Autodesk Study on IoT Trends Reveals Incipient IoT Explosion

Autodesk has announced the results of a new study, commissioned by the company and performed by Taxal Research, entitled “Study of IoT Trends & Situations; 2016.”

The study was conducted throughout 2016, with the stated objective of studying manufacturers’ situations, trends, enablers and inhibitors in the IoT industry, according to the release. The study consisted of in-depth, one-on-one phone interviews with representatives of more than 280 companies from a range of industrial markets and geographies. The study was designed to capture both statistically relevant information as well as qualitative and subjective feedback. More than 85 percent of those individuals interviewed were company executives and managers.

Judging by the reported results of the study, and despite the observations of some analysts and journalists (like myself) that the IoT is still in its developmental infancy, the respondents showed amazing urgency to increase the rate of growth. In fact, 56 percent of interviewed companies said they are currently active in IoT projects, with finished solutions either already in-market or planned for release over the course of the next 12 months. Moreover, 78 percent reported plans to release in the next 3 years, at least.

The respondents’ belief that IoT is critical to the business world seemed clear, with half reporting that the IoT is critical or very important to their company, and 35 percent said they believe that IoT technology is worthy of additional development investment beyond that of regular R&D activities.

In terms of benefits, half said that IoT is a differentiator for them, and almost 60 percent said that investment in the technology helps them better compete in their markets. Slightly more than 50 percent said they believe the industry will lead to new services for their customers, and 49 percent think it will improve the uptime of their products.

Although all of these results seem pretty “blue sky,” and they are, only 30 percent of those studied expressed confidence that they are “ready and enabled” for what’s coming.

I suppose it’s time to get ready, eh?