Peering into the future of IT: Business adoption plans for IoT, AI, VR, and beyond ZDNet

Among emerging technologies, IT professionals expect Internet of Things (IoT) devices and artificial intelligence (AI) technology to have the biggest impact in the workplace, according to a new report from online IT professionals community Spiceworks. The study, "Future of IT: Hype vs. Reality," examines organizations' adoption plans for technologies such as virtual reality (VR), 3D printing, IoT and AI. While survey respondents don't expect mass adoption to take off for VR and 3D printers, some industries have significantly higher adoption rates than the industry average, the report notes. Of the 566 IT professionals surveyed worldwide in October 2016, 80 percent said IoT devices will be useful to their business practices in three to five years, and nearly 60 percent said the same for AI. Over the next five years 60 percent of companies plan to adopt machine learning and 72 percent plan to deploy business analytics with AI.