Demand for data set to drive up IoT spending

Services set to become biggest IoT revenue driver by 2021 - IDC

Global spending on Internet of Things (IoT) devices is set to top $800bn in 2017 as businesses realise the benefits of IoT data capture, according to IDC.

IDC predicts spending in 2017 will be up 16 per cent year on year, while the figure could reach nearly $1.4tn by 2021.

Carrie MacGillivray, vice president of IoT at IDC, said businesses are now starting to appreciate the data that IoT devices can provide them with.

"The discussion about IoT has shifted away from the number of devices connected," MacGillivray said.

"The true value of IoT is being realised when the software and services come together to enable the capture, interpretation, and action on data produced by IoT endpoints."

IDC predicts that the manufacturing industry will dominate the lion's share of IoT business in 2017, shelling out around $183m of the $800m predicted total. The transportation and utilities industries follow with $85m and $66m respectively.

Consumer purchases will be the fourth biggest contributor at $62bn, but will rise to third by 2021.

Hardware will be the biggest spending category for the majority of the forecasted period but will be overtaken by services during 2021, when services across IT, installation and content will overtake both hardware and software, the market watcher said.