IoT Seen as Strategic Urgency for Organizations in Middle East

The Industrial Internet of Things market is forecast to grow tremendously worldwide by 2024, as companies are already leveraging the opportunities in industrial environments. Valued at more than $350 billion last year, the market it is expected to register a CAGR of 17.62% in the next five years. Transportation, for instance, will undergo major transformation in coming years due to extensive interest in connected autonomous cars.

Internet of Things technology is seen as a strategic urgency in the Middle East, leading to heavy investment in not only digitalization, but also cybersecurity. According to Honeywell research, 68% of UAE-based companies in key sectors such as industry, transportation and logistics and 66% of those in Saudi Arabia, consider IoT vital for their business operations, but they  struggle with sustainability.

C-level executives in the UAE complain that lack of funding (37%) and data protection (39%) are the major hurdles to fully adopting the Industrial Internet of Things in the region, while in Saudi Arabia executives struggle with a skills gap (46%) and a lack of digital culture (50%).

“Digitalization initiatives and Industrial Internet of Things technologies are revolutionizing the way companies across the Middle East operate, by connecting disparate systems across industrial operations to derive previously untapped information that can drive new growth,” said Norm Gilsdorf, president for Honeywell, High Growth Regions, Middle East, Russia and Customs Union.

“Our survey reflects a strong and growing appetite to embrace digitalization across UAE and Saudi Arabia,” he said. “Our customers are generating more data from increasingly connected operations, and are asking for technologies to aggregate this data and convert it into insights that drive profitability. Through the right combination of hardware, software, analytics and cybersecurity, these companies are poised to realize the gains Industry 4.0 has to offer.”