Cisco survey has revealed that three-quarters of IoT projects are failing

A report by Cisco has revealed that around three-quarters of all IoT projects are failing, with 60% stalling at the proof of concepts stage.

The IDC has predicted that the installed base of Internet of Things endpoints will grow exponentially from the 14.9 billion at the end of 2016 to more than 82 billion in eight years time. 

Surveying 1,845 IT and business decision-makers across the globe returned results that highlighted that, despite the forward momentum in the industry, a third of all completed projects were deemed a failure. 

As well as this, only 26% of companies feel that they have produced an IoT initiative that they deem to be a success.

This is due partly because developing an IoT looks good in planning but as the proof of concept stage comes around, it's found to be more difficult than predicted to make it successful. 

Underestimating the amount of time it would take to complete the project and having limited internal expertise on the subject matter were two of the main challenges across the stages of implementation.

Rowan Trollope, Senior Vice President and General Manager of IoT applications at Cisco, says that it's "not for the lack of trying."

"We want to make sure we can get projects out of the pilot phase and onto being a complete success, that's what we're aiming for."

The report found that despite IoT being perceived to be all about technology, the human factor matters. Three of the top four factors behind a successful IoT programme included having a top-down focus on technological culture and having a collaboration between the business side and the IT side of the company, with the latter being cited as the number one factor by 54% of participants. 

In addition, organisations with the most successful IoT initiatives leveraged ecosystem partnerships most widely, using partners at every phase from strategic planning to data analytics after rollout.

Data is shown to be a pivotal component of building a successful IoT, as 73% used data to improve and develop their systems further. The main benefits included improved satisfaction, operational efficiencies and an overall improvement in the product and service provided.

Ultimately, it is the companies who have bouncebackability who managed to produce successful IoT projects, with 64% agreeing that learning from previous failed attempts helped to accelerate their organisation's investment and dedication to the programme.