ADVERTORIAL
The nature of the transport and logistics sector – and the fact that it integrates across so many other verticals to enable operations in retail, manufacturing, local government, oil & gas, and many other arenas – has seen it take an early lead in IoT investment and adoption.
The number of fleet management systems in active use in the North American market is poised to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 15.3 percent, from 4.6 million units in 2014 to 9.3 million units by 2019, according to Berg Insight. The top 10 fleet management providers in North America already represent more than half of the active units in the region.
Meanwhile, Forrester's new IoT Heat Map shows fleet management in transportation, security and surveillance in government, inventory and warehouse management in retail, and industrial asset management in manufacturing as vertical areas that are topping the IoT deployments list.
IDC reports that the manufacturing and transportation sectors lead IoT investment, spending $165.6 billion and $78.7 billion, respectively, in 2015. These two sectors have been benefiting from IoT technologies such as automated production lines and sensor-powered fleet management solutions to drive efficiencies and cost reductions already.
The inherent mobility of the transportation market makes wireless communications an obvious requirement. But there are also complexities involved across the logistics value chain that require highly specific technologies and services to be deployed.
Of course, the technology itself is only one piece of what it takes to realize IoT success.
Companies in the transportation vertical – or any vertical for that matter – should look to partner with established IoT experts who can deliver end-to-end solutions. Those solutions should consist both of integrated products and services and of human resources that can help get projects from concept to architecture design and prototyping to full commercial deployment with the greatest ease and affordability.
That can help transportation and logistics companies more easily navigate the complexities noted above. That’s important because IoT deployments in this space are only growing more complex. They are no longer simply about tracking the location of a truck or a package.
Today fleet data can be recorded, analyzed, and utilized to aid in more efficient route planning. That can lead to savings and can help organizations comply with environmental legislation, for example. In addition, such data can be used to provide enhanced levels of service to customers, thereby enabling competitive advantage and potentially opening up new revenues from new value-added products and services.
Telit offers unmatched resources and experience in helping transport and logistics companies put IoT at the center of their businesses. Telit can help from development of ideas for IoT functionality, through designing your IoT architecture and developing a proof of concept, to full commercial deployments while ensuring your IoT services are secure, scalable, and resilient.
The breadth of opportunities and the often highly specific nature of transport and logistics requirements means businesses require much more support than is provided by companies that simply sell IoT technology and then exit the picture. What’s needed are specialists like Telit that can bring together the appropriate connectivity, hardware, and sector-specific applications to offer transport and logistics organizations a simplified means to bring new functionalities to their businesses. Such an approach enables organizations to take the next step beyond basic monitoring of their fleets. Those next steps may entail employing new approaches to save money through greater operational efficiency; achieving compliance with environment, safety, and security regulations; and/or creating and delivering new recurring revenue business models.
Edited by
Ken Briodagh
