Over half of Australian small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) expect Internet of Things (IoT) to improve revenue, according to a global survey conducted by online security company AVG Technologies.
1770 interviews were carried out with IT and marketing decision-makers across the UK, US, Canada, Germany and Australia (45 Australian MSPs and 135 SMBs).
Three out of five (57 per cent) of all SMBs surveyed believe IoT, an evolvement of technology enabling objects to become internet enabled, would provide an improvement in revenue. Two-thirds of managed service providers (MSPs) shared that sentiment.
While the majority of SMBs see IoT as a beneficial movement of technology, only 18 per cent of SMBs believed their IT provider to be ‘ahead of the curve regarding IT management’. 70 per cent of MSPs admitted that their services had to adapt in order to meet customer requirements and expectations.
Michael McKinnon, Security Advisor at AVG Technologies Australia, says MSPs are starting to see IoT as an important factor affecting their bottom line and the SMBs they serve.
“The study clearly shows that as businesses grow to rely more and more on IoT and Cloud-based services to help generate revenue, most MSPs are still some way short of being ready to help customers manage this,” says McKinnon.
“The research strongly indicates that MSPs need to significantly up their game and demonstrate enhanced levels of protection and control over their customers’ ever changing data, security and device needs.”
29 per cent of Australian MSPs said they had reviewed their service due the rise of IoT; a low statistic when compared to 53 per cent globally.
