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April 20, 2017

Where the Money Is: What Verticals, Geographies Are Investing in the IoT


Global spending on the Internet of Things is expected to reach $1.29 trillion by 2020, according to new data from IDC. Manufacturing, transportation, and utilities are leading the way, according to International Data Corp.’s Worldwide Semiannual Internet of Things Spending Guide, which was released in January.

Insurance, consumer, healthcare, and retail are expected to see the fastest growth in IoT spending, according to IDC’s forecasts. Connected vehicles and smart buildings, which are applications that span different verticals, will also be leading areas of IoT spending over the next three years, IDC says.

“In the insurance industry, telematics will be the leading use case, while remote health monitoring will see the greatest investment in the healthcare industry,” IDC suggests. “Retail firms are already investing in a variety of use cases, including omni-channel operations and digital signage.”

The manufacturing vertical spent $178 billion on IoT last year. Meanwhile, transportation companies drove $78 billion in IoT investment in 2016. And utilities powered $69 billion in 2016 IoT spending. Consumer IoT spending came in fourth place last year, according to IDC, but it is poised to be in the No. 3 position by 2020. Meanwhile, a Beecham Research study looked at IoT adoption based on geography. China is the No. 1 adopter of IoT today, Beecham reports. The U.S. market comes in second, the research firm says, noting major activity on the industrial IoT and smart home fronts. Smart metering is helping drive the market in the Netherlands and the U.K., among other areas in Europe. And we’re seeing a fair amount of IoT action in Brazil and Russia too, according to Beecham.

“The study also points to strong growth in the Arab States and Sub-Saharan Africa, but for different reasons,” Beecham says. “While Israel and the Arab States are developing smart city, energy, and environmental IoT applications, the focus in Africa is on remote payments as well as healthcare, water systems, and agriculture. The IoT vision is also starting to take shape in countries such as India, Indonesia, and Vietnam due to government initiatives across urban and rural areas.”




Edited by Ken Briodagh


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