In recent years, the term SPOG has gained traction in cellular IoT markets, referring to Single Pane Of Glass interfaces for cellular IoT. Transforma Insights identified it as a key aspect of the evolution of Connectivity Management Platforms in our IoT Transition Topics for 2023. In fact, SPOG is a decades-old generic IT industry term used to refer to the aggregation of many different data points into an intelligible dashboard. Rediscovered for cellular IoT, the term is now being used to refer to the abstraction of cellular connectivity and associated Connectivity Management Platforms (CMPs) so that one single interface (a SPOG platform) can provide visibility into the status of, and control over, connections potentially supported by different cellular networks and/or different CMPs.
But the marketplace for SPOG platforms is not homogenous, with different self-proclaimed SPOG platform vendors having a range of capabilities, and the more advanced players evolving towards a positioning that could be better described as ‘Distributed Workflow Management’. Ultimately, the emergence and evolution of the SPOG concept towards Distributed Workflow Management will be reminiscent of the transition from M2M to IoT that happened in around 2012-2013. That earlier transition was characterised by what were previously stovepipe (M2M) connected device solutions and customised applications evolving into a more open (IoT) environment in which data streams generated by connected devices could be flexibly adopted by an ecosystem of applications.
Today’s evolution towards Distributed Workflow Management (DWM) propositions is likely to mark an equivalently impactful shift. In this report, we discuss the capabilities of SPOG platforms and a likely evolution to DWM platforms from a range of perspectives, including in the context of connectivity and networks, devices, data, workflows, security, and vendor positioning.
What is described in this report is the theoretical evolution from very basic SPOG propositions to far more sophisticated DWM propositions. Specific vendors will combine different levels of sophistication for the different capabilities described in this report, mostly depending on their strategic focus and evolving client base. The discussion is intended to highlight a general potential evolution in sophistication across the SPOG market as a whole.
