IoT Predictions, Trends, and Market

BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, expects there will be more than 24 billion IoT devices on Earth by 2020. That's approximately four devices for every human being on the planet.

And as we approach that point, $6 billion will flow into IoT solutions, including application development, device hardware, system integration, data storage, security, and connectivity. But that will be money well spent, as those investments will generate $13 trillion by 2025.

Who will reap these benefits? There are three major entities that will use IoT ecosystems: consumers, governments, and businesses.

IoT Industries

Several environments within the three groups of consumers, governments, and ecosystems will benefit from the IoT. These include:

Manufacturing	Transportation	Defense	Agriculture
Infrastructure	Retail	Logistics	Banks
Oil, gas, and mining	Insurance	Connected Home	Food Services
Utilities	Hospitality	Healthcare	Smart Buildings

IoT Platforms

One IoT device connects to another to transmit information using Internet transfer protocols. IoT platforms serve as the bridge between the devices' sensors and the data networks.  The following are some of the top IoT platforms on the market today: Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, ThingWorx IoT Platform, IBM's Watson, Cisco IoT Cloud Connect, Salesforce IoT Cloud, Oracle Integrated Cloud and GE Predix.

IoT Security & Privacy

As devices become more connected thanks to the IoT, security and privacy have become the primary concern among consumers and businesses. In fact, the protection of sensitive data ranked as the top concern (at 36% of those polled) among enterprises, according to the 2016 Vormetric Data Threat Report.

Cyber attacks are also a growing threat as more connected devices pop up around the globe. Hackers could penetrate connected cars, critical infrastructure, and even people's homes. As a result, several tech companies are focusing on cyber security in order to secure the privacy and safety of all this data.