At this time of year it’s good to take a look back at what were the most interesting topics of the previous 12 months. One good gauge is to check the Transforma Insights reports that were the most downloaded in 2022. Below is the list. Most of these are available only to subscribers to our Advisory Service.
The annual snapshot of our IoT forecasts topped the pile this year. It provides a summary of where we are with IoT connections, revenues and technology splits between the 70+ application groups that we forecast in our IoT Forecast Database. If you are not a subscriber, but are interested in some highlights of the research, you can check out the latest numbers in our IoT Forecast Highlights page. The fact that this takes the #1 spot is not too surprising as everyone continues to be interested in the size and nature of the IoT opportunity. 30 billion connected devices by 2030, generating $650 billion in revenue. And critically, no hockey-sticks. IoT is characterised by steady growth, largely because it comprises a plethora of constituent applications, some of which grow more rapidly than others.
A very timely report in the #2 slot, aggregating as it does a number of key technology themes in 2022. In the post-covid world there has been increasing demand for on-shoring of manufacturing and other remote processes, necessitating more factory automation. At the same time, autonomous robotics has been evolving at a rapid rate. We also now have 5G networks which will eventually be able to support ultra-low latency factory systems and, perhaps, remote surgery. The 5G trend is also tied up with the arrival of mobile private networks.
Much of the innovative stuff happening in IoT connectivity at the moment is being driven by IoT MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators). Because of that, we at Transforma Insights decided to undertake a comprehensive review of the capabilities of 175 MVNOs around the world, including a tiering of them. Keep an eye out in the new year for an update on our CSP IoT Peer Benchmarking Report which assesses in more detail the capabilities of over 20 leading global IoT connectivity providers. Register for our webinar in February which provides an overview of the findings of that research.
Historically there were three main drivers for implementing disruptive technologies: make money, save money or stay compliant. The last few years has seen the arrival of a fourth: save the planet. Many IoT, AI and other Digital Transformation initiatives are either directly or indirectly responsible for environmental benefits such as fuel or energy savings. This 112-page report focuses on the sustainability benefits of a range of digital transformation (DX) solutions, and related ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) benefits. The solutions profiled in this report have been defined to include all of the most impactful sustainability-enabling applications that Transforma Insights has previously identified through a comprehensive market review of all emerging digital transformation Use Cases. More details in the press release.
What do enterprises want when they buy IoT connectivity? That was the main theme of the survey we undertook in September/October 2022, asking questions of over 1,100 cellular IoT connectivity buyers in the US and Europe. This report provides a summary of those results. It turned up views on the key factors affecting choice of IoT vendors (reputation, price and security), approval ratings for leading connectivity providers (the top mobile network operators score highest), and much more. Check out the press release for more details of the findings: New survey from Transforma Insights reveals enterprise buying behaviour for cellular IoT connectivity.
The nebulous concept of the metaverse has been perhaps the number one technology trend in recent years. In this report we looked at the potential use cases that enterprises might derive from this idea of total immersion virtual environments using AR/VR and AI, whether they be internal or external, focused on people or processes, or dealing with real-time, hypothetical or historic processes. The conclusion: there’s some really useful tools there but it needs a reality check! You can check out a blog post on this topic: The metaverse: an opportunity for enterprises?
One piece of speculation in 2022 was about Vodafone spinning out its IoT business. This is a recurring issue for Communications Service Providers: to what extent should your IoT business unit be independent from the main parent company? In the report we examined the various approaches taken by different operators. The conclusion was that there are very strong reasons for having autonomy in sales, propositions, marketing and engineering but the benefits are harder to realise for other areas such as financial and legal independence.
IoT is increasingly deployed in constrained environments (something we explore in detail in this blog post: The five ‘P’s that constrain IoT and necessitate the ‘Thin IoT’ stack) to build IoT solutions where all of the elements are optimised to deliver the best performance in those constrained environments. All of the various constituent elements of the solution need to be considered together, and in terms of how they interoperate, for instance ensuring the application, protocols, devices and connectivity technologies chosen are best able to work with each other. The need to cross-optimise means that we expect to see more devices sold with connectivity in the coming few years.
Almost every technology vendor spends an inordinate amount of time worrying about the likely impact that they hyperscale cloud providers will have on their area of coverage. In this report we zero in on Communications Service Providers and their relationships with the hyperscalers. Many have already established relationships in mobile private networks, MEC and cloud hosting. This report considers the best practice for telcos to work with hyperscalers. If this is a topic of interest, check out our recent press release Microsoft remains the leading hyperscaler across Digital Transformation for more details on the hyperscalers’ capabilities in IoT, AI, distributed ledger and other digital transformation technologies.
The final one of our top 10 is also a forecast report. In this instance, modelling the scale of Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning adoption. The conclusion was that the number of AI instances deployed globally will grow ten-fold between now and 2030, with the top use cases being Natural Language Processing, Chatbots & Digital Assistance and Customer Behaviour Analysis. For more information, check out the press release New report from Transforma Insights predicts ten-fold growth in AI use over the next decade.
If you have any questions about any of these reports, don't hesitate to get in contact.
