While the Internet of Things (IoT) continues to evolve and expand, moving from the planning stage to execution, the momentum is quantifiable, according to International Data Corp. (IDC). In its new global IoT decision maker survey, IDC says 73 percent of respondents have already deployed IoT solutions or plan to in the next 12 months.

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IDC’s research shows that the enterprise opportunity is where the IoT potential resides both in terms of spending and the number of endpoints connected. “IoT momentum continues to grow and our survey shows that it is seen as strategic to the enterprise,” said Vernon Turner, senior vice president and research fellow – Internet of Things.

IoT awareness is gaining traction with retail and manufacturing industries, as 56 percent and 53 percent respectively show high awareness. The healthcare industry leads the field, with 72 percent of respondents identifying IoT as strategic. Transportation and manufacturing follow at 67 and 66 percent respectively.

Government lags behind in overall awareness and even needs clarification of IoT basics, the report says.

Additional findings from IDC’s IoT decision maker survey include:

  • Similar to last year’s survey findings, security remains a leading challenge, but now upfront and ongoing costs have become the top challenges.
  • While considered leaders in the IoT, hardware vendors have lost ground in 2015 as software vendors are overtaking equipment vendors.
  • IoT processing at the edge of the network (compared to processing back at the enterprise) is a clear requirement and will challenge many IoT architecture design.

IDC’s 2015 Global IoT Decision Maker Survey was conducted in July and August 2015 and included 2,350 respondents. The data was weighted by GDP and included enterprises with 500+ employees (with no more than 30% of respondents representing 500-999 employees). At least 50% of respondents had at least heard the term IoT. Respondents were required to be involved in IT and/or business decisions at their company (50/50 split of these respondents), and were director level or above.