87% of Asia Pacific Companies Believe the Internet of Things Is Important to the Future of Their Business, Says New Study

87% of Asia Pacific
Companies Believe the Internet of Things Is Important to the Future of Their
Business, Says New Study

Enterprises Across the
Region Are Embracing IoT as Important Emerging Technology

SINGAPORE – January 18, 2018 – The internet
of things (IoT) is heralded as a foundational technology for breakthroughs in
artificial intelligence, robotics and other potentially broadly applicable
advances. But for frontline decision makers – the executives charged with
implementing IoT in their company – it can sometimes feel impossible to
separate facts from hype. It can be even more daunting to discern the practical
steps required to get started with IoT in their business.

To better understand the current state of IoT, Forbes
Insights partnered with Hitachi Vantara to survey more than 500 senior
executives around the world, including 220 in Asia Pacific who are leading IoT
initiatives within their companies. A new report, “The Internet of Things: From Theory
to Reality – How Companies Are Leveraging IoT to Move Their Businesses Forward,”
sponsored by Hitachi Vantara, highlights the key findings from this research
and addresses the following issues: 

·  Is IoT still an aspiration or is it becoming
an operational reality?

·  How is IoT being used within companies?

·  What does IoT implementation look like at this
early stage?

·  Are there companies that are more advanced
with using these technologies?

·  What are some of the implementation lessons
learned?

·  What are the practical steps companies can
take as they begin their own IoT journey? 

“Across the Asia Pacific region, it is clear that
executives see the value in IoT initiatives,” said Bruce Rogers, chief insights
officer at Forbes Media. “With 70% stating that they see IoT as either
important or very important to their business, it is fast becoming a
competitive differentiator that will affect almost every industry.”

Key findings for Asia Pacific:

·  IoT impacts business: 70% of companies
in the region believe IoT is important or very important to their current business,
and 87% believe IoT will be important to the future of their business.

·  IoT is one of the most
important emerging technologies: Of all emerging technologies,
executives in Asia Pacific believe IoT, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and
Robotics will be the most important.

·  Companies in the
region are embracing IoT: 72% of respondents say their
company has significant or pilot IoT programs in operation, and 11% say that
IoT programs are already a major contributor to their business.

·  Implementing IoT-based
solutions can be challenging: When building out IoT
capabilities, companies say their greatest challenges are:

o Keeping IoT secure (31%)

o Cross-department cooperation (31%)

o Availability of skilled staff (31%)

o Inability to present a compelling return on
investment (30%)

o Integration of disparate data (28%) 

·  Best practices to
implementing IoT-based solutions: By examining companies with IoT
initiatives that are meeting or exceeding expectations, we’ve identified a few
practices they follow to ensure success:

o IoT efforts are typically championed by the
CTO (40%) and CIO (32%)

o 42% include external vendors on their IoT
planning team

o 82% use a third-party platform as the basis
for their IoT operations  

In Asia Pacific,
companies are already seeing the benefit of IoT: 76% are operating IoT
programs that generate revenue while 60% agree that IoT programs are generating
data that is very useful to their business. As a result, 88% expect to see
increases in their IoT budgets over the coming fiscal year.

“The findings of Forbes Insights’ survey clearly demonstrate the impact that
IoT is already having on businesses across the APAC region. We are encouraged
to see that a majority of businesses already view IoT as key to their future
success,” said Daniel Chong, senior vice president of Asia Pacific at Hitachi
Vantara (pictured below). “What business organizations around the world share
in common is the need to secure top-down support for their IoT initiatives at
the outset and find a trusted innovation partner that helps them achieve their
desired business outcomes.”

​

About this research

The data in this report is derived from a 2017 Forbes
Insights survey of 502 executives who identified themselves as responsible for,
or familiar with, the IoT activities of their companies. Respondents were based
in Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific, and represented a range of
industries, with not one comprising more than 25% of the total. All respondents
were director level or above and came from companies with 500 employees or
more. Forbes Insights also conducted interviews with several senior executives
to add context to the findings.

About Forbes Insights

Forbes Insights is the
strategic research and thought leadership practice of Forbes Media, a global
media, branding and technology company whose combined platforms reach nearly 94
million business decision makers worldwide on a monthly basis. By leveraging
proprietary databases of senior-level executives in the Forbes community,
Forbes Insights conducts research on a wide range of topics to position brands
as thought leaders and drive stakeholder engagement. Research findings are
delivered through a variety of digital, print and live executions, and
amplified across Forbes’ social and media platforms.

About Hitachi Vantara

Hitachi Vantara, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi,
Ltd., helps data-driven leaders find and use the value in their data to
innovate intelligently and reach outcomes that matter for business and society.
We combine technology, intellectual property and industry knowledge to deliver
data-managing solutions that help enterprises improve their customers’
experiences, develop new revenue streams, and lower the costs of business. Only
Hitachi Vantara elevates your innovation advantage by combining deep information
technology (IT), operational technology (OT) and domain expertise. We work with
organizations everywhere to drive data to meaningful outcomes. Visit us
at www.HitachiVantara.com.