“Do you want to buy some IoT?”
“Certainly, would you like blue or red?”
If only the IoT marketplace was that simple!
It’s safe to say that in the past few years, the market for the Internet of Things has truly come of age. However, while there’s now a much wider understanding of what the IoT is, its potential in the Channel still remains largely unrealised.
Often the vastness of applications in IoT is its own downfall. Many falter when it comes to knowing where the real opportunities are, and knowing what products solve what problems. And then there are the products that nobody asked for—those that are too clunky to solve problems, or solve no problem at all. Smart egg tray anyone?
Web Search popularity for Internet of Things Jan 2004 – Jan 2018, Google Trends
The good news is that whatever sector you’re looking at, it’s likely there’ll be an IoT application that presents real value and solves real problems—whether it’s optimising processes, driving efficiencies, cutting costs, designing new services, delighting customers with personalised experiences, or just making more informed decisions.
Indeed, recent reports suggest almost two-thirds (64%) of companies believe the IoT is important to their current business, and over 90% believe it will be important to the future of their business. And while implementing IoT can be a challenge, executives believe IoT will be the most important emerging technology above others such as artificial intelligence or robotics.
Such businesses are likely to turn firstly to their existing providers of telecommunications, connectivity, and ICT solutions for advice, so it’s vital that the Channel is ready to engage in those conversations in 2018 and beyond.
So, what valuable solutions are there to real problems in 2018?
According to research from Gartner, 8.4 billion connected things will be in use by the end of the year. IDC Research estimates more than 80 percent of IoT spend through to 2020 will be on B2B applications. Both of these are incredibly exciting statistics for the IoT market, for Pangea, and very importantly for our partners.
But while the IoT market is exciting, its vastness can initially seem a little overwhelming or even confusing. In order to identify the primary opportunities that make the most impact and generate the quickest ROI, it’s often easiest to breakdown IoT into vertical sectors.
In my latest blog, 2018: The Year of the IoT, I picked the top sectors likely to play a major role in IoT over the coming year:
- Connected Industry
- Fleet Management
- Smart City
- Smart Energy
- Smart Supply Chains
- Smart Retail
IoT is rapidly moving from a “nice to have” technology to a critical asset, and with the pace of developments in both technology and connectivity, I fully expect other trends will emerge just as rapidly.
This year, we’ll be covering each sector to give you detailed insights into everything you need to get started with the best opportunities in IoT in 2018, including adoption statistics, product sets, market opportunities, and sales strategies.
Can’t wait until then?
Our Pangea Partner Programme is designed specifically to support our resellers through these times of digital transformation, so please get in touch if you want to know more.
Pangea can offer a place in our well-established IoT ecosystem for partners of all shapes and sizes across all industry sectors. We currently have very successful working relationships with application developers, systems integrators, device manufacturers, and IoT vertical solution developers, as well as more traditional telecoms providers who see our capability as complementary to their existing product offering. So why not become a Pangea Partner today?
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