South East: 20% of businesses set to embrace the internet of things

The internet of things (IoT), a proposed development of the Internet in which everyday objects will have network connectivity, is expected to add £81 billion to the UK economy between 2015 and 2020. A study conducted by SAS, the leader in analytics, predicts that a fifth of European businesses are planning in the near future to adopt IoT to address customer demand and drive overall engagement.

The study explores discoveries made by 75 large European organisations that consider themselves “well on their way” to integrating IoT into their operations. These companies believe that IoT will allow them to stay competitive by sending and receiving data to enhance customer experience.  Many of the organisations believe that the true potential of IoT lies in the improvement of customer-facing services as opposed to internal processes.

Key findings from the SAS report are that 36% of respondents feel that IoT will have a positive impact on end-user experiences if fully embraced; that 29% believe it will drive them to produce higher quality hardware and services, and that one in 10 of those surveyed cited concerns about losing market share as the biggest risks of not embracing IoT.

Many, however, cite concerns over the time required for IoT implementation and how their organisations would then cope with real-time data analytics and heightened security issues. However, the research highlights that the majority (38%) of organisations are responding to these challenges positively, as well as to a persistent skills shortage, by collaborating with outside technology vendors and buying-in skills to fill the gaps.

The research suggests that organisations are focusing on improving customer-facing processes or efficiency before spending time and energy on internal process departments. When questioned on the way forward, 17% cited improved customer services and an enhanced digital offering as the main benefits of IoT. Fundamentally, almost 30% stressed the importance of applying design thinking – where the users, or user experiences, drive design.

Peter Pugh-Jones, head of streaming analytics at SAS UK & Ireland, explained: “With each consumer expected to own up to four devices by 2018, there is a huge opportunity for companies to use the IoT to get even smarter in attracting their attention.”