, according to a new survey from IoT specialist Bsquare in their report, The IIoT Maturity Study.

The study finds even more (95%) believe that IoT has a significant impact on their industry—but it also shows that most IIoT investments remain focused on connectivity (78% and data visualization (83%). Fewer than half of respondents (48%) have moved on to performing advanced analytics on that data and even fewer (28%) are automating processes based on the insights derived from that analysis.

The survey questioned around 300 respondents in the US at companies with annual revenues of more than $250 million. Participants were evenly divided among three industry groups: manufacturing, transportation, and oil & gas.

IIoT is complex, but merits investment

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of all respondents say their businesses plan to increase their IoT investments over the next 12 months, despite almost every respondent acknowledging that IoT deployments are complex.

Nine out of 10 decision-makers feel it is very or somewhat important for their organization to adopt IoT solutions and 95% perceive IoT as having either a significant impact on their industry at a global level.

Industrial organizations are using IoT most frequently for device connectivity and data forwarding (78%), real-time monitoring (56%), and advanced data analytics (48%). More mature uses of IoT in industrial settings include automation and enhanced on-board intelligence for machinery.

More than 90% of IIoT adopters cite device health as the primary reason for IoT adoption, in a nod perhaps to the growing importance of predictive maintenance, followed by logistics (67%), reducing operating costs (24%) and increasing production volume (18%). More than half of organizations are using annual subscription models for their IIoT solutions, and 77% use a cloud-based model.

"Our study shows that while industrial organizations have enthusiastically adopted IIoT, a majority have not yet moved to more advanced analytics-driven orchestration of data insights," said Kevin Walsh, vice president of marketing at Bsquare. "These later stages of IIoT maturity-analytics, orchestration and true edge computing tend to be where most of the return on investment (ROI) is realized. This is especially important because, according to our study, the number one reason cited for IIoT adoption is cost reduction."

Rene Millman is editor at Internet of Business. This article originally appeared here. Internet of Business is a CFE Media content partner. Edited by Chris Vavra, CFE Media, cvavra@cfemedia.com.

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