The Internet of Things has been a hot topic for the last decade, delivering some fascinating and truly transformational capabilities. As a result it stands out as the biggest category of Digital Transformation. ‘IoT’ is an umbrella term that covers an almost indescribably diverse set of use cases. The one unifying theme amongst IoT applications is that they involve the connection of remote assets for the purpose of monitoring and controlling those devices and exchanging data. As such, amongst other things it incorporates telematics, machine-to-machine, Industry 4.0, smart cities, and operational technology (OT).
Despite its importance, IoT has certainly not had plain sailing. Adoption has been patchy, with the vast majority of the focus being on relatively simple remote monitoring and control use cases. In some instances organisations have fully exploited the opportunities presented by IoT to, for instance, move to an ‘as-a-service’ business model. This has been the exception. The environment has generally been challenging. Poor products, ecosystem misunderstandings, lack of standards, and a lack of consideration for the commercial implications of deploying IoT have been amongst the reasons for relatively slow growth. All that said, the prognosis is good: billions more connected devices, facilitating new business models will come, albeit after some of the kinks have been ironed out.
This Technology Insight Report provides an overview of the Internet of Things. It describes the overall market dynamics for IoT technologies, including market size and development trajectory, use cases, best practices, and recent market developments. The report explores the vendor landscape for IoT, innovative players, vendor selection criteria, and highlights opportunities and risks for end users.
The report also includes an analysis of the key solution characteristics of relevant case studies contained in Transforma Insights’ Best Practice & Vendor Selection database, including payback time, process efficiency and value proposition impact, and a range of technology-specific characteristics.
