Vodafone publishes its 'M2M Adoption Barometer' report, showing that the consumer electronics industry being the top for adopting M2M solutions with a rate of 29%, followed closely by energy and utilities and automotive with a rate of 28% each. Other major industries adopting M2M solutions are manufacturing, healthcare/lifesciences, transport and logistics and retail with the adoption rates of 20%, 19%, 17% and 17% respectively.
The research which captured responses from these seven key industries across 14 countries, pointed out the major triggers for the adoption of M2M solutions, and the most cited factors are opportunity for innovation, cost savings from automation, process and productivity improvements and need for competitive advantage. Each industry is impacted by these triggers differently and the report analysis these in more detail. Overall, 55% of companies expect to have an M2M solution in place within the next two years, which is an increase of more than 80% compared to the past year. The report did a very interesting classification of adopters - Laggards (22%) defined as 'Haven’t seriously considered M2M', Rejectors (3%) defined as 'Have considered M2M, but decided against it', Embryonics (19%) defined as 'Plan to adopt M2M, but haven’t got a date yet', Fast Followers (33%) defined as 'Plan to have M2M project in place within two years' and Pioneers (22%) defined as 'Already have M2M project in place'.
Vodafone also cited another research which expects the number of connected devices to grow from 4.4 billion this year to 10.3 billion by 2018. Other details included in the report is the adoption of M2M by company size, the external and internal use of M2M solutions, regional breakdown in terms of adoption and expected ROI on M2M implementations. The report said that 89% of those with a live M2M project expect to start seeing an ROI within 2 years, creating a strong incentive for the use of M2M solutions for their businesses.
“This year’s report leaves no doubt that momentum is accelerating as companies begin to realise the commercial potential of the Internet of Things. This technology is transforming whole industries as companies find new ways to operate and engage with their customers. M2M is moving from the back-office to centre stage."
- Erik Brenneis, Director of Machine-to-Machine, Vodafone
“The most interesting finding from my perspective is the range of different reasons companies are giving for deploying M2M. Historically, M2M technologies have tended to be bolted on to add an additional cool product feature or to monitor some kind of internal process. We now see M2M is becoming fundamental to how organisations do business; in some cases, M2M adoption is also creating new business opportunities. These technologies are radically changing the way in which companies serve - and communicate with - their customers.”
- Matt Hatton, Principal Analyst, Machina Research