Privacy and Security Concerns Greatest Barriers to Mass IoT Adoption

Boston, MA – December 01, 2015 – The IoT segment is a broad, diverse ecosystem. A new report from the Media and Services UX (MSX) group at Strategy Analytics (www.strategyanalytics.com) has investigated consumer awareness and interest in, and drivers and barriers to adoption of, specific use case scenarios for the Internet of Things (IoT) consumer sector. While consumer awareness is currently low, interest is high particularly in solutions that help to solve existing real world problems and learn user behaviors and preferences. The idea of IoT making consumer life easier, more convenient and efficient is most appealing to consumers. Increasing education on existing IoT solutions in addition to future possibilities will drive both awareness and adoption.

Surveying consumers in the US and the UK, Strategy Analytics found that to adopt IoT solutions, consumers need to see long-term savings versus short-term spend; simple, easy-to-use interfaces; and systems which allow seamless interactions among all devices owned. In addition to making life easier and more efficient, nearly half of the consumers surveyed also felt that IoT could benefit their personal health and well-being. However, barriers to adoption included privacy and security; with around 80% of consumers surveyed holding strong concerns around who actually harvests their information and how and what it will be used for. Stability, accuracy, and reliability were also concerns, in addition to solutions not working seamlessly with other devices, and its cost outweighing any benefits.

Click here for the report: http://bit.ly/1jhyIm6

Christopher Dodge, Associate Director, MSX and report author, commented, “For IoT solutions to be widely adopted, consumers must trust these technologies explicitly; solutions must be compatible for control across all platforms; and full customization should be available to ensure that the user feels like they are in control of their experience and importantly, their own data.”

Kevin Nolan, VP , UXIP, added, “Ultimately, consumers need to feel confident in using IoT solutions, knowing that their data will be harvested for their own personal benefit, and left to feel as secure as possible that their data will not be compromised in any way.”