In 2015, the Center on Global Brand Leadership partnered with SAP to conducted research to uncover what strategic thinking was behind corporate interest in the Internet of Things (IoT).
The research surveyed 345 international executives working on or leading IoT initiatives within their company accompanied by qualitative interviews with executives helping lead IoT initiatives from a wide range of companies.
The aim in conducting the research was to uncover how companies were investing in IoT initiatives, what strategies they employed to manage the IoT technology stack, what opportunities they hoped to achieve with such efforts, and what barriers and challenges worried them as they moved forward with their IoT planning.
We found that for most companies, their top financial goal was to drive cost savings. So the sellers of IoT solutions will gain revenue, but the deeper value to the global economy is likely to come from how companies buying IoT products and services can gain greater efficiencies in operations, personnel, and spending.