Research highlights the untapped potential of IoT data

The survey, conducted by Dimensional Research, queried more than 200 technology and business professionals responsible for IoT projects. The goal of the survey was to understand experiences and impacts of using the data captured by the devices that make up the Internet of Things and focused on the untapped potential of IoT data.

"The intersection of IoT and Big Data is creating tremendous business opportunity, but the reality of today's projects is that this potential has yet to be fully tapped," said Diane Hagglund, principal at Dimensional Research. "The research goal was to understand the experience and impact, from the IoT stakeholder point of view, of using the data generated by the devices that make up the Internet of Things."

Respondents were split nearly down the middle in classifying their IoT project. While 53 percent described the goal as optimizing existing business -- increasing employee productivity, improving customer experience or reducing operation costs, for example -- just under half characterized their IoT project as a strategic business investment.

Most challenges cited in IoT projects revolved around the data. While the majority of projects involve data collection (83 percent), few of the respondents (8 percent) are actively capturing and analyzing that data in a timely manner. More than half (58 percent) say they are doing some analytics, but know they can do better. Of those surveyed, 86 percent report that faster and more flexible analytics would help to increase the ROI of IoT investments.

Summary of Key Survey Findings:
IoT projects vary widely, but all have challenges.

• 53 percent are using IoT projects to optimize existing businesses and 47 percent as a strategic business investment
• Target audiences for IoT solutions include consumers (42 percent), business (54 percent) and internal use by employees (51 percent)
• 96 percent have faced challenges with their IoT projects

IoT is not delivering full potential because of data challenges.

• Only 8 percent are fully capturing and analyzing IoT data in a timely fashion
• 86 percent of stakeholders in business roles say data is important to their IoT project
• 94 percent face challenges collecting and analyzing IoT data

Better IoT data collection and analysis would deliver more value.

• 70 percent say they would make better, more meaningful decisions with improved data
• 86 percent report that faster and more flexible analytics would increase the ROI of their IoT investments

"The research points to ongoing challenges in IoT projects, but also the potential of better analytics to increase ROI," said ParStream CEO Peter Jensen. "While a massive amount of data is being produced by IoT devices and applications, improving the speed and flexibility of data capture and analytics would help to identify actionable outcomes more quickly and thereby invigorate IoT projects."