Inmarsat: IoT to overtake cloud computing as primary Industry 4.0 technology

Research from Inmarsat has found that investment in the IoT is set to overtake cloud computing and other digital transformation technologies.

The IoT can hardly be considered an “emerging technology” anymore. Between 2017 and 2020, IoT investments account for an average of 7 percent of an organisation’s IT budget. Over the next three years, businesses expect to increase their IoT budgets to 10 percent.

Here’s how that compares to planned investment in other Industry 4.0 technologies:

• Cloud computing (9%)
• Next generation security (7.5%)
• Big data analytics (7.3%)
• Robotics (5.3%)
• Machine learning (4.8%)
• Virtual reality (4.3%)

Mike Carter, President of Inmarsat Enterprise, said:

“Our latest research reveals IoT is now the primary Industry 4.0 technology in which companies are investing over the next three years.

The emergence of IoT as an investment priority for businesses, and the increasing level of cost-savings they expect IoT to deliver in the years ahead, demonstrates how well-established a technology IoT has become across multiple industries.

However, there are still noticeable differences between sectors and several significant areas for all organisations on which to improve to draw optimum benefits from the technology, namely: securing reliable connectivity, improving data management and addressing their IoT skills gaps and security concerns.“

Regarding the aforementioned differences between sectors in planned IoT investments, oil and gas firms intend to invest the most in the technology over the next three years (an average of $3.2 million). This is followed by electrical utilities companies ($3.1 million), transport and logistics businesses (£3 million), mining operators ($2.7 million), and agricultural businesses ($2 million).

Covid-19 highlighted the need for enterprises to implement Industry 4.0 technologies like the IoT and cloud computing to ensure not just day-to-day operational efficiency improvements but also to support business continuity in rapidly-changing situations.

“Despite already seeing rapidly increasing levels of IoT adoption, Covid-19 has emphasised the importance of Industry 4.0 technologies like IoT for business continuity,” added Carter.

“With the world’s production and supply chains becoming increasingly interconnected and digitalised, those companies producing digital twins of their supply chains and sharing data, are the ones reaping the benefits.”

The full report can be downloaded here (registration required)

(Photo by Glen Rushton on Unsplash)

Want to find out about digital twins from executives and thought leaders in this space? Find out more about the Digital Twin World event, taking place on 9 November 2021, which will explore augmenting business outcomes in more depth and the industries that will benefit.

Tags: cloud computing, digital transformation, Enterprise, IIoT, industrial iot, Industry 4.0, inmarsat, IoT, report, research, study