This information is presented to allow clients to determine if the publication’s content is relevant, Halberd Bastion advocates reading the 36-page report in its entirety. Vodafone’s Report Can Be Downloaded Here.
The world’s largest non-state owned telecommunications company, Vodafone Group (www.vodafone.com) publishes an annual survey that provides insight on how Machine to Machine (M2M) / Internet of Things (IoT) is powering transformation in businesses around the world. The survey was conducted by independent market research firm, Circle Research and supported by Analysys Mason, a prominent M2M analyst company who reviewed the detailed interviews of over 650 business and IT executives.
The main findings were:
- More businesses have heard about M2M compared to 2014 (from 61% to 76%) and even more had heard of IoT (from 53% to 78%) and those that had heard about M2M/IoT found it was relevant to their business and had increased the number of projects utilising the technology.
- When organisations initiated M2M programs it evolved and expanded, the year-on-year growth of adoption was 23%. Information gathered was used in business transformation decision making.
- Return On Investment (ROI) for M2M was realised within the first year.
- Businesses do not view M2M to be an IT department’s responsibility and adoption programs are often funded from other department budgets due to the improvements that are felt throughout all business processes.
This information was taken from over 650 interviews spanning 16 countries: United States, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom, Turkey, Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, China, South Africa, Canada and New Zealand. SME’s ranging from 100 to >100 000 employees from a mix national and multinational companies responded.
Adoption of M2M among 7 industries was measured separately and the rates are as follows:
- Energy and utilities: 37%, government regulations push the adoption of M2M for metering
- Automotive: 32%, it is predicted that 89% of new cars will have connectivity by 2024
- Retail: 32%, this marks the largest increase of adoption, up from 17%, over the 12-month period
- Consumer electronics: 29%, confusion regarding standards has stunted adoption rates among enterprises
- Healthcare and pharmaceuticals: 28%, increased pressure on healthcare services helped to fuel growth
- Transportation and logistics: 19%, this industry is cautious adopting M2M due to management’s perception of the technology
- Manufacturing: 17%, proprietary legacy equipment can make adopting M2M difficult for manufacturers
The fastest growth in M2M was throughout Europe largely thanks to a strong German market and concerted efforts in programs such as the government sponsored ‘Industry 4.0’. Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa had the largest adoption/deployment of M2M due to confidence and lack of regulatory hurdles & legacy equipment. The Americas saw the shortest ROI but little change in adoption, it is predicted that M2M connections will at least double from 2015 to 2020 in this region.
