Over the last eight years Mobile World Congress has usually been all about the new smartphones and other gadgets coming to the market. In 2017, the Internet of Things took center stage. Here’s what we’ve learnt.
With a multitude of vendors (including IBM, Vodafone, Telefonica, Intel, Ericsson, AT&T and other players) showcasing their IoT platforms and solutions, and with numerous projects and IoT cooperation agreements being announced during MWC, one might think that every company is now jumping (or is about to jump) on the IoT bandwagon.
The paradox here is that even though investing in IoT development promises a tremendous value to all kinds of industries and businesses, cutting-edge technologies are not easy to sell. A recent study by the Economist Intelligence Unit (The Internet of Things Business Index 2017: Transformation in Motion[1]) reveals that while business leaders are seeing positive impacts from the Internet of Things, barriers to adoption remain. Mobile World Congress highlights: here’s why IoT is not mainstream yet When a similar report was published in 2013, the main challenges to IoT adoption were mostly related to “people issues” with employees and senior managers lacking IoT skills and knowledge, as well as commitment to the implementation of IoT technologies. Today, 29% of executives are more concerned with the high cost of required investments in the IoT infrastructure. In the second place are concerns about data security and privacy, cited by 26% of respondents. The Mobile World Congress this year confirmed the results of the above-mentioned study and showed that despite the hype surrounding IoT, vendors are not finding it easy to convince businesses to make the first step towards adopting the technology. According to Alexander Harrowell, Senior Analyst, SME ICT Services at Ovum, the situation can become even more pressing in the light of new projects such as Nokia’s worldwide IoT network grid and Tata’s global MVNO enablement product, as these “threaten to tear the customer away from the service providers – either directly, as with Nokia, or by supporting new entrants, as with Tata, at the same time as they drive down prices further.”
IoT future still looks bright
The Ericsson-Scania partnership was one of Mobile World Congress IoT highlights. Back in February Ericsson launched their Connected Vehicle Marketplace (CVM), a one-of-a-kind solution that enables OEMs to integrate third-party devices into a scalable and secure digital marketplace. CVM (which is powered by Ericsson’s IoT Accelerator) allows companies to create new telematics services for the automotive industry. Scania has already leveraged its functionality to build Scania One – an open source customer platform that helps fleet owners, their employees and customers reduce fuel consumption, optimize route planning, monitor driver behavior and increase productivity. 50 thousand Scania customers have already adopted the new solution and improved fuel efficiency up to 10%. It’s worth mentioning that both companies have been doing joint research to accelerate the connectivity of commercial vehicles and infrastructure for some time now. And as Henrik Henriksson, President and CEO of Scania, pointed out[2] at MWC: “Compared to many other industries, the transport industry is making rapid progress in digitalization. However, we cannot make this shift alone and this is a great example of the kind of partnership that moves both our industries forward. Now we are taking some serious steps translating the partnership into real business for us with bottom line impact for our customers.” With analysts predicting the size of the global connected vehicle fleet totaling 350+ million by 2025, Scania now has all the aces to become the frontrunner in this rapidly evolving market. So, what are the lessons learned? Scania started equipping all its trucks with sensor technology as early as in 2011, and back then the company didn’t even know what it was going to do with the collected data. But, as we can see, their bet on new technologies is certainly paying off. As such, to make your IoT adoption journey a success, you must first adapt your business model and organizational culture to harness the opportunities presented by the IoT. But on top of that, as the above example shows, you also need to have a reliable partner to help you achieve rapid IoT deployment and, in the end, deliver value to you and your customers. This and the introduction by vendors of new cooperation models to reduce the existing barriers to IoT adoption will certainly help all parties involved – customers and solution providers – to capitalize on the new IoT opportunities.
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