IoT Global Spending Hits $128 Billion, Analysts  Forecast 24% Growth in 2021

…IoT technology adoption in Nigeria rises

Latest Analytics update on the overall enterprise IoT (Internet of Things) market and spending on enterprise IoT solutions grew 12.1 per cent in 2020 to $128.9 billion.

Findings revealed that COVID-19 pandemic had vastly different impacts on different segments of the IoT market. According to the research carried out, spending on IoT hardware grew 5.4% in 2020, while spending on IoT cloud/infrastructure services grew 34.7% in the same timeframe.

Despite the continuing negative impact of the pandemic on IoT budgets, IoT Analytics expects 2021 IoT spending to increase 24.0%, with the overall market reaching $159.8 billion by the end of 2021.

The post-COVID-19 digitization push that many forecasted can already be felt, and it is the view of the IoT Analytics team that the increasing use of digital technologies will lead to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for IoT spending of 26.7% between 2022 and 2025. At the same time, the number of global IoT connections is expected to reach 31 billion, tenfold what it was a decade ago, as the Analytics reported last year.

Apparently, the number of companies across the different sectors of the Nigerian economy adopting emerging technologies like the Internet of Things  has grown in recent times.

However, the report noted that Asia-Pacific (APAC) saw the fastest growth (17.0%), followed by North America (14.9%) and Europe (9.7%). Beyond 2021, it is expected that IoT spending will grow at 26.7% annually.

Reacting to this, Executive Chairman of IoT Africa, Lare Ayoola, said this is due to increased awareness of the role Internet of Things can play in the success of any business.

Ayoola said the industries keen on the adoption of IoT include agriculture, logistics, power, manufacturing, financial services, health and safety industry, real estate and importantly the oil and gas industry.

Internet of things refers to interconnection via the Internet of computing devices embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data.

Last year, IoT Africa built the first phase of its IoT network. The technology is now in full deployment in states like Lagos, which is fully covered with Internet of Things networks, Ogun, Rivers, and the FCT.

“The good news is that the network has been very stable. We have tested it with numerous devices and we found out that the connectivity is excellent. We are about to move into the next phase where we will be covering the rest of the country and that will start within the next two to three months,” Ayoola said.

In recognition of its efforts in pushing the adoption of IoT in Nigeria, Tranter IT the parent company of IoT Africa received the ‘Outstanding Internet of Things Provider of the Year Award’ at the Titans of Tech awards ceremony, which was held recently in Lagos, Nigeria.

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The growing adoption has seen IoT Africa sign agreements with operators in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry and would be announcing the deals very soon. The downstream oil industry is plagued with losses, risks, and theft. So they have been very keen on IoT because it can save them close to 30-40 per cent of losses.

Beyond oil and gas, Ayoola said Internet of Things also holds prospects for financial services in terms of safety and security.

“For instance, most banks that have a smoke alarm system are not able to transmit information effectively when there is a fire outbreak. Even if they have an intrusion system, it would sound an alarm to security men that might be asleep before being transmitted to a central command centre so they could call for help.

“Also, many banks are not always aware that an ATM has gone bad, they are not always aware that the batteries that provide the uninterrupted power supply are at a dangerously low level,” he stated.

According to him, a critical aspect of using his company’s solution is the longevity of the battery, adding that most of the devices have battery life in excess of three years, many are five years, some eight and 10 years.

He said the company plan to complete phase two of its network in the next two or three months, which will ensure it scales the technology across Nigeria.