Gartner Inc. forecasts that 8.4 billion connected things will be in use worldwide in 2017 — up 31 percent from 2016 — and will reach 20.4 billion by 2020. 

Total spending on endpoints and services will reach almost $2 trillion in 2017, according to a new report report from the research and advisory firm. 

Regionally, greater China, North America and Western Europe are driving the use of connected things; the three regions together will represent 67 percent of the Internet of Things installed base in 2017, according to the report.

Consumers will comprise the largest user group for connected things, with 5.2 billion units in 2017. This represents 63 percent of the all applications in use, Garner said.

Businesses are on pace to employ 3.1 billion connected things in 2017.

"Aside from automotive systems, the applications that will be most in use by consumers will be smart TVs and digital set-top boxes, while smart electric meters and commercial security cameras will be most in use by businesses," Peter Middleton, research director at Gartner, said in a statement about the report.