, Nov 30, 2016
The Internet of Things (IoT) has been the subject of many conversations among executives and consumers for a while now. To understand adoption maturity and potential growth over the next years in Brazil, PromonLogicalis, provider of information and communication technologies services and solutions for Latin America, carried out a study with 160 companies’ executives in different sectors – the IoT Snapshot. The results are a clear view of the Brazilian market’s reality towards the trend.
According to the study, the Internet of Things is being considered by many respondents as an industrial automation technology evolution and the most relevant and anticipated benefits are productivity (81%), operational efficiency (81%) and cost reduction (79%). Other improvements sought out by companies investing in IoT include decision-making support (75%), innovation (70%), competitive advantage (59%), and new revenue sources (36%).
Even with much discussion on the subject, there are few practical use cases - only 31% of interviewed companies have moderate to high technology adoption level, while 66% have only discussed about this type of initiative.
Although adoption is still low, the future is promising. While 32% of study participants see IoT as crucial to their business today, this scenario is likely to change in the next few years: 62% of respondents believe that IoT will be extremely important in three to five years.
Verticals
The study has also evaluated the main reasons that lead organizations of each segment surveyed to adopt IoT. The utilities sector, for example, aims to reduce costs (67%), increase productivity (50%) and operational efficiency (42%), while the public sector seeks operational efficiency (50%) and decision-making support (45%). In turn, the financial segment seeks innovation (44%), followed by competitive advantage (33%).
Challenges
As with other disruptive technologies, IoT projects impact processes that cross IT boundaries, leading to business areas transformations as well as contributing in some cases to deep changes in business models and customer service.
However, adoption still faces significant challenges, with distance from the topic and technological immaturity being the most critical points at the moment - mentioned by 64% and 63% of respondents, respectively.
"The IoT Snapshot study clarifies that, just like the rest of the world, the Brazilian market is closely following the Internet of Things technologies’ evolution and strongly believes in its transformational capacity in the coming years. Although it is still a maturing issue - both for user companies and technology providers - innovation and new models and business opportunities creation potential are undeniable”, says Yassuki Takano, PromonLogicalis’ consulting director and responsible for the study.
To see all survey results, go to http://bit.ly/2gpARN3