While the Internet of Things (IoT) continues to evolve and expand, moving from the planning stage to execution, the momentum is quantifiable. According to a new global IoT decision maker survey from International Data Corporation (IDC), 73% of respondents have already deployed IoT solutions or plan to deploy in the next 12 months.

IDC's research shows that the enterprise opportunity is where the IoT potential resides both in terms of spending and the number of endpoints connected. "IoT momentum continues to grow and our survey shows that it is seen as strategic to the enterprise," said Vernon Turner, Senior Vice President and Research Fellow - Internet of Things.

IoT awareness is gaining traction in the retail and manufacturing industries with 56% and 53% of respondents (respectively) showing high awareness of the IoT. In addition, a full 58% of respondents consider the IoT a strategic initiative, with a further 24% viewing it as transformative. The healthcare industry leads the field with 72% of respondents identifying IoT as strategic, followed by transportation and manufacturing at 67% and 66%, respectively. Government lags behind in overall awareness and often needs clarification around the IoT basics.

"IDC's 2015 survey shows the regional differences in terms of awareness, adoption, and plans for implementation," added Carrie MacGillivray, Vice President, IoT & Mobile. "With nearly 2,500 survey respondents from 15 countries, including the United States, Brazil, China, India, and Germany, we are able to provide quantifiable evidence that the Internet of Things is a not just a concept, but a real global accelerator of the 3rd Platform."

Additional findings from IDC's IoT decision maker survey include:

• Similar to last year's survey findings, security remains a leading challenge, but now upfront and ongoing costs have become the top challenges.
• While considered leaders in the IoT, hardware vendors lost ground in 2015 as software vendors are overtaking equipment vendors.
• IoT processing at the edge of the network (compared to processing back at the enterprise) is a clear requirement and will challenge many IoT architecture designs.
• The retail industry remains an underdog, but shouldn't go unnoticed now, or over the next 24 months.

IDC's 2015 Global IoT Decision Maker Survey was conducted in July and August 2015 and included 2,350 respondents. The data was weighted by GDP and included enterprises with 500+ employees (with no more than 30% of respondents representing 500-999 employees). At least 50% of respondents had at least heard the term IoT. Respondents were required to be involved in IT and/or business decisions at their company (50/50 split of these respondents), and were director level or above