The adoption of the Internet of Things has sustained growth globally and a significant boost is anticipated in the region, thanks to 5G and artificial intelligence. The Internet of Things is a technology that has been on the market for a long time as an “emerging” technology. However, now it is beginning to show concrete achievements, both in functionalities for users and benefits for the companies that promote it.
IoT (Internet of Things) is gaining ground globally and a strong push for the segment is expected in Latin America this year.
“IoT adoption has shown sustained growth, Respondents from Brazil and Latin America who indicated solutions in the production or proof of concept (PoC) phase represented 31% in 2019, 52% in 2021, and 58% in 2023,” noted Logicalis’ IoT Snapshot 2024, a study that incorporates data from Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico. He added that “In Brazil, 56 percent stated that their budgets for IoT will be equal to or higher than those of 2022, and in the remaining countries, these same responses reached 65%.
Meanwhile, IoT Analytics experts stated that “IoT remains one of the top three corporate technology priorities,”
“In recent surveys by PWC, KPMG, and BCG, IoT was ranked second or third after AI in terms of investment prioritization for emerging technologies, The latest research finds that the growth of artificial intelligence is a strong wind of queue for the IoT market, as companies are gaining interest in both AI and IoT within their organizations,” they stressed.
IoT market grows
Due to the investments that will be made, Fortune Business Insight expects the global IoT market to approach US$714 billion globally by 2024. Meanwhile, data from Statista projects that revenues in the market of consumer IoT in Latin America will reach $8.57 billion this year.
According to Logicalis specialists, the IoT debate can also benefit from “synergistic” technological issues that have recently received a lot of attention in the market. Among them are the previously mentioned artificial intelligence and 5G,
Investment in connectivity is one of the main challenges for IoT to grow in the region. According to the consulting firm IDC, the deployment of private mobile networks in 2024 is expected to exceed US$220 million in expenses related to wireless infrastructure, and professional and managed services.
Other investments drive expansion
If both network infrastructure and the adoption of AI are strengthened, the IoT segment in the region has many opportunities to grow. So much so, that for the consulting firm Informe de Expertos, the IoT market in Latin America can expand at a compound annual rate of 11.2% between the years 2024 and 2032.
We do not have a crystal ball and it would be naive to try to offer opinions by analyzing only past trends (even because the market forces that act on these new technologies are very different), but this information can be very useful for debates and design of technological adoption strategies for the coming years”, they evaluated from Logicalis. They concluded in their IoT Snapshot 2024 report: “We see a scenario in which we have already seen many advances and which can benefit even more from new trends.”
However, experts emphasize that, to take advantage of the advantages of IoT, organizations must invest not only in technological issues, but must also take into account disciplines such as people management and change management, in addition to deepening business and technology knowledge among company teams.