We expected to see dramatic jumps in awareness of - and investment in - IoT initiatives among manufacturers around the world (we did), Brandt says. And we suspected that there would still be many manufacturers unsure of how to get started with the IoT - and at risk of falling behind (we saw that, too).

But the shocker is this: just two years after nearly half of manufacturers hadn’t even heard of the IoT, a majority are now making money off the IoT:

• 72 percent report increased productivity, and 69 percent report increased profitability, from application of the IoT to plants and processes

• 65 percent report increased profitability from sales of IoT-enabled products (e.g., embedded intelligence)

That's terrific news for those leveraging the IoT. But it ought to be terrifying to those companies still on the sidelines. They risk permanent competitive disadvantage if they don't start at least experimenting with the IoT now.

Which begs the question: Why aren't executives at these firms investing in the IoT?

For the second year in a row, they tell us that their biggest challenge is simply identifying opportunities to implement the IoT. In other words: “I don't know where to start.”

Read Full Article