• Twitter
  • LinkedIn
(503) 212-0687 | hello@cascadeinsights.com
Cascade Insights
  • Market Research Services
    • B2B Customer Experience Research
      • Buyer Personas
      • Buyer’s Journey Research
      • Key Buying Criteria Research
      • Jobs-To-Be-Done Research
      • User Personas
      • Customer Satisfaction Research
    • B2B Product/Service Research
      • Market Opportunity Research
      • Concept Testing
      • Go-To-Market Research
    • B2B Marketing Enablement Research
      • Data-Driven Marketing Research
      • Message Testing
      • Brand Research
      • Thought Leadership Services
      • Partner Enablement
    • B2B Sales Enablement Research
      • Competitive Landscape Analysis
      • Win-Loss Research
      • Churn Analysis
      • Channel Research
  • Marketing Services
    • Marketing Strategy
    • Messaging
    • Content Marketing
    • Sales Enablement
  • Insights and Perspectives
    • B2B Market Research Blog
    • B2B Marketing Blog
    • B2B Resources
  • About Us
    • Our Story
    • Our Clients
    • Client Testimonials
    • Careers
    • Ethics Policy
    • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Search
  • Menu Menu

Quantifying the Internet of Things

December 17, 2014/in Blog Posts /by cascade
Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share by Mail

Should you believe the hype on the Internet of Things? Can it really be the (NBTE) Next Biggest Thing Ever?

Gartner thinks there will be 26 billion “Internet of Things” units by 2020. Not to be outdone, IDC predicts 212 billion “things”. This seems like a big difference between crystal balls, but what’s an order of magnitude discrepancy between competing analyst firms, right? The gold rush has gotten so bad that the esteemed HBR (and I really do like HBR) is slinging puff pieces to make sure they’re “saying something” on the topic. Scoffing aside, only the delusional would put IoT down as a fad.

Another interesting dynamic about the Internet of Things is who the players will be. Going back to Gartner, they predict, “50 percent of internet of things solutions will originate in startups that are less than three years old.”, and hiring does seem to be taking off like a rocket:

1st-chart-IOT-e1418773804358

But is Gartner right? When we look at the data we see pretty much the same thing. Looking at the LinkedIn universe (220 million profiles, and counting), we also see a strong skew towards smaller companies:

2nd-Chart-IOT-e1418773775458

Even with that skew towards small companies, all of whom are clamoring to be the next “Multi Billion Dollar Company That Didn’t Exist Five Years Ago”, the major enterprise IT vendors are making massive investments too. When you take a look at how many people they already have on staff related to IoT, and the job postings to grow the teams even more, the numbers are pretty shocking:

Admittedly, this data’s a bit fuzzy. Not everyone who’s working on something related to Internet of Things declares so online. In addition, some companies are putting “Internet of Things” in jobs postings that have nothing to do with the trend. But the numbers are solidly directional. Cisco has made no secret of their IoT investments. And Intel, having been nearly left on the sidelines of the Mobile revolution, is committed to do what it takes to have a front row seat for IoT.

As a sidebar, Microsoft is well positioned to capitalize on IoT with Azure as a strong backend services, but what about the software that runs on the IoT devices? I’m sure that Microsoft has lots of reasons for porting the .NET framework to other platforms, but ask yourself this: What chance would Microsoft have of getting IoT device developers to use the .NET framework if they didn’t let it run on other platforms? Android today, IoT tomorrow?

1.16.15-Most-In-Demand-Data-Scientist-Skills

When we talk to our network about impediments to the IoT, the one thing that comes up over and over is security. Will we have 100 billion or so compromised devices by 2020? “Sort of,” they say. Experts point out that Cisco has been doing a respectable job of making secure Internet connected devices since the dawn of Internet connected devices. And they believe the major enterprise IT vendors are probably going to do fine on the security front. But what about all those startups?

Unfortunately, we’re told, many of them just dream of selling enough devices to be worthy of the hacker attention. If 1 billion people using Android is any indication, lack of security isn’t going to slow adoption, but it will make an IoT future some “interesting times.”

Don’t miss out on any of our insights on the tech sector and competitive intelligence.

Subscribe to the Cascade Insights newsletter today!

Get in touch

"*" indicates required fields

Name
Cascade Insights will never share your information with third parties. View our privacy policy.
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
  • Bio
  • Latest Posts
cascade

cascade

cascade

Latest posts by cascade (see all)

  • Read Like An Analyst: Data Dilemmas, Startups & Standouts - October 20, 2015
  • 7 Trade Show Competitive Intelligence Tips: B2B Market Research podcast - May 11, 2015
  • We will be Hacked: Adjusting to the New Normal for Enterprise Security… - January 16, 2015
Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share by Mail

GET IN TOUCH

hello@cascadeinsights.com

(503) 898-0004

WHAT WE DO

Market Research Services
Marketing Services
Subscribeto RSS Feed

Blog Categories

  • B2B Buyer Persona Research
  • B2B Channel Market Research
  • B2B Churn Analysis
  • B2B Competitive Landscape Analysis
  • B2B Customer Experience Research
  • B2B Customer Journey Mapping
  • B2B Go-To-Market Research
  • B2B Market Opportunity Research
  • B2B Market Research Blog
  • B2B Market Segmentation Research
  • B2B Marketing Blog
    • Uncategorized
  • B2B Messaging
  • B2B New Product Launch Research
  • B2B Thought Leadership
  • B2B Usability Testing
  • Brand Research
  • Concept Testing
  • Content Marketing
  • Customer Satisfaction Research
  • Data-Driven Marketing Research
  • Jobs-To-Be-Done
  • Key Buying Criteria
  • Marketing Enablement
  • Marketing Strategy
  • Message Testing Research
  • Partner Enablement
  • Product/Service Research
  • Sales Enablement Marketing
  • Sales Enablement Research
  • User Personas
  • Videos
  • Win/Loss Analysis

Written by

cascade

RECENT POSTS

  1. CI Review – Slideshare.net
  2. Measuring Tape for a Business Model – A Company’s Value Migration Ratio
  3. The Other “Fiscal Cliff” – How to Stick It to the Competition
  4. Competitive Intel – #32 Transcript – Business Plan Development and Competitive Intelligence

Connect With Us

503.212.0687

hello@cascadeinsights.com

  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

B2B Market Research

  • Customer Experience Research
  • — Buyer Persona Research
  • — Buyer's Journey Research
  • — Key Buying Criteria Research
  • — Jobs-To-Be-Done Research
  • — User Personas
  • — Customer Satisfaction Research

  • B2B Product/Service Research
  • — Market Opportunity Research
  • — Concept Testing
  • — Go-To-Market Research

  • Marketing Enablement Research
  • — B2B Data-Driven Marketing Research
  • — Message Testing
  • — Brand Research
  • — Thought Leadership
  • — Partner Enablement

  • Sales Enablement Research
  • — Competitive Landscape Analysis
  • — Win Loss Analysis
  • — Churn Analysis
  • — Channel Research

B2B Marketing

  • — B2B Marketing Strategy
  • — B2B Messaging Services
  • — B2B Content Marketing
  • — B2B Sales Enablement

About Us

  • — Our Story
  • — Our Clients
  • — Client Testimonials
  • — Careers
  • — Ethics Policy
  • — Privacy Policy

Blogs

  • — B2B Market Research Blog
  • — B2B Marketing Blog
  • — Cascade Insights Blog
Cascade Insights is proud to be a member of the Inc. 5000.
Ahead of the Herd – IoT articles you need to read – December 2015 Editi...Competitive Intelligence Thought Leaders – Interview with Wayne Jones,...
Scroll to top