This archived TechRepublic Premium report, originally published in March 2015, is available for free to registered TechRepublic members. For all the latest research reports, 100+ ready-made policies, IT job descriptions, and more, check out TechRepublic Premium.

From the report:

The Internet of Things, which is commonly referred to as IoT, describes internet-connected objects and processes
such as electronics, HVAC systems, applications, web services, wearable devices and even buildings, all of which
possess sensors or the capability to record and/or transmit data. This data can then be used for a plethora of
purposes, such as gathering statistics, measuring trends, alerting about problems and planning growth. This can
help companies with internal operations as well as marketplace endeavors.

Because of its universal potentiality, IoT is projected to undergo
a massive boom in the years ahead. Gartner states 4.9 billion
devices will be connected via the Internet of Things in 2015 alone,
with the bulk of these appearing within the consumer and vertical
business industries. Furthermore, “manufacturing, utilities and
transportation will be the top three verticals using IoT in 2015”
and “by 2020, the ranking will change with utilities in the No. 1
spot, manufacturing will be second and government will be third,
totaling 1.7 billion IoT units installed.” Gartner anticipates over 25 billion IoT devices will be in use by then.

IoT not only appeals across a broad base of industry sectors and fields, but it can deliver a wide range of
technological functions as well, with opportunities in the cloud, security, capacity, growth, environmental and
consumer-based device segments. Measurable gains from IoT are being found across many sectors of the
business. This means big change ahead – and some critical decisions to be made – for various roles within the
organization including managers, financial staff, network administrators, storage technicians, security experts and,
of course, data analysts.

IoT ties in nicely with big data, which as defined on TechRepublic by John Weathington of Excellent Management
Systems, is the “massive amount of rapidly moving and freely available data that potentially serves a valuable and
unique need in the marketplace, but is extremely expensive and difficult to mine by traditional means.” Through
its flexibility, IoT can fill in where mining difficulties exist. As IoT spreads across almost all industries it will trigger a
massive influx of big data and spawn new methods for harvesting, analyzing and using this information.

TechRepublic Premium conducted a survey with 318 respondents to examine how IoT is working alongside big data;
how it is being used to collect data, where it is coming into play, what benefits it can bring, and what it means for
the future of business operations. We looked at the internal and external benefits of IoT data collection and where
it has delivered on its promise – or perhaps come up short.