The worldwide M2M market is expanding, and as it does, it’s preparing for explosive growth in the coming years – starting now. Over the course of the last few months, a few of the most noticeable highlights include the Indian M2M market promising rapid growth as shown by a study last November by CyberMedia Research (CMR), the European wireless M2M market looking at exponential growth as revealed by a new report from Berg Insight, and that M2M and business VoIP boast the highest double digit growth rates between 2011 and 2017. Clearly, M2M is going places, and we’re excited to see where it takes us.
In order to properly brace ourselves for this M2M growth, we must first look at what technologies are most imperative, impacting, and influential in its acclaim to fame. In light of this, TMC recently spoke with Director of Marketing at KORE Telematics, Stein Soelberg, who divulged his ideas on the topic.
So what’s the most significant technology trend to impact the way the M2M space has been operating as of late? Soelberg divulges that the more important “w” in this equation is “where” rather than “what.” He explains, “The globalization of M2M has certainly been the most significant technology trend that has impacted…business operations.”
He continued, “Businesses are moving away from individual departments purchasing solutions outside of corporate controls to consolidating applications within the enterprise. These businesses are driven by a need for truly global deployments, which has resulted in more adoption of hybrid connectivity through both cellular and satellite technology.” Soelberg also noted that the trend of building intelligence directly into these applications is having a positive impact on the M2M industry.
What’s most imperative in Soelberg’s eyes? “That M2M applications send the right kinds and amount of data at the right time,” he says. “This is not possible without the proper intelligence both in the M2M application and on the back-end in terms of analysis.”
When addressing M2M’s most influential factors, two things definitely come to mind.
The first is cloud computing. Soelberg tells us that KORE recently launched application-hosting services due to market and customer demand for applications hosted in the same secure and redundant network that handles connections for their M2M services. He explains that “cloud-based application hosting is a logical extension of [our] services” because they [help] us in order to forge deeper partnerships with our customers.”
There are many others, too, in the M2M space that have been reflectively influenced by cloud computing. “What began as a revolution with Salesforce.com has evolved to the norm in the IT community. Software-as-a-Service acceptance with C-level IT professionals has also helped broaden the availability of cloud-based M2M applications,” Soelberg says.
Another heavy influencer in the space is social media. Social media’s unprecedented growth has undoubtedly been changing the way businesses of all kinds manage their customers, and KORE is no exception.
The company currently relies on LinkedIn, Twitter and a consistently updated company blog to keep its customers updated and communicating in real-time. “The use of social media platforms has allowed KORE to rely less on e-mail blasts as the single most important communication medium to reach customers and prospects,” Soelberg explains. “In addition, social media has allowed customers to interact and connect with KORE regarding their thoughts and experiences with our services – providing insightful comments and additional sources of information and sometimes lively debate.”
Bringing the conversation to an ironic turning point, Soelberg expresses what he thinks will be the most disruptive or un-influential technology to hit mainstream markets this year: the mass proliferation of LTE networks worldwide. “LTE will be disruptive because it has put a possible end to the use of 3G due to a slow transition from 2G to 3G, causing a possible skip of 3G and direct move to LTE for some M2M devices.”
The biggest misconception in the M2M market, he feels, is “the idea that the massive proliferation of devices, all communicating various amounts of data, will lead to a drastic increase in ‘big data’ that needs to be captured and analyzed.” He continues, “Big data is a misnomer in the M2M market, meaning that applications and devices will continue to primarily report on exceptions rather than communicating mass streams of data back and forth, unnecessarily.”
KORE Telematics is a gold sponsor of the highly anticipated M2M Evolution Conference & Expo, held from Jan. 29 to Feb. 1, 2013 in Miami, Florida. Furthermore, the company will be exhibiting at booth #113 at the event, which will highlight how M2M technologies and the “Internet of Things” can be utilized to significantly improve business processes, minimize risk, spur innovation and drive revenue.
The company expressed that it is looking forward to participating in the event, as well as networking with customers, other strategic partners and learning more about M2M growth in emerging markets.
Director of Marketing at KORE Telematics, Stein Soelberg
Edited by
Rachel Ramsey
