- Bain predicts the combined markets of the Internet of Things (IoT) will grow to about $520B in 2021, more than double the $235B spent in 2017.
- Data center and analytics will be the fastest growing IoT segment, reaching a 50% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) from 2017 to 2021.
- IoT customers are planning and executing more proof of concept pilots, with many balancing their expectations regarding broader adoption.
- Cloud Service Providers (CSP) are emerging as influential providers of IoT services, consulting and analytics for enterprises, leaving smaller opportunities for other providers in niche industries.
- Security, integration with existing technology and uncertain returns on investment are the three biggest barriers to great IoT adoption in the enterprise.
- Bain sees the need for vendors to concentrate on a few core industries with greater intensity to deliver more targeted industry solutions.
Enterprises adopting IoT are finding that vendors aren’t making enough progress on lowering the most significant barriers to adoption in the areas of security, ease of integration with existing information technology (IT), operational technology (OT) systems and uncertain returns on investment. As a result, enterprises are extending their expectations of when their use cases will reach scale and delivered results. These and many other fascinating findings are from Bain’s latest IoT research brief, Unlocking Opportunities in the Internet of Things. The PDF is downloadable here (PDF, 12 pp, no opt-in).
Additional key takeaways the research brief include the following:
- The combined markets of the Internet of Things (IoT) will grow to about $520B in 2021, more than double the $235B spent in 2017. Data center and analytics will be the fastest growing IoT segment, reaching a 50% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) from 2017 to 2021. System integration, data center and analytics, network, consumer devices, connectors (or things) and legacy embedded systems are the six core technology and solution areas of the IoT market. The following graphic compares the CAGR of each area in addition to defining the worldwide revenue for each category.
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- Enterprises are still optimistic about IoT’s business value and potential to deliver a positive ROI; however many are planning less extensive IoT implementations by 2020. Bain finds that enterprises are still running more proofs of concept than they were two years ago. They’ve also discovered that more customers are considering trying out new use cases: 60% in 2018 compared with fewer than 40% in 2016.
- Security, integration with existing technology and uncertain returns on investment are the three biggest barriers to great IoT adoption. Bain found that enterprises would buy more IoT devices and pay up to 22% more on average for them if security concerns were addressed. Integration continues to be a barrier to greater IoT adoption as well. Bain found that vendors haven’t simplified the integration of IoT solutions into business processes or IT and OT as much as enterprises have expected. The report calls for vendors to invest in learning more about typical implementation challenges in their customers’ industries so they can suggest more strategic, end-to-end solutions.
- IoT vendors including CSPs generating the most sales are concentrating on two to three industries to scale the depth of their expertise quickly. More than 80% of vendors still target four to six industries which makes it difficult to reach an expertise and knowledge scale that wins new clients. Bain finds that when vendors and CSPs concentrate on two or three domains, they gain mastery of specific markets faster and can provide insights to enterprises more effectively. Gaining expertise in two to three core industries is also an excellent differentiation strategy for vendors and CSPs who compete against price-driven IoT service providers.
- Interest in remote monitoring and real-time monitoring is flourishing in IoT making this one of the fastest-growing use case categories. Being able to monitor production systems to the machine or asset level remotely and having the option to turn the data stream into a real-time source of knowledge is a fast-growing area of IoT adoption today. Based on interviews with manufacturers the popularity of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) is growing, fueled by the options available for remote and real-time monitoring of production assets. Bain discovered that industrial equipment leader ABB bundles remote monitoring into its connected robotics systems and connected low-voltage networks, which allows customers to troubleshoot and quickly identify issues requiring greater attention.
- Cloud Service Providers (CSP) are emerging as influential providers of IoT services, consulting and analytics for enterprises, leaving smaller opportunities for other providers in niche industries. Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure have emerged as the dominant CSP leaders of the fast-moving global market for IoT software and solutions. Bain finds that CSPs are successful in lowering barriers to IoT adoption, allowing for simpler implementations and making it easier to try out new use cases and scale up quickly. The study finds that the broad horizontal services provide little optimization for industry-specific applications, leaving a significant opportunity for industry solutions from systems integrators, enterprise app developers, industry IoT specialists, device makers and telecommunications providers.
