IoT is deep in the 'Trough of Disillusionment': Gartner

The Gartner 2020 Hype Cycle for Supply Chain Strategy has warned that the Internet of Things (IoT) has reached the bottom of the Trough of Disillusionment, which highlights technologies and markets where interest has waned as experiments and implementations fail to deliver. The market will begin to climb out of this trough as the technology advances and practitioners succeed in defining the best opportunities for the unique measurement and tracking capabilities of IoT.

“IoT is in the trough because we see that many companies are implementing the technology, but they struggle to define the best opportunities for using its measurement and tracking capabilities,” said Mike Burkett, Vice President Distinguished Analyst with the Gartner Supply Chain Practice.

Burkett notes that there is potential to grow IoT’s use over the next several years, with Gartner estimating that installed IoT endpoints for manufacturing and natural resources industries will grow to 1.9 billion units in 2028 — five times the 331.5 million units in 2018. According to Gartner’s 2019 Digital Business Impact on the Supply Chain survey, 59% of respondents had partially or fully deployed IoT across the entire organisation, with 22% piloting and 15% not investing yet but planning to do so in the next two years. Gartner has categorised IoT as a transformational technology because it could broadly impact many areas of the supply chain.

“While the most obvious use cases are in manufacturing, IoT can also help improve customer service because it enables leaders to better understand customer needs. More mature organisations will also be able to create information-based products, such as providing visibility and analytics for better asset usage,” said Burkett.

For supply chain leaders looking to implement or expand IoT capabilities, it is important to work with subject matter experts to identify which supply chain processes could benefit from IoT.

“In some cases, processes will have to be redesigned to accommodate IoT capabilities. If the subject matter expert is an external provider, supply chain leaders should always check how they might use — and possibly monetise — captured data,” said Burkett.

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