27 Oct 2015

FRAMINGHAM, Mass., October 27, 2015 – Interest in the Internet of Things (IoT) is peaking as businesses seek to seize the opportunity presented by a network of uniquely identifiable, autonomously communicating endpoints (or "things"). In a recent survey, International Data Corporation (IDC) found that a majority of organizations see the Internet of Things as strategic to their business while nearly a quarter see the IoT as transformational. To help organizations succeed with their emerging IoT plans, IDC has published a new MaturityScape report that offers senior leaders a framework to assess their IoT readiness and to prepare an IoT strategy that is in line with their business and digital transformation objectives.

"The Internet of Things is enabling businesses and IT to connect, transform, and innovate across all aspects of a company, thus becoming a key driver in the digital transformation discussion," said Vernon Turner, Senior Vice President and IDC Fellow for the Internet of Things. "Having a road map to navigate this journey is critical given that new IoT eco-systems and business rules will demand companies to create highly customized customer experiences."

"The Internet of Things is enabling organizations to reinvent how they engage with their customers, helping them to accelerate the speed at which they deliver their products and services, and effectively reinventing industry processes," said Carrie MacGillivray, Vice President, Internet of Things & Mobile at IDC. "However, achieving these results will require close collaboration between business and technology executives on goals and actions relative to IoT and the impact these will have on business initiatives and outcomes."

The IoT transformation will be a difficult, multi-staged journey, requiring most organizations to adapt their current organizational processes, culture, and skills to the requirements of the new digital ecosystem. To help organizations successfully make this transition, IDC's MaturityScape framework identifies the stages, critical measures, outcomes, and actions required to effectively develop an IoT strategy that not only contributes to an overall business strategy, but also opens up new and adjacent markets.

The five stages of IDC's Internet of Things MarketScape framework are: Ad Hoc, Opportunistic, Repeatable, Managed, and Optimized. The report provides a description of each stage's defining characteristics and business outcomes. IDC has also identified the critical capabilities and practices that are common within each stage of IoT maturity. When properly addressed, these dimensions – People, Process, Technology, and Vision – enable an organization to understand and evaluate itself in order to move from one stage of maturity to the next.

The IDC study, IDC MaturityScape: Internet of Things (IDC #259374), describes IDC's Internet of Things MaturityScape framework, which identifies the stages, critical measures, business outcomes, and actions required for organizations to effectively develop IoT competency. The study also provides guidance for organizations of all sizes interested in advancing along the five maturity stages of the framework to maximize benefits derived from sensor-driven data creation to business outcomes based on critical analytics processing.

About IDC MaturityScape

IDC MaturityScape reports are used by IT executives and their enterprise partners to have a structured way to identify their current level of maturity, and the gap between where they are and where they want to be to maintain competitive balance or achieve industry superiority. Using IDC MaturityScapes is a way to reduce the friction of change, to make more precise investments, and to identify the details of governance, process, technology, organization, and other factors that can derail the best-laid technology initiative.