IoT, Automation and 5G top planned investments by Indian enterprises: IBM study

Internet of Things (IoT), Automation and 5G are the top investment priorities of Indian companies for the next three years, according to a study by IBM.    

While 60% of Chief Information Officers cited IoT as the top investment, 59% and 49% said Automation and 5G were the key investment areas, followed by artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and blockchain.   

The CXOs expect these technologies are expected to have a significant impact on customer experience, process automation and sustainability initiatives. The IBM CIO study took in inputs from over 5,000 c-suite executives globally.

While another study in December last year by Microsoft also showed that 68% of managers would bet on IoT for better efficiencies, 31% of IT security practitioners had actually slowed down their IoT adoption owing to security concerns. 

More than half of the respondents in the Microsoft study also opined that IoT solutions and devices were not developed keeping security in mind.  

However, automation could prove to be a double edged sword. According to an Activecampaign 2022 customer experience study, businesses that utilised customer experience automation are expected to increase their revenue by 100% next year.  

On the flipside, another study pointed out that a majority of workers in Las Vegas could lose their jobs to automation in the near future.  

Back to the CIO report, IBM found that companies with a stronger CTO-CIO collaboration reporting 9% higher revenues and 32% better operating margins over enterprises where their technology leaders were not totally collaborative.    

“Adopting an open hybrid cloud approach and AI-fueled automation will help technology leaders drive their enterprise agility, innovation and growth imperatives,” said Viswanath Ramaswamy, Vice President at IBM Technology.