Summary Bullets:

• Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives have become important marketing tools and proof points of credibility for enterprise IT and communication services providers. Providers also hope to leverage these initiatives as revenue generators.
• While IoT contributes solutions to help with many ESG concerns, its role in measuring, monitoring, and control of environmental conditions and parameters is particularly relevant. IoT service providers should continue to develop and extend these capabilities to position themselves as worthy stewards of the planet.

ESG has never been as important as it is today, at a time when our health continues to be threatened by a global pandemic and the world faces drastic disruption due to climate change.  Service providers that offer IoT solutions, as well as their network equipment and software vendor partners, are adding ESG messaging into many of their offerings, as each is intent on proving its worth as contributors to the common good.  While the ‘S’ and ‘G’ aspects of solutions are extremely important, the environmental contributions should be especially key to the positioning of service providers that may still struggle to monetize their IoT portfolios.  This is because measuring, monitoring, and control of environmental parameters have always comprised a key benefit and use-case driver for IoT.  Some of the many types of IoT use cases that contribute to environmental ‘health’ include: Continue reading “IoT and Environmental Sustainability Can Come Together to Protect the Planet” →

Summary Bullets:

• The role of IT services providers in offering IoT solutions to enterprises is important for delivering successful engagements that might otherwise have been thwarted by ecosystem fragmentation and complexity.
• GlobalData’s August 2021 report on IT service provider IoT solutions highlights vendors that have developed unique portfolios and end-to-end solutions that can break through enterprise skepticism and reduce worry.

The fragmentation of the supplier ecosystem has long been a barrier to adoption of IoT, as enterprises are often confused, frustrated, and worried about having to separately negotiate, pay for, and manage connectivity, devices, security solutions, management platforms, and vertical solutions from multiple suppliers. The central role of IT services providers (ITSPs) in making IoT and other complex technologies easier to use while simultaneously helping to solve business problems is to offer a one-stop shop.  This approach combines the ITSP’s own and third-party partner solutions, while adding advisory, integration, professional and managed services, and end-to-end vertical solutions. Continue reading “IT Service Providers Play a Key Role in Ensuring Successful IoT Deployments” →

Summary Bullets:

• IIoT MVNOs have struggled in recent years due to a reliance on connectivity-led portfolios while large mobile operators have had a stronger focus on directly selling their own enterprise IoT solutions.
• Those MVNOs that remain and thrive have revamped offerings in order to stay relevant, drawing customers with application enablement, vertical solutions, management platforms, and professional and managed services.

Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) play an important role in expanding the reach of enterprises looking to connect diverse devices on a global basis, primarily via cellular technologies.  They can expand mobile or fixed operators’ footprints as a partner or sell directly to OEMs and enterprises that need widespread, easy-to-use connectivity.  Whether they partner with operators or compete directly against them depends on whether customers need seamless connectivity in regions where a single carrier cannot provide service.  They also may partner with satellite providers or have their own satellite connectivity services – ideal for markets where cellular service is spotty or unavailable such as maritime environments. Continue reading “Are IIoT MVNOs Still Relevant?” →

Summary Bullets:

• GlobalData’s Q2 mobile trends report provides growth rates and insights into subscriptions for mobile networks across service types and regions; it also offers clues to the progress of IoT uptake in various regions.
• Examples of operator traction and new initiatives are quite diverse, while regional growth rates are moderate, in the range of 12% to 16% CAGR. For all regions, IoT has steadily (if slowly) been gaining ground and the outlook is positive.

GlobalData’s Q2 mobile trends report provides insights into subscriptions for mobile networks.  Among many other key findings, it offers a clue to the progress of IoT uptake in various regions.  The following regional snapshots describe growth rates and recent operator initiatives. Continue reading “IoT Subscription Growth Forecasts Demonstrate Slow but Steady Progress” →

GlobalData published its latest Competitive Landscape report on IIoT Services in May 2021. In analyzing the large number of new capabilities and alliances that were announced by the top mobile operators, a number of issues are clear:

• While COVID-19 may have dampened demand early on for IoT solutions, in late 2020 and early 2021 the market came roaring back.

• Market expansion is not limited to COVID-related projects, and announcements are for a wide-ranging set of new IoT offerings that may represent projects for which there was pent-up demand during the pandemic.

• These new initiatives have been energized in part by related capabilities such as private networks, edge computing, and 5G rollouts.

The following list is a super-set of announcements from the GlobalData report showcasing more of the primary announcements that operators in the U.S. and Europe have made over the past six months; they imply solid momentum for IoT.

Continue reading “What’s New in Global IoT Services So Far in 2021?” →

Summary Bullets:

• Vodafone Business is a leader in global IoT services with a dedicated IoT BU, 120 million connected devices, and clear goals for expansion of its role in managed connectivity, mobile private networks, and end to end solutions.

• In the Americas, the operator is attracting a diverse set of multinational companies, often headquartered in the U.S., that not only require both local and global connectivity, but are looking to deploy IoT for use cases ranging from COVID-19/post-pandemic solutions to connected car, manufacturing, logistics, and healthcare.

While Vodafone Business is a known leader in IoT services in Europe and APAC, its regional group serving the Americas has a somewhat different remit. It looks to serve U.S. companies with global connectivity and IoT solutions requirements, or global companies with U.S. facilities that require IoT services and solutions. These are generally large companies with diverse connectivity needs that increasingly include IoT. Vodafone Americas IoT customers are using the technology for three main “buckets” of use cases in 2021: COVID-19-specific requirements such as thermal cameras, social distancing, and vaccine tracking; post pandemic healthcare applications such as home health monitoring; and deployments of other more traditional IoT use cases that may have stalled in 2020, such as connected car, manufacturing, and logistics.

Continue reading “Vodafone Americas IoT Update: 2021 Starting Strong” →