IoT enterprise deployments continue apace, despite COVID-19

Despite the economic impact of COVID-19 on the economy as a whole, IoT projects continue to show value and gather forward momentum in various industries, according to a recent Omdia survey.

The survey, titled “IoT Enterprise Survey, 2021,” explored IoT adoption trends in various industries and the prospects for adoption in the near term.

According to the IoT Enterprise 2021 survey, some 90% of enterprises said that Internet of Things (IoT) technology was core to digital transformation and was being deployed in multiple areas of their organizations.

“COVID-19 has obviously had a massive impact on the way most businesses operate,” noted Joshua Builta, research director for AI and IoT at Omdia. “What we have seen over the past 12 months is that IoT solutions have been critical to business continuity and, as a result, are now being prioritized by enterprises in a range of industries throughout the world.”

More than half of respondents said IoT technology was being broadly deployed (53% vs. 47% the last time the survey was conducted).

IoT investment has also increased: 82% of respondents reported they invested more than $250,000 in IoT in 2020, and 89% of respondents expected to reach this level of investment in 2021. This includes 38% of enterprises that believe their IoT investment will exceed $1 million in 2021.

Nearly three-quarters (74%) of respondents reported they are investing $350,000 to $1 million in IoT in 2020. This reflects an increase from 59% in Omdia’s prior survey.

COVID-19 also looms large in terms of the deployment of IoT: While the pandemic has accelerated almost half of IoT projects, it has slowed or stopped some 30% of them.

Acceleration and deceleration of projects varies by industry: In Projects in the public sector, agriculture and health care, however, slowed. Omdia posited that the slowdown in health care is due to initial diversion of resources to respond to the pandemic and expect health care to pick up in 2021.

“As a whole, COVID has accelerated IoT adoption. However, given IoT is used in such a diverse range of industries, it is not surprising to see some variance in the immediate impact of the pandemic,” Builta said. “In health care in particular, our conversations with industry vendors and suppliers suggest investment and adoption will accelerate in the near future.”

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