IoT: early adoptors anticipate a surge in adoption, research

IoT is still a tech-led minority play but use of core technologies expected to surge over next three years

While almost everybody expects very big things of the IoT, at the moment it is still very much a minority play. Computing's ongoing research among UK organisations in all sectors finds that deployment of the Internet of Things (IoT) is mostly at the experimental stage and still largely confined to the technology and telecoms sectors.

Seventeen per cent of respondents to an online poll described their organisation as being "actively involved" with the IoT, with a further 52 per cent saying that they are making plans for its arrival. However only six per cent had rolled out an IoT project as a full-scale deployment (the interpretation of full-scale being left up to the respondents), with about half of the rest engaged in small-scale implementations and experimentation.

Definitions can be tricky given the breadth and scale of the IoT, but the overall picture is a familiar one of tech-savvy early adopters and enthusiasts leading a rump of interested followers, with the laggards and naysayers choosing to ignore it for the time being.

In one question we asked about the type of IoT networks being used. Given the early stage of take-up, the numbers of adopters of the low-power networking technologies required for the IoT was pretty low among the general population, as would be expected.

However, among those who said that the IoT is already making an impact on their business, adoption of IoT messaging (represented by protocols like MQTT), low-power WiFi (e.g. Zigbee, BLE) and mesh or star sensor networks were already approaching the halfway mark.

* Answers provided by those saying the IoT is already having an impact on their business.

Moreover, in three years time these respondents expected to be using almost all aspects of IoT networking a lot more, so those technologies with minimal uptake today, such as blockchain and smart contracts, are anticipated to see a huge leap adoption, although it should be noted that many of these technologies are still immature.

In a separate question, early adopters viewed engagement with the IoT as being a key differentiator, helping them to become a leader in their use of digital technologies and data analytics and transforming their business in the process.

Full results of Computing's research will be presented at the forthcoming Big Data and IOT Summit 2017 (see below).

Computing's Big Data & IoT Summit 2017 and the Big Data & IoT Summit Awards are coming on 17 May 2017.

Find out what construction giant Amey, Lloyds Banking Group, Financial Times and other big names are doing in big data and the Internet of Things.

Attendance to the Summit is free to qualifying senior IT professionals and IT leaders, but places are strictly limited, so apply now.

AND on the same day, Computing is also proud to present the Big Data & IoT Summit Awards, too. See the finalists - and secure a table for your team at the Awards - now: