Eseye has released its State of IoT Adoption report, indicating that companies are accepting sub-standard IoT connectivity performance. The survey reveals that only 1% of respondents achieve better than 98% connectivity levels and 16% attain more than 95% connectivity on average across their device estates.
A failure to emphasize quality is holding the sector back, according to the report, which finds that respondents appeared satisfied with their service despite the below-standard connectivity levels. “Businesses lack the technical knowledge to make the most of their IoT investment and are compromising their chances of success by settling for second-rate connectivity,” Eseye said.
The report covers the challenges and opportunities that hamper and help IoT adoption. It compares IoT growth by market and vertical and provides budget forecasts for the next two years.
The report, commissioned by Eseye and conducted by the independent research organization Opinion Matters, is the third annual State of IoT Adoption survey. It surveyed 1,009 senior decision-makers in the U.K. and the U.S. across five vertical sectors, including EV charging and smart grid, healthcare and medical devices, manufacturing, supply chain and logistics, and smart vending.
Another key issue revealed in the survey is cost versus value. Ninety-five percent of respondents said cost was an important factor in the selection of their connectivity provider, but 71% said cheap commodity SIM and data connectivity providers are not a good long-term investment. In addition, 89% agreed that an end-to-end services program that delivers IoT services under one roof would benefit their companies.
Top IoT benefits year-over-year comparison (Source: Eseye)
Eseye said mission-critical IoT, such as IoT health and medical devices, requires close to 100% connectivity and it is highly concerning that companies are accepting poor performance relative to the connectivity levels.
“It is shocking that businesses are prepared to compromise their goals and risk customer dissatisfaction or product failure because of sub-standard connectivity,” Paul Marshall, Eseye’s co-founder and CCO, said in a statement. “In our eyes, anything less than 100% is simply not good enough, which has been our mantra since day one and remains at the core of Eseye’s offering.”
He added: “As the survey suggests, IoT connectivity success is about more than just buying SIMs and data. Breadth and depth of global coverage matters. How many cellular networks do you truly have access to? Is that coverage resilient and reliable enough for your business case? In order to achieve near 100% ubiquitous global IoT connectivity, a unique blend of network capabilities, hardware, device optimization and professional service expertise is required.”
Marshall believes that companies may not be aware of their connectivity performance because they do not have a suitable benchmark. Buyers “are engaging in a false economy when cost is their top concern, not value.”
However, 67% of respondents said that most of their IoT project failures are due to issues at the device level. In addition, they cannot find help when they need it, with 72% reporting a shortage of embedded firmware developers, as an example.
The top device challenge is achieving reliable device connectivity across multiple countries/regions/locations, according to 18% of respondents. This is followed by security of devices (17%) and ongoing management of the device estate and professional services support (15%). Security has remained a challenge over the past three years, dropping to No. 2, from the No. 1 challenge in 2021 and 2022. Only 4% of respondents have not dealt with any device challenges with their IoT initiative.
There is good news: The majority of respondents (81%) expect the number of IoT devices in the field will increase over the next 18 months and 72% are planning to increase their IoT budgets in the next two years. Most (81%) also agree that getting the IoT device’s design right is key to an effective IoT project.
By vertical, the top benefit for EV charging and smart grids is enabling the business to enter new markets, according to 57% of respondents. Healthcare/medical devices, manufacturing and smart-vending respondents—55%, 62% and 53%, respectively—said IoT has enabled increased revenue, and 58% of respondents in supply chain and logistics said it has enabled the business to create operational efficiencies.
The survey also reveals that nine out of 10 respondents agreed it would be beneficial if they could benchmark their IoT project’s level of maturity against industry peers. By region, 95% of U.S. respondents said it would be beneficial to assess IoT project maturity, compared with 86% in the U.K., and 94% of U.S. respondents said a monthly subscription service program with all end-to-end IoT services under one roof would be beneficial, versus 84% in the U.K.
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