Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are set to be the biggest areas of growth in 2020. With the IT industry becoming increasingly vigilant before investing in a new technology, CompTIA’s (Computing Technology Industry Association) latest IT growth projection varies between 1.9% and 5.4%.

According to CompTIA, this is one of the narrowest forecast ranges over the years. It gives a clear picture of the IT buyers around the world taking extreme caution to deal with the current unpredictable environment. If you look at the end-user data, the newer technology adoption curve is rising at a very slow pace as the buyers are pulling out their investments with an eye on the market. Mostly the reality is struck only after 2–3 years post jumping quickly into a new technology.

Businesses are moving from siloed to exhaustive solutions that offer varied capabilities and solve inert business problems. This tip can be applied to IoT. Data obtained from the IoT devices is made into actionable insights with the combination of AI and automaton. The analysis of data gives monitoring capabilities and gives the businesses a clear idea about the return on investment and long-term improvements that can be projected.

According to CompTIA’s research, IoT vendors are witnessing positive growth, and most of them are posting major or minor changes in their revenue. With time, buyers will shift from IoT vendors to data services, and the customer base will move more toward a data-driven approach. IoT as a managed service is driving revenue currently, but over the next 2 years, the buying companies will invest in data analytics captured by IoT sensors.

For IT businesses to see the return of investment on IoT, they need to bring analytics and automation together. An expanded IT architecture will develop a strategy with networks, devices, and tools.