IoT investment levels vary significantly across sectors
As the IoT has a proven track record of improvement to revenues, between 9.9% and 28.5%, a range of sectors are starting to invest more heavily in IoT technologies. The biggest spenders, with an average of $128 million, are travel, transportation, and hospitality companies, closely followed by manufacturing companies with an average of $121 million. Companies are selective about where they invest however, with industrial players investing in product monitoring while travel, transportation, and hospitality invest in premise monitoring.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), one of the globe’s larger IT services firms, recently released a research report into the Internet of Things (IoT). The study, titled ‘Internet of Things: The Complete Re-imaginative Force’, brings the effects of the IoT in a wide range of sectors into view and is based on input from nearly 800 managers worldwide.
Generating revenue
According to the research, the technology has generated boosts to areas of a business in which the IoT initiative are implemented. When comparing the revenue increase in 2014 (over 2013) in areas in which the technology was introduced – whether product line, business unit and/ or division or other organisational unit – the consulting firm finds that particularly industrial manufacturing booked strong gains. This sector enjoyed revenue growth of 28.5%, followed by financial services at 17.7% and media and entertainment at 17.4%. The lowest performers following the introduction of IoT are the utilities industry at 11.3% and the auto industry, with just under double digit growth of 9.9%.
Investing on tomorrow
Given the significant revenue boost from IoT introduction into the value chain of many sectors, investment in IoT technology is becoming a significant proportion of total company revenue. In terms of revenue invested, travel, transportation, and hospitality invests the most at $128 million on average or 0.6% of revenue, followed by industrial manufacturers whose investment on average tops $121 million or 0.57% of revenue. Media and communications and telecommunications follow, with 0.57% and 0.55% of revenues respectively. The lowest spenders are energy, at 0.22% and consumer packaged goods at 0.24% of revenue.
Differences in spending
The way in which the money allocated for IoT is being invested differs radically between businesses. Investment in supply chain monitoring IoT is particularly heavy for consumer packaged goods at 30.1% of their budget, followed by energy at 28.0% and automotive companies at 27.9%. In premises monitoring, travel-related companies have the largest portion of IoT spent, at 22.3%, followed by financial institutions at 21.7%, and retail 21.4%. The biggest spenders on product monitoring come from industrial manufacturers 40.4%, followed by media and entertainment companies next at 34.8%. Customer monitoring is the least invested category of IoT by companies surveyed, with the major stake holder insurance, investing 34.7% of their IoT budget in the area on average.