https://www.iotworldtoday.com/wp-content/themes/ioti_child/assets/images/logo/footer-logo.png
  • Home
  • News
    • Back
    • IoT World 2020 News
  • Strategy
  • Special Reports
  • Galleries
  • Business Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Industry Perspectives
    • Featured Vendors
  • Other Content
    • Back
    • IoT World 2020 News
    • Q&As
    • Case Studies
    • Features
    • How-to
    • Opinion
    • Video / Podcasts
  • More
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Strategic Partners
  • IOT World Events
    • Back
    • Internet of Things World: San Jose
    • IoT World 2020 News
Iot World Today
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • News
    • Back
    • IoT World 2020 News
  • Strategy
  • Special Reports
  • Galleries
  • Business Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Industry Perspectives
    • Featured Vendors
  • Other Content
    • Back
    • IoT World 2020 News
    • Q&As
    • Case Studies
    • Features
    • How-to
    • Opinion
    • Video / Podcasts
  • More
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Strategic Partners
  • IOT World Events
    • Back
    • Internet of Things World: San Jose
    • IoT World 2020 News
  • newsletter
  • IIoT
  • Cities
  • Energy
  • Homes/Buildings
  • Transportation/Logistics
  • Connected Health Care
  • Retail
  • AI
  • Architecture
  • Engineering/Development
  • Security
ioti.com

Retail


Getty Images

2020 Predictions: IoT Market to Expand, but Challenges Remain

It seems like every December, predictions come out proclaiming growth for the IoT market next year. That’s true for 2020, but there are caveats. 
  • Written by Brian Buntz
  • 11th December 2019

Toward the end of each year for the past decade, a handful of vocal pundits have projected that the following year would see a dramatic adoption of Internet of Things technology. That’s arguably not been the case. In broad terms, the growth of the IoT market is more incremental than a hockey stick curve. But, in many sectors, the IoT market has reached the point where the early majority has adopted the technology. That fact, combined with growing vendor maturity and hardware costs, is paving the way for future growth. 

“IoT is poised to have a breakout year in 2020,” surmised Rob Mesirow, leader of the PwC Connected Solutions/IoT practice. “We have seen a strong uptick in awareness and demand across all sectors. Combined with cost reductions in chips and sensors, new economics is making it easier for companies to invest and win.”

Mesirow expects the retail sector to be among the most aggressive in its IoT adoption. He also anticipates organizations focused on the supply chain, asset management and improved employee and customer experience to benefit from adopting the technology. “Data intelligence from IoT services will be the new normal as we move into the new connected decade,” he said.

[IoT World is North America’s largest IoT event where strategists, technologists and implementers connect, putting IoT, AI, 5G and edge into action across industry verticals. Book your ticket now.]

Mesirow is not alone in that sentiment. Analyst firm Kenneth Research expects the global IoT market to see strong growth next year and to expand at a CAGR of 17.56% by 2023. 

There are, of course, still prominent headwinds such as a skills shortage in many key IoT end-user segments. Terri Foudray, chief executive officer of the IoT-focused firm RUMBLE, foresees the skills shortage as a central barrier in 2020, as it has been in recent years. “Companies are trying to do things internally, using their ‘Smartest Guy’, and that isn’t delivering the results — and the ROI — they were expecting,” said Foudray over email. To support her argument, she points to the Vodafone IoT Barometer, which concluded that even sophisticated organizations with IoT projects tended to leverage third-party support. 

The vendor landscape serving IoT implementers has been, in many cases, confusing. There continue to be hundreds of IoT platforms. Complicating matters further are the hundreds of thousands of IoT vendors and the relative lack of organizations that can develop a God’s eye view of a given IoT project. “Unlike other technologies, it takes many partnerships to make a successful IoT deployment,” Foudray said. “There are thousands of vendors out there, and each has a specialty that they deliver to the IoT stack.”

Progress in securing IoT devices has also been uneven. “The industry is still trying to use IT solutions to solve the IoT security conundrum,” Foudray said. “When we introduce IoT devices to the far edge, this introduces many more attack surfaces, points of failure, non-TCP/IP communication systems, even physical compromises.”

A parallel technology to IoT, edge computing faces a similar situation. Interest in the distributed computing model is red hot, but edge computing projects must overcome challenges such as thermal constraints, minimal power budgets, and safety and security concerns as well as real-time networking requirements, as Ted Speers, head of product planning for FPGA business at Microchip Technology explained at the RISC-V Summit in San Jose. 

In the positive column, Foudray is optimistic about the potential of information technology professionals to collaborate with their operational technology counterparts. “IT and OT will get closer to syncing,” she concluded. “Although we’ve seen some progress with information technology and operations technology teams aligning, the execution still needs some work. IT/OT alignment is a critical step for advancement of the IoT, and companies will work to bring these two historically diverse groups closer in alignment.”

Tags: IIoT/Manufacturing Retail Security Features

Related


  • Image shows welding robotics and a digital manufacturing operation.
    IoT Supply Chain Vulnerability Poses Threat to IIoT Security
    The supply chain provides building blocks for IoT but also vulnerabilities. IT pros need to ward against malicious attacks that exploit supply chain security gaps.
  • IoT Security Needs Pen Testing Approach
    IoT pen testing is a no-brainer, say experts. But don’t test everything.
  • Supply Chain Analytics and IoT Loom Large in Wake of 2020 Disruption
    The COVID-19 crisis has made disruptive events par for the course. Supply chain analytics, digital twins and other tools have become key to understanding and predicting disruption.
  • IoT App Development Gets Agility Boost From Container Technologies
    IoT app development has clamored for greater agility, productivity and security. Container technologies can realize those benefits.

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your IoT World Today account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Content

  • Securing IoT at the Edge Is Key to Safe IoT Operations
  • Industrial Transformation Faces Rocky Road in 2020
  • Adoption of the Internet of Robotics Things Accelerates
  • Building a Foundation for AI in Cybersecurity

News

View all

Private LTE Market Projected to Grow to $13 Billion

12th January 2021

IoT World Announces 2021 IoT World Advisory Board

9th December 2020

White Papers

View all

The eSIM Cookbook – Towards the Next Generation of Connected Devices

22nd February 2021

eSIM Delivers Greater Freedom for OEMs – by Beecham Research and Truphone

22nd February 2021

Special Reports

View all

Cybersecurity Protection Increasingly Depends on Machine Learning

28th October 2020

Webinars

View all

Weber’s Journey: How a Top Grill Maker Serves Up Connected Cooking

25th February 2021

From Insights to Action: Best Practices for Implementing Connected Device Security

15th December 2020

Galleries

View all

Top IoT Trends to Watch in 2020

26th January 2020

Five of the Most Promising Digital Health Technologies

14th January 2020

Industry Perspectives

View all

IoT Spending Holds Firm — Tempered by Dose of ‘IoT Pragmatism’

1st December 2020

The Great IoT Connectivity Lockdown

11th May 2020

Events

View all

IoT at the Edge

17th March 2021

Embedded IoT World 2021

28th April 2021 - 29th April 2021

IoT World 2021

2nd November 2021 - 4th November 2021

Twitter

IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

IoT Remote Monitoring Helps Enterprises Traverse COVID-19 and Beyond dlvr.it/RtZ3K5 https://t.co/owJXYf1gkO

26th February 2021
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

Securing the Industrial Internet of Things dlvr.it/RtYfYk https://t.co/khUn79dvQD

26th February 2021
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

📢 Announcing #EIOTWORLD sponsor, @BluetoothSIG — the global standard for simple, secure wireless connections. ➕ Le… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

26th February 2021
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

How IoT Devices Can Enhance the Connected Customer Experience dlvr.it/RtPcvS

24th February 2021
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

🤝 Meet #EIOTWORLD speaker Ingo Feldner, Project Lead for Virtual #Hardware Platforms at @RobertBoschGmbH 📅 Join hi… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

24th February 2021
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

Developing IoT Applications with Rust: Using a Rust Development Environment dlvr.it/RtNqrk https://t.co/wOmnoz2UVT

24th February 2021
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

Chip-Enabled Edge AI Drives Next-Gen IoT dlvr.it/RtKcMQ https://t.co/dLjBzE6Qei

23rd February 2021
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

The eSIM Cookbook – Towards the Next Generation of Connected Devices dlvr.it/RtG5bB https://t.co/5kXa8Pnv4T

22nd February 2021

Newsletter

Sign up for IoT World Today newsletters: vertical industry coverage on Tuesdays and horizontal tech coverage on Thursdays.

Special Reports

Our Special Reports take an in-depth look at key topics within the IoT space. Download our latest reports.

Business Resources

Find the latest white papers and other resources from selected vendors.

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our audience? Access our media kit.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • IoT World Series
  • Channel Futures
  • RISC-V
  • Dark Reading
  • ITPro Today
  • Web Hosting Talk

WORKING WITH US

  • Contact
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Login/Register

FOLLOW IoT World Today ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookies Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2021 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X