The apotheosis of connectivity
Over the last years, IoT has had a powerful development, boosting the so called fourth industrial revolution. In 2021, the IoT market in Europe recorded a revenue of over 4.8 billion euros and was expected to increase to 7.8 billion euros by 2026. Instead of hindering the development of the IoT market in Europe, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic accelerated IoT investments, especially in the healthcare and retail sectors, while also raising awareness of other emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) or edge computing.Companies in almost all industries are adopting and investing in IoT solutions in order to increase efficiency, productivity, and security across their business activities. However, a successful IoT deployment strategy must take into consideration market impediments as much as benefits. The more devices a company adds to its business environment, the higher the number of different solutions required to connect everything and ensure a smooth data flow between all connected devices. Therefore, it is not surprising that smart home and wearable device manufacturers and consumer IoT service and voice assistant providers perceived the cost of technology investment to be the most important barrier when entering or expanding the IoT market in Europe. With approximately 2.5 billion IoT connections in Europe in 2020, it can be said that the phenomenon is unquestionably finding its way into our lives and homes.