The COVID-19 pandemic has forced businesses to change their working practices in a matter of weeks, with a new report showing that Internet of Things (IoT) adoption is no different, as 67 per cent in the UK have increased the pace of IoT projects.

The research from Vodafone Business features responses from more than 100 businesses in the UK - 1,639 businesses globally - showing that adopters believe IoT was vital to keep them going through the crisis - 78 per cent said the technology was key to maintaining business continuity.

As a result, 69 per cent of IoT adopters now view the integration of connected devices with workers as a high priority, while 67 per cent of businesses considering IoT agreed the pandemic will accelerate their adoption plans. Almost all (87 per cent) of the UK respondents said they have achieved a return on investment and 51 per cent of adopters have seen operating costs decrease by an average of 19 per cent.

From improving operational efficiency to creating new connected products and services, key benefits of IoT deployments included boosted employee productivity (44 per cent) and improved customer experience (38 per cent).

IoT data is also becoming essential to support businesses’ decision-making (38 per cent) and the majority of adopters (76 per cent) think they can do things they couldn’t do before thanks to IoT.

While cyber security was one of the main barriers to business’ willingness to adopt IoT in previous years, this year's IoT Spotlight survey saw those concerns significantly reducing, with only 19 per cent of businesses seeing it as one of the top-three barriers to IoT adoption.

Erik Brenneis, IoT director at Vodafone Business, said: “IoT has grown up - it’s no longer just about increasing return on investment or providing cost savings to businesses.

"It’s changing the way they think and operate - and it’s giving them an opportunity to re-design their operations and future-proof their business model."

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