Concerns over security remain a big barrier to more widespread business adoption of the Internet of Things, according to a new BI Intelligence survey of technology executives.
BI Intelligence
The IoT will bring the internet to many formerly unconnected home appliances, office or warehouse equipment, and factory machines (e.g., sensors that will ping managers if there's something wrong with a factory line.)
We found security to be one of the most consistent concerns, even as companies begin to implement IoT-based systems:
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- Privacy and security are the most significant barriers to IoT investment. This option was chosen by 39% of our survey respondents, well ahead of questionable ROI (27%) and lack of a use case (16%). (See chart, above). The fewest number of respondents said price would be a barrier to IoT adoption.
- All the same, adoption of the IoT is already significant. Over half of the executives (62%) said they had already adopted IoT-based systems or had plans to do so. A minority said the IoT was too new to invest in for now (24%) or that they had no plans to invest in it (12%).
Coupling this with past articles and reports, we found that the answers reflected the tenor of the general enterprise attitude toward the IoT: optimism tinged with some trepidation.
These findings reflect growing concerns over whether the IoT will expose large businesses to more disruptive and costly hacks. An earlier survey from the Harvard Business Review found that 46% of IoT early adopters faced obstacles with privacy and security compliance.
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