Over a quarter of businesses are not equipped to deal with the convergence of new technologies, according to a study revealed today.

The study, which was conducted in August and September by industry consortium The Open Group, named mobility, social networks, big data, cloud computing and the Internet of things as trends where adoption did not live up to hype.

Whilst 95% of respondents said they believe the convergence of these technologies represents an opportunity for business, a significant proportion were deemed ill-equipped to take advantage of them.

According to the findings, mobility currently has greatest take-up (50%), and the Internet of things has the least (17%).

Security (57%), vendor lock-in (51%), integration (45%), and regulatory compliance (42%) were attributed as the main problems encountered or foreseen with software that enables use of these convergent technologies for business purposes.

 “Over the past few years, industry analysts and practitioners have noted the convergence of four to six technologies which offer the potential to create new business models and system designs,” said Dr. Chris Harding, Forum Director, Open Platform 3.0, a forum of The Open Group.

“However, they also pose architectural issues and structural considerations which will need to be overcome in order for businesses to benefit. Today’s findings confirm the value of an open platform to protect users of these technologies from vendor lock-in.”