IoT Connectivity Issues Impact 90% of Businesses, Report Finds

IoT connectivity issues are causing significant financial losses and operational delays, a report from rSIM has found.

According to the report’s findings, almost half of businesses (43%) said connectivity problems have caused “life-affecting changes” to either staff or customers, while a quarter said they have been hacked due to connectivity issues.

Of the U.K. businesses surveyed, 90% reported losing sales or customers due to connectivity issues. IoT data security and connectivity have emerged as crucial concerns for enterprises in recent years.

“The rapid growth of cellular-based IoT devices is set to explode as 5G networks roll out worldwide, with 7 billion expected to be online by 2033,” the report said. “However, this is increasing pressure on network providers and businesses are struggling to cope with the current lack of resilience, with two-thirds stating it has become more business-critical in recent years.”

Connectivity was identified as the number one issue currently faced by businesses in every region.

The report comes as rSIM launches a product it says will “radically improve” network connectivity for IoT devices. The company’s new SIM consistently checks its network connectivity, automatically switching providers when a disruption is detected, to ensure constant connectivity.

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“The results of the survey did not come as a surprise,” said Richard Cunliffe, rSIM’s director. “The incredible growth of IoT devices that we have experienced is putting huge demands on network resilience, and future expansion will be simply impossible with the current levels of reliability provided,

“The more connected the world becomes, the less we can live with the outages we see day to day, and the more critical connectivity becomes to daily life … we have taken it upon ourselves to find a solution.”

Deutsche Telekom IoT and Tele2 have been announced as rSIM’s first connectivity partners.