IoT adopters also lead blockchain adoption: Gartner

Around three-fourths of internet of things (IoT) technology adopters in the US have already adopted blockchain or are planning to do so by the end of 2020, according to a survey by technology research firm Gartner.

The integration of IoT and blockchain with the connected networks could help these enterprises to accelerate their digital transformation journeys, Gartner said in a statement, adding that the adoption is moving ahead at a much faster pace than it had earlier expected.

Among the blockchain adopters, 86% are implementing the two technologies together in various projects, Gartner noted.

“These results are significant and much stronger than anticipated. Although both blockchain and IoT technologies are still in the early stages of adoption, coupled with the fact that blockchain technology is still immature itself, enterprises have started combining them to drive favourable business outcomes,” said Avivah Litan, vice president at Gartner.  

While nearly two-thirds of the respondents said that increased security and trust as the primary or secondary driver for implementation, more than half of respondents cited the advantage of the increase in business efficiency and lowering of the costs.  

The Gartner IoT Implementation Trends surveyed more than 500 respondents in the US who were involved or responsible for IoT implementations

Litan said that enterprises focus their efforts on building more security, trust and transparency around the management or movement of physical things while implementing IoT. 

Gartner said that more than 80% of implementers will have to upgrade their combined IoT and blockchain solutions at least once or twice till 2024 to address technical challenges such as scalability, security and reliability.

However, the adoption also varied significantly across companies and industries with the ones that are relatively more mature in adopting IoT are also seen to be way ahead in their implementation of blockchain technology. The highest rate of blockchain adoption among IoT implementers is companies in pharmaceuticals, energy, natural resources, utilities and transportation, the survey found.

“These industries all have business models that include the movement of physical goods, so they benefit from links that bridge the physical to the digital world, especially those enabled by a combination of blockchain and IoT technologies,” said Litan. The lowest rate of adoption was reported in financial services, given that financial services deals primarily with virtual goods and services rather than physical things.