Internet of things adoption: a typology of projects

Purpose – The internet of things (IoT) is one of the pillars of IndustryQ1 4.0. Prior OM research has conceptualizedIoT,andanalyzedpotentialapplicationsandrisksandchallengesassociatedwithitsadoption. However,littleempiricalevidenceexistsonthemaintypesofIoTprojectsundertakenbyorganizationandon their impacts. The purpose of this paper is to close this gap by searching for a taxonomy of IoT projects that maybeassociatedtodifferentIoTreadinesslevels.Thedynamiccapability(DC)lensisusedasthetheoretical background for the analysis. Design/methodology/approach – A database of secondary IoT case studies is used to identify an IoT project taxonomy through two-step cluster analysis. The taxonomy obtained allows classifying projects into homogenousgroupsbytechnologicalnovelty,IoTcapabilitiesandfunctionalareasofapplication.ANOVAis thenusedtotestfortheassociationbetweenclustermembershipandalternativeoperationalimpacts.Finally, the analysis of selected case studies from the database allows throwing light on the nature of the projects typical of each cluster. Findings – Fiveclustersofprojectshavebeen identifiedand positionedalong varyingdegreesofcapabilities, noveltyandscope.ThetaxonomyisconsistentwithathreelayerIoTtechnologicalreadinessmodel.Inturn,the three IoT readiness levels correspond to three managerial capabilities: monitoring, control and optimization. Combining cluster results with detailed case analysis suggests that IoT technological readiness can be interpreted as a DC which enables knowledge creation that can support competitive advantage. Originality/value – This is a first attempt to describe projects firms undertake when adopting IoT. Building on cluster analysis, the study suggests that different IoT readiness levels are needed to reach different impacts.