The Internet of Things (IoT) is having a significant impact on on businesses at a time when their digital capabilities are being put to the test by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This has been finding of Vodafone Business’s 2020 IoT Spotlight report that explores how businesses are using IoT and how IoT is helping them be ready for the future. The report features responses from 1,639 businesses globally.
During the COVID-19 crisis, IoT has made the difference
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced almost all businesses to change their working practices and priorities in a matter of weeks, with the findings showing 77% of adopters increased the pace of IoT projects during this time, says the report.
What’s more, adopters clearly believe IoT was vital to keep them going. In fact, 84% said the technology was key to maintaining business continuity during the pandemic.
As a result, the majority of adopters (84%) now view the integration of IoT devices with workers as a higher priority and 73% agree the pandemic will accelerate their adoption plans.
IoT is key to improving business performance
The research findings are clear: IoT continues to generate value and ROI for adopters and 87% agree their core business strategy has changed for the better as a result of adopting IoT.
Almost all (95%) say they have achieved a return on investment and 55% of adopters have seen operating costs decrease by an average of 21%.
From improving operational efficiency to creating new connected products and services, key benefits of IoT deployments include boosted employee productivity (49%) and improved customer experience (59%).
Data is the key to future readiness
You can’t manage what you can’t measure. IoT data is becoming essential to support businesses’ decision-making (59%) and the majority of adopters (84%) think they can do things they couldn’t do before thanks to IoT. And IoT data is also helping 84% of businesses meet their sustainability goals.
The report says that businesses see IoT as an essential element of being future ready. So much so that 73% say that organisations who have failed to embrace IoT will have fallen behind within five years.