In today’s economy, consumers expect instant access and services/products immediately, and want the customer experience to be flawless, plug and play, and seamless. This is driving what today we are calling the “On-Demand Economy.” Consumer expectations are driving the need to create and launch new business models (btw many start-ups are more equipped for this) that leverage automation and the Internet of Things to provide for this on-demand cX.
The IoT has not really reached a pinnacle, and Compass Intelligence believes this pinnacle will be reached once we begin leading with the customer or customer experience in mind, and this is especially the case when we focus in on mobile and IoT solutions for the enterprise or businesses…which may utlilize these tech tools to be customer-facing or back office-facing. In general terms, this changing business model will enhance the customer’s experience and how business gets done (operations, sales, CRM, production, inventory management, PLCM, e-commerce, etc.). In an IBM Mobile blog I wrote a few weeks back, I note one of the 5 upcoming trends driving enterprise disruption is “IoT becomes plug and play, cognitive learning enhances user experience.” This furthers my discussion today, where the enterprise becomes more agile and cognitive computing and learning become part of the application and solution development that surrounds the IoT, and thus further supports the “on-demand economy.” We are already experiencing this today, as the customer is driving the need to bring LTE to the vehicle and use technology to improve the home experience. Other examples of this “on-demand economy,” which we know is always talked about is the Uber example. Making it simple for customers to get what they want in a completely new way that provides for a more seamless and less stressful experience. Other examples of interesting new business models, that promote the “On-Demand Economy” include the following:
Check out www.compassintelligence.com to set up an annual plan to get access to the latest tech research, insights, and actionable intelligence for your company! Q4 and End of Year Assessment of the “Top 4 Mobile Carriers” Compass Intelligence just completed the final assessment of Q4 and the end of the year numbers/metrics with the major wireless carriers. We do this each quarter to understand the subscriber and share changes, as well as evaluate the key trends taking place in the wireless industry for both consumer and B2B. We have been tracking the quarterly metrics since 2007. Some metrics are our own internal modeling and estimates as the market does not report in all categories. Compass Intelligence also does this for the entire IoT/M2M market as well. A snapshot of Q4 2016 is below. Compass Intelligence compared last quarter’s results to this quarter to show which metrics showed improvement over others (denoted by + or -). Source: Compass Intelligence, Carrier Earnings Reports Below are additional thoughts and insights based on the quarter and annual performance:
As shown above, overall the industry added an estimated 24M connections in 2015, which represents a 6.1% change from 2014. AT&T lead overall connection adds for the year, adding over 8M connections in 2015 followed by T-Mobile with 6M+ added connections in 2015. AT&T’s growth was primarily driven by IoT connections, specific to growth in the connected car deals it closed in 2015. In terms of retail subscribers, the industry growth for the year reached 3.9% adding 11.6M subscribers. For retail subscribers, T-Mobile was the strongest performer adding 5.8M retail subscribers in 2015, followed by Verizon with 3.9M retail subscriber additions in 2015.
To get access to the Mobile & Wireless research or learn more, click HERE. As published in IBM’s Mobile Business Insights…”This is an exciting year for enterprise mobility. As time goes on, the industry continues to hear the phrase, “Disrupt or be disrupted!” This upcoming enterprise disruption can be summed up through five key mobile insights for 2016, all of which were emphasized at this week’s IBM InterConnect 2016 in Las Vegas.”
Click here to read the full blogpost on IBM Mobile: http://mobilebusinessinsights.com/2016/02/mobile-insights-disruption-is-upon-us/ Compass is currently working on our Q4 Quarterly wireless and end of year metrics and snapshot, but wanted to share results from Q3 since we did not share those in December. This will be good to compare to when we release our Q4 results. Compass Intelligence just completed the final assessment of Q1 with the major wireless carriers. We do this each quarter to understand the subscriber and share changes, as well as evaluate the key trends taking place in the wireless industry for both consumer and B2B. We have been tracking the quarterly metrics since 2007. Some metrics are our own internal modeling and estimates as the market does not report in all categories. Compass Intelligence also does this for the entire IoT/M2M market as well. A snapshot of Q3 2015 is below. Source: Compass Intelligence
Compass Intelligence compared last quarter’s results to this quarter to show which metrics showed improvement over others (denoted by + or -). Here are some initial thoughts on this quarter’s performance:
It seems these days you can’t take two steps without hearing about the explosion of the Internet of Things. The term IoT can be also be confusing, as everyong defines the term loosely and the industry needs to focus on the specific use cases and opportunities to move to scale. I want to briefly chat about the ways to think about IoT in your organization to support your operations or your business. As many of you are thinking about the Digital revolution and transforming your business, this brings further automation, real-time access to critical and customer information, data intelligence to make decisions and act without human intervention, and new ways of doing business whether that is an enhanced user experience or advancements with your internal processes and operations. When thinking about The Internet of Things or IoT, businesses need to first think about what is connected or automated today, what type of technology is currently being used (WiFi, Satellite, Cellular, Bluetooth, RFID, etc.), and whether the asset or equipment is connected is…
Another aspect to explore is the range required for communications with the connected device, asset, or equipment. Range is important as it will also provide answers on what type of technology to choose, whether in-building interference may be an issue, and if there may be failures in connectivity. In addition, you must think about the interface to receive the information. This BIG DATA we are collecting will need to be intelligent enough to communicate with existing software and systems, and to be integrated in a manner to be as seamless and efficient as possible. The interface may be automated, it may trigger a response, it may require human review or intervention or not, and it may be in the form of an alert or information push to your smartphone or even a smartwatch. The possibilities are vast and the technology is advancing. The main point is, the IoT is an important part of the digital and business transformation taking place. If you are not thinking and implementing these into your business today, you will be left behind or go out of business. Lastly you need to thing about priorities and critical components of your business or operations. If you are thinking about implementation, is the asset a high value asset or critical to your business or is it of lower importance. How often does your company need the information and how will it integrate into your existing systems and software. The priority assessment is of major importance to determine priority communications and escalation, and leveraging “intelligent data” will all need to be components of your strategy. There is so much to explore, and as we dig into each industry and sub-industry the conversation becomes even more relevant and exciting. What do you think? Every early January, those in the tech industry head to Las Vegas to embark on a week long journey (well for a few of us its a week) to attend events, conferences, exhibits, meetings, parties, and more at CES. Late last year the CEA rebranded as CTA, the Consumer Technology Association and are the producers of CES or the Consumer Electronics Show. Our week kicked off with the AT&T Developers Summit, an event that is great for those developing applications in the IoT (more specifically connected home, smart cities, digital health, and even sustainable solutions). Application developers are not only there to learn about technology trends, get access to training, and hear from a wealth of AT&T partners/sponsors in the mobile/IoT market, but they can also compete in the Hackathon. Congratulations to @KineticCare for winning the 2016 Hackathon, providing a solution to track elders through #IoT #wearables to increase health & responsiveness (urgent care) using M2X, Harmon APIs, Qualcomm (using @ArrowGlobal DragonBoard 410c on @Qualcomm snapdragon). As part of the AT&T Developer conference, we were invited to an analyst dinner. The Compass Intelligence team were able to sit and have dinner with John Donovan and Mobeen Khan of AT&T, where we discussed the future of technology, our predictions, and how AT&T was playing a role in each of those predictions. Interesting conversation, great dinner, and awesome company! A few on my team were also able to attend a number of press conferences, meetings, and technology events including Pepcom Digital Experience and ShowStoppers 2016. These last two events mentioned occurred days before the show floor opened at CES, and were big venues for vendors to showcase their products. The overall theme at these events included products focused on the connected home, connected health, wearables/fitness, wireless/broadband equipment, consumer personal gadgets, and a whole host of IoT-based products for work, life, and play. If you rewind a few years back, it is amazing to see so many “connected” products and the use of sensors, analytics, the use of our smartphones to control so many “things,” and automation to enhance our daily lives. One of the strangest areas where “connected” hit the market at CES was around hair growth or regrowth, don’t ask but that one made me laugh and I hope it works! In addition, an area where sensor technology presents a winning use case, is the area of child safety. There was a cool product by Thorley Industries (4mom) that essentially provided self-installing car seats, since we all know we do not properly put them into our cars correctly. Another personal product that I am wanting to get for my home is by SureCall, EZ 4G Cell Phone Signal Booster. This device is cool because you do not have to mount the antennas to your roof and of course I am all about PLUG and PLAY. Here is a great website that sums up other cool gadgets announced and displayed at CES2016 – http://graphics.wsj.com/image-grid/ces-2016-top-gadgets/ Between all the meetings, events, press launches, and social gatherings, Compass Intelligence also held its annual awards program and press luncheon, sponsored by Dell, ORBCOMM, Sierra Wireless, HYLA Mobile, and Cradlepoint. We were honored to have ORBCOMM’s Christian Allred provide the keynote, and also were joined by Biju Nair of HYLA Mobile and Jeff Hagins of SmartThings where they delivered interactive fireside chats (sans fireside). Below are links to our press release, pictures, and more. Videos will be posted soon as well. I hope you enjoyed CES as much as we did! Until next year, let’s bring all of these connected products into an organized and accessible, and easily managed way. 2016 Event Photos – To view the pictures from our 2016 Compass Intelligence Awards at International CES, click here.
2016 RECIPIENTS – To view the list of 2016 Winners of the Compass Intelligence Awards, click here. One of the major challenges facing the Internet of Things (IoT) market; who should IT decision-makers work with? IT decision-makers and those involved with IoT decisions within companies and organizations are ranging from the C-levels down to IT and operations managers. Each day new IoT vendor entrants are entering the market with creative solutions but IT decision-makers are skeptical in trusting companies with a limited track record. Several refuse to make the same mistakes they made in the nineties by deploying technology that did not live up to its promise.
Compass Intelligence has been at the forefront of tracking the IoT industry since its inception and through our years of analyzing firms we decided it was time to help provide IT decision-makers with some clarity on the top firms they should be working with in the IoT market. Keep in mind some of the firms that are not listed on this list may have partnerships with the companies listed. However, in making the first initial call, these are the companies IT decision-makers should be engaged with. This is not a pay to play list. This list is based on a model developed at Compass Intelligence to help IT decision-makers make sense out of a complex IoT ecosystem to get results and to transform your business. This list will be updated on a quarterly basis. Today’s technology vendors are strapped for time, information, intelligence, and the tools to remain competitive and stay relevant to the enterprise. It is a constant struggle~The struggle is real!~ of finding time to execute and going back and uncovering a strong foundation to support a fast-moving go-to-market plan. As companies continue to explore target markets, roll-out solutions to the enterprise, and try their best to specialize solutions to key verticals, there is also major challenges in ramping up, putting together salient solutions, and actually understanding the value proposition to a key industry Compass Intelligence has been helping clients for more than a decade, and would be happy to take some of this burden off of your strategy, marketing, and planning organizations. As part of our advisory services, we have been digging into key verticals or industries to help our clients better understand not just the technology within that industry but core processes, operations, and key dynamics of vertical markets or industries. Today, we officially launched our Industry Ecosystem Mapping (IEM) advisory services. Learn more about this service today!
Smart cities has been a topic of great interest of late. The infrastructure and planning situation in most cities and urban areas has not been encouraging. There has been increasing pressure on cities to work within existing infrastructure, the challenge to cut costs, and the need to utilize energy sources effectively and manage resources optimally. As migration to cities continues, the challenging environment continues to intensify. However, significant steps have been taken by companies and political/decision making authorities to create “smart cities” that are connected, responsive, scalable and productive. In addition, the increasing role and awareness of M2M/IoT solutions has influenced the decision makers, government bodies, and public authorities to invest in smart cities. All of the major technology companies such as IBM, Cisco, Oracle, Siemens, GE, Honeywell, Verizon, AT&T, etc. and political movers and shakers have increased their focus on enabling smart cities. So what defines or constitutes a smart city? Smart cities refers to cities utilizing concepts of the internet of things (IoT) and other intelligent technologies. The components of a smart city are depicted in the chart below. Compass Intelligence recently published a study on analyzing opportunities and growth prospects in the smart cities segment. Some findings are discussed below:
As noted, the smart city concept is no longer just a concept. It is very much a reality. There are so many success stories including Santander, Barcelona, Beijing, Boston, Dallas, and Singapore to name just a few. The key driving factor is the need to address increasing congestion, strain on insufficient infrastructure, and resource management challenges such as water and energy, traffic, pollution, and overall governance issues. What has helped push the concept of smart cities is the rapid level of innovation. The smart cities market is no longer plagued with the constant “what if” scenarios. Ecosystem partners along with decision makers and influencers have helped make significant strides when it comes to developing tangible use cases and deployments. At every level of participation, ecosystem partners have focused resources on creating smart technologies that enable the formation of “smart cities”. These include intelligent and advanced sensor technology, smart devices such as smart metering, switches, advanced wireless communication technologies and protocols, open platforms for more applications, cloud computing, Big Data analytics, and more. As with other IoT segments, continuing advances in technology and the IoT market will further push towards the formation of smart cities globally. What is more promising is the level of focus from companies across the ecosystem to elevate smart city offerings and fostering of synergetic partnerships. Smart cities is more than just a buzzword today. New partnerships within the value chain and innovative solutions are making smart cities a reality- be it through sensor networks, increasing automation and intelligence in hardware, software as a service model, increasing algorithms or remote monitoring and decision making control. These partnerships are taking the smart cities concept to the next step. All solutions are aimed at increasing efficiency and connectivity. The level of integration and connectivity needed to produce the desired smart cities implementation outcome is only possible through strong ecosystem integration. Strong partnerships will play a significant role in determining the future roadmap of smart cities. This is also a well-received way to monetize smart city investments quickly. As always there are two sides to any story. Smart cities growth is not without its hurdles. High cost of investment and bureaucracy are amongst the main challenges impacting smart city implementations. Integrating disparate functions and components of a city is a huge investment. In addition, decision making authorities need to overcome the bureaucracy tangle and jump through hoops to obtain permission and grants for any implementation. This has prevented cities and government bodies from making the initial high investments. However with tangible use cases and ROI case studies, ecosystem partners are helping create awareness of the long-term benefits of smart city implementations. Another factor to contend with is the long decision making time. There are too many stakeholders within the smart cities market. This includes the government (national, state and local), financiers (banks, venture capitalists, etc.), developers and builders, ecosystem partners, and citizens. Integration is another key challenge within the smart cities market. There are not just disparate segments to bring together cohesively, but one must also contend with different communication standards. For example, security systems communicate through one protocol, ZigBee etc., and smart mobility will communicate wirelessly or through some sensor network protocol. While Wi-Fi is the go-to for enabling citizen apps, overall confusion as to a cohesive solution is a challenge. There will never be a completely open or standardized protocol or standard. The smart cities market will witness companies throughout the ecosystem banding together to develop a form of standards that will spread across some applications or segments. Proprietary solutions will never completely be eradicated. These challenges are not expected to be mitigated any time soon. While the force of the drivers is expected to alleviate the impact of these challenges to a great degree, they will persist. However, as mentioned above, ecosystem partnerships will help reduce the impact of the challenges greatly. Continued focus on smart technologies and the push from ecosystem partners will continue to boost smart city deployments. There will be more focus on gathering data and gleaning valuable information regarding patterns and consumer behavior. There is a lot of education and awareness that is being proliferated across stakeholders to increase investments and shorten the long decision making cycle. Smart energy and smart governance will lead growth rates. However mobility will offer more tangible return on investment. Security at all segment levels will continue to increase. The ecosystem is still fragmented, however a few companies have certainly carved out a strong market position. Companies across the ecosystem will continue to look for avenues to expand their customer base and increase revenues. The one sure way of obtaining this goal is through offering an end-to-end solution or acting the role of facilitator/consultant. Currently, no such company exists that spans solutions across all segments and applications. There will be increasing overlap in the roles system integrators, hardware companies, telecom companies, and service providers play. All said and done, the smart cities market offers a great potential for growth globally, across all its segments and in applications and technologies. |
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