IoT Poised to Become a Multitrillion-dollar Market

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an astronomically enormous market, totaling almost $5 trillion and growing each and every year. The nature of its demand, however, makes it highly difficult to tap into. Channel firms have to stop thinking flat and tailor their marketing to vertical markets; particularly enticing customers like those in manufacturing and government. This news comes as a result of an International Data Corporation (IDC (News - Alert)) report that suggests vendors start trying to enter this “huge IT opportunity in a more realistic and valuable framework.”

“The Internet of Things market must be understood in terms of vertical markets because the value of IoT is based on individual use cases across all markets,” said Scott Tiazkun, senior research analyst at IDC's global technology and industry research organization, in a statement. “Successful sales and marketing efforts by vendors will be based on understanding the most lucrative verticals that offer current growth and future potential and then creating solutions for specific use cases that address industry-specific business processes.”

The report says that the entire IoT market was worth a whopping $4.8 trillion as of 2012. This market is poised to grow 8.8 percent per year, eventually reaching $7.3 trillion in 2017. The biggest growth, according to the report, will be seen in consumer goods, discrete manufacturing and government, at least for the short run. IDC predicts that IoT will be a great selling point for consumer products, allowing firms to further connect with their customers in ways that were not possible a few years ago.

As a final word, Tiazkun said, “The IoT market will greatly impact and offer the potential for vertical-aligned businesses to improve both performance and profitability. The IoT solutions space will expand exponentially and will offer every business endless IoT-focused solutions. The initial strategy of businesses should be to avoid choosing IoT-based solutions that will solve only immediate concerns and lack staying power.”