Vodafone Report Shows Asia-pacific to be the Leading Region for IoT Return on Investment

SINGAPORE, Sept. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Vodafone announced today Asia-Pacific findings from its fourth annual Internet of Things (IoT) Barometer Report, the leading global survey of the IoT sector. This year’s survey results show the business impact IoT technology can achieve: 70% of IoT adopters in Asia-Pacific have seen significant return on their IoT investment, compared to 63% globally, and 61% of Asia-Pacific companies are using IoT to support large-scale business transformation.

For businesses in Asia-Pacific — Australia, China, India, South Korea and Japan — IoT remains a top business focus, as 84% of companies view IoT as critical for the future success of their organisation. As a result, companies are focusing on how they invest in IoT, rather than whether they should. In fact, 96% of survey respondents in the region have increased their IoT spend in the past 12 months with 52% planning to launch new connected solutions in the next 12 months. Additionally, 68% of companies have consistently given employees access to IoT data on their mobile devices, a factor in the 51% of adopters in Asia-Pacific who have seen increased staff productivity as a result of implementing IoT.

The Vodafone IoT Barometer also found that companies in Asia-Pacific are creating new ecosystems through IoT — almost a third of IoT adopters are using the technology to connect multiple organisations and/or industries.

Vodafone’s Head of IoT for Asia-Pacific, Justin Nelson stated, “This year’s report shows that we’ve moved from simply adopting Internet of Things technologies towards realising the true business value that IoT can bring to organisations. Whether it’s connected supply chains for manufacturers, remote monitoring and control of industrial machines, or a connected health proposition, businesses are seeing significant results from their IoT deployments, changing the way they do business, and even facilitating new partnerships to serve customers in new ways.”

On a global level, it is clear organisations treat IoT as an important component of their IT commitment:

  • IoT is now attracting a greater share of overall IT spending as it accounts for 24% of the average IT budget — equivalent to IT spending around cloud computing or data analytics.
  • 56% of organisations have integrated IoT data into their existing core business systems such as ERP, cloud hosting platforms, analytics tools, and mobile applications.

This year’s research also revealed that IoT is playing a major role in helping companies redefine their business in order to meet the rapidly changing demands of today’s customers. For example, IoT data is informing business strategy in new ways, as 64% of businesses consistently use big data and analytics platforms to support decision-making. Additionally, 48% of companies globally are using IoT to support large scale business transformations such as helping to change a manufacturing business into a service company.

The survey — conducted by Circle Research — has been expanded for the 2016 report to nearly 1,100 total interviews — a sample size increase of 70% over last year. The global findings in 2016 include organizations from Ireland, the United Arab Emirates, and the public sector for the first time.

The report is available to download here