Jan-Feb 2020 - ChannelVision Magazine

T he IoT is chugging along, expanding deeper into verti- cal markets and changing the way that companies interact with their customers and environ- ments. According to Gartner, the IoT will continue growing in 2020, reaching 5.8 billion endpoints by the end of the year. The opportunity is especially strong in retail, with Grand View an- ticipating that the market will continue growing at a compound annual growth rate of 21.5 percent through 2025, when it will reach $94.55 billion. That’s not to say IoT is an easy sell in retail, though, as the market is complex and fragmented with an abundance of new technologies com- ing to market that are all promising to streamline business operations. This is creating confusion among retailers and making it increasingly difficult for companies to determine where they should be allocating their IT budgets. At the same time, there are ongoing concerns from store owners about se- curity and a general lack of interoper- ability, making some hesitant to deploy IoT solutions. Fortunately, channel partners have some wind in their sails as the IoT is a household name at this point. Most business leaders by now are well aware about the need to be investing in the IoT. According to a study from Retail Systems Research, 68 percent of retailers surveyed agreed that the IoT will drastically change the way com- panies do business in the next three years. At the same time, 50 percent of respondents said that their company has no idea how the IoT will impact their operations during the next three years – suggesting a need for edu- cation, awareness and an ability to demonstrate ROI when approaching IoT’s Retail Play By Gerald Baldino EMERGENT IoT's Impact on Retail Businesses, % Strongly Agree Source: Retail Systems Research Source: Vertiv The Edge EcoSystem 22% Data intensive (high bandwidth) Machine-to-machine communications (very low latency) Human latency sensitive (latency impacts human experience) Life critical (high criticality, low latency) DATA INTENSIVE MACHINE TO MACHINE LATENCY SENSITIVE • Restricted Connectivity • Smart Cities • Smart Factories • HD Content Distribution • High-Performance Computing • Virtual Reality • Oil a d Gas Digitiza i n • Smart Security • Smart Grid • Low-Latency Content Dist. • Arbitrage Market • Real-time Analytics • Defense Force Simulation The internet of things will drastically change the way companies do business in the next 3 years The internet of things will have a dramatic impact on consumer products in the next 3 years My company has no idea how the internet of things will impact our own operations in the next 3 years 2019 2018 68% 69% 52% 56% 50% 27% 8 CHANNEL VISION | January - February, 2020