An IoT Application Enablement Platform (AEP) supports businesses to build, deploy, manage, and scale IoT applications by integrating IoT assets potentially also with OT and IT assets, and managing potentially massive volumes of data. Such platforms can be hardware agnostic, including application programming interfaces (APIs), software development kits (SDKs), business rules, integrations to third-party services, and tools to enable compatibility with a wide range of devices and communication protocols, helping businesses to adapt to the introduction of new technologies. An IoT AEP offers pre-built tools and services that help to streamline the IoT application development process. Various AEP platforms have extended their scope beyond core AEP capabilities and incorporate device management and data management capabilities and more.
Connected devices can produce massive amounts of data, and the role of an AEP is to transform the raw data into actionable insights by, for instance, turning telemetry data into visualisation dashboards along with rule-based triggers that take actions based on pre-determined set thresholds. Also, some AEPs offer data analytics tools and low-code or no-code user interfaces, reducing the complexities for developers in building intuitive business applications. This approach supports businesses by reducing the requirement for establishing and managing in-house development teams and instead allows them to focus on their core competencies.
There is no platform that is well suited to serve every business requirement and therefore businesses must evaluate their needs before assessing which platforms best suit their planned use-cases. However, there are some features and capabilities that an AEP must have (rather than that are merely nice-to-have). These core functions include the ingestion and exposure of data flows, the provision of tools to aid application development and support business logic and support for applications during live operations.
This report sets out a market framework for AEPs, highlighting the key factors that differentiate between alternative platforms.
