From personal fitness trackers to commercial drones, from smart appliances to smart cities, it’s clear that the Internet of Things (IoT) has mass appeal and virtually unlimited potential for growth. Though there’s been a lot of focus on the consumer side of IoT, it’s B2B applications that have this market poised to explode. As Verizon noted in its State of the Market: Internet of Things 2017:
In our view, 2016 was the year IoT gained significant momentum in the enterprise. In 2017, it is clear there is no turning back. Businesses are laser-focused on IoT as an enabler of sustainability, safety, and economic growth — with 73% of executives either researching or currently deploying IoT.
Following are some compelling IoT security statistics to consider as the future of IoT unfolds within your organization.
Expect Billions of Devices, Trillions in Spending and Economic Impact
- Early last year, Gartner, Inc. forecasted that there would be 8.4 billion IoT devices in use globally by the end of 2017 and projected there would be 20.4 billion connected devices by 2020.
- Gartner expected total spending on endpoints and services to hit almost $2 trillion in 2017. International Data Corporation (IDC) has a more conservative outlook, forecasting that, by 2022, IoT spending will “only” be $1.2 trillion.
- The IoT could generate between $4 trillion and $11 trillion of economic value by 2025, according to McKinsey & Company’s “What’s new with the Internet of Things?”
Consumer Applications Grab Headlines, but B2B Applications Boost the Bottom Line
- Per Gartner, consumers held 63% of the IoT devices in use in 2017, but businesses did 57% of IoT spending last year.
- A McKinsey Global Institute study acknowledged the fanfare around consumer-based IoT applications but noted that, “B2B uses can generate nearly 70% of potential value enabled by IoT.”
- According to The Future of Smart Grid Technologies from the University of California, Riverside, the smart grid industry — which relies heavily on IoT devices for automation, monitoring, and management — could have a $400+ billion valuation by 2020, which would represent an average compound annual growth rate of more than 8%. But the rewards of IoT-driven smart grids extend beyond the enterprise; consumers (and the environment) could also benefit from increased adoption of this technology:
- Nearly $600 in annual bill savings for the average household
- Giving consumers better visibility into their energy use could result in a 5% to 10% drop in consumption
- Total estimated energy savings in the billions each year: $42 billion after 1 year; $48 billion annually after 5 years; $65 billion per year after 15 years; and annual savings of $102 billion in 30 years
Experts Differ on the Impact of IoT Security Concerns
- Gartner projects that worldwide IoT security spending will hit $1.5 billion this year and top $3 billion by 2021.
- Gartner also expects IoT security concerns to inhibit growth, predicting that “a lack of prioritization and implementation of security best practices and tools in IoT initiative planning … will hamper the potential spend on IoT security by 80%.”
- Gil Press, a Forbes contributor, told Data2Go Wireless that standards and security are the biggest obstacles facing the IoT, but tempered that a bit by saying, “The lack of standards and security risks will continue to slow down the adoption of the IoT for years to come. But the sudden emergence of a ‘killer app,’ possibly in the enterprise rather than in the consumer market, could accelerate IoT adoption regardless of any security and interoperability concerns.”
- In its State of the Market, Verizon notes that more than 50% of executive concerns around IoT are related to an “absence of industry-wide IoT standards, coupled with security, interoperability, and cost considerations.”
- However, Verizon expects that, over time, organizations can be more confident about their IoT deployments, stating, “IoT security is always going to be a work in progress, yet it’s important to note that, more so than ever before, security is becoming more and more ‘baked in’ to the IoT value chain on the platform, network, and device level. It is a trend that will surely continue given the reality of increasingly sophisticated breach attempts and the ever escalating financial risks they present.”
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