Gartner: IoT at least 5 years away from benefitting businesses

The Internet of Things (IoT) is between five and ten years away from becoming truly productive for businesses, according to the latest annual report on emerging technologies from the Gartner group.

The research and consultancy company believes IoT stood at the top of what it terms the 'hype cycle' for emerging technologies as of July 2014, placing it just behind technologies including wearable user interfaces and consumer 3D printing, which are closer to entering the next stage in Gartner's development cycle: the trough of disillusionment.

In its 20th annual 'hype cycle' report, Gartner noted that Big Data is on the brink of entering the trough, where pre-launch hype is replaced by real-world reality. Although further along the development path, Gartner said Big Data is also between five and ten years from becoming a productive element for digital businesses.

Autonomous Vehicle technologies are also at least half a decade from becoming productive and are approaching the peak of the hype cycle, Gartner said. Connected home technologies are at the 'innovation trigger' stage in the cycle--a step ahead of peak hype.

Jackie Fenn, vice president and Gartner fellow, explained that the company's report features "technologies that are the focus of attention because of particularly high levels of hype, or those that Gartner believes have the potential for significant impact.

"Enterprises should use this Hype Cycle to identify which technologies are emerging and use the concept of digital business transformation to identify which business trends may result."

The company places machine-to-machine (M2M) communication firmly in the trough of disillusionment and predicts the technology is between five and ten years from generating positive results for businesses. Cloud computing and NFC are also in the trough, but are tipped to become productive within two to five years.

Hung LeHong, another vice president and Gartner fellow, cautioned businesses not to focus only on the categories the company has developed for its annual report. "Many early adopters have embraced quite advanced technologies, such as autonomous vehicles or smart advisors, while they continue to improve nexus-related areas, such as mobile apps--so it's important to look at the bigger picture," he noted.

For more:
- see this Gartner press release

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