Building IIoT Systems 2025

A survey by IIoT World

IIoT World would like to better understand your experiences in building IIoT systems. We would like to hear from project managers, architects, development managers and senior technologists who are working on or researching IIoT projects. This 6-minute survey explores the challenges, opportunities and technologies used to build IIoT systems.

The deadline for taking the survey is Thursday, October 30, 2025. We will publish the highlights from the survey in a future report on IIoT World.

If you'd like to receive a full copy of the report, let us know at the end of this survey what's the best way to contact you.

Section 1: About You (Context)

Question Title

* 1. What is your role?

Developer / Architect / Systems Engineer

Project / Product Manager

Technical Manager / Executive (Director, CTO, CIO, CDO)

Business Executive

System Integrator / Consultant

Data Scientist / AI Engineer

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 2. What industry are you in?

Smart Manufacturing

Renewable Energy / Utilities

Oil & Gas

Transportation / Logistics / Mobility

Smart Cities / Smart Buildings

Healthcare & Life Sciences

Other (please specify)

Section 2: Data Streaming (Foundation)

Question Title

* 3. How would you describe your organization’s current ability to stream industrial data in real time?

We have production systems with real-time data streaming

We are piloting real-time streaming in select use cases

We are in early proof-of-concept

We have limited deployments, but lack an overall streaming strategy

We are still researching our approach

Question Title

* 4. How would you describe your organization’s use of a Unified Namespace (UNS) (a central data backbone for contextualized operations)?

Advanced: We have a UNS in production as our core data backbone

In Progress: We are piloting or planning UNS adoption

Early Stage: We are evaluating UNS but have not yet piloted

Unfamiliar: We need to learn more / not aware of UNS

Not Using: We evaluated UNS but decided not to use it for this problem

Question Title

* 5. How would you describe your organization’s use of MQTT (lightweight industrial messaging standard)?

Advanced: MQTT is widely deployed in production and integrated across IT/OT systems

In Progress: We are piloting or planning deployment in select projects

Early Stage: We are exploring MQTT but have not yet piloted it

Unfamiliar: We need to learn more / not aware of MQTT

Not Using: We evaluated MQTT but decided not to use it for this problem

Question Title

* 6. What are the biggest challenges you face in establishing a reliable industrial data backbone? (select up to 3)

Legacy integration / data silos

Interoperability & contextualization

Infrastructure limits (network, storage, compute)

Cybersecurity / compliance concerns

Data governance / trust

Lack of leadership support

Skills gaps (e.g., MQTT, UNS, cloud, AI)

Budget / ROI uncertainty

Scaling pilots into production

Other (please specify)

Section 3: Data Intelligence (Context & Governance)

Question Title

* 7. Where are you today with your industrial data & AI strategy, and where do you see it in 3 years?

	Embedded in most core processes	Adopted in select high-value use cases	Used experimentally in pilots/POCs	Still in research with no concrete plans	Not expected to be used
Today	Today Embedded in most core processes	Today Adopted in select high-value use cases	Today Used experimentally in pilots/POCs	Today Still in research with no concrete plans	Today Not expected to be used
In 3 Years	In 3 Years Embedded in most core processes	In 3 Years Adopted in select high-value use cases	In 3 Years Used experimentally in pilots/POCs	In 3 Years Still in research with no concrete plans	In 3 Years Not expected to be used

Question Title

* 8. What are the greatest benefits you expect from real-time data and distributed intelligence? (select up to 2)

Improve OEE / productivity

Reduce costs / energy usage

Predictive maintenance / reduced downtime

Increase supply chain resiliency

Improve safety / compliance

Accelerate digital transformation / AI adoption

Improve customer experience

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 9. Which technology trends are you most interested in exploring? (select all that apply)

Edge computing / real-time data processing

Digital twins & simulation

Hybrid edge-to-cloud architectures

Cybersecurity for industrial data networks

Unified Namespace (UNS)

Data governance & contextualization tools

5G for industrial applications

Agentic AI / autonomous operations

Robotics & autonomy

AR/VR for industrial applications

Other (please specify)

Section 4: Agentic AI (Future)

Question Title

* 10. Are you using or planning Industrial AI in use cases such as…? (select all that apply)

Predictive maintenance

Quality assurance / defect detection

Process optimization / adaptive control

Generative design / engineering

Generative AI for knowledge / workflow automation

Digital twins with AI

Robotics & autonomy

Edge AI analytics

Inventory optimization

Not planning to use AI

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 11. What are the biggest challenges to adopting AI in industrial environments? (select up to 3)

Data quality & availability

Integration with legacy systems / data silos

Trust / explainability / transparency

Lack of AI/ML skills

Complexity of deploying AI at the edge

Data privacy & compliance

Scaling beyond pilots

Budget / ROI uncertainty

Ethical or workforce concerns

Not planning to use AI

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 12. How do you envision AI evolving in your organization over the next 3 years?

Embedded in most core processes

Adopted in select high-value use cases

Used experimentally in pilots / POCs

Still in research, no concrete plans

Not expected to be used

Section 5: Stay Connected

Question Title

* 13. Would you like a copy of the full report? Please share your email:

Thank you for participating in this survey. Once the results of the survey are released, we will send an email.