By Anton Le Saux, Head of Connectivity and Partner Sales at O2 Telefónica UK: A recent report by Accenture states that the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is set to drive revenue growth.
According to Paul Daugherty, CTO at Accenture, 'companies that understand that every business is a digital business are using this technology to create product-service hybrids that provide new growth opportunities and pave the way for pioneering the next generation of industrial products'.
Despite being called the Industrial Internet of Things, is it really any different to the Internet of Things (IoT) that has been providing a service for consumers and businesses for some years now? Industry reports widely predict expansion for M2M and IoT, with rapid growth expected in 2015 as the technology is already in use by a number of businesses. In fact, even SMEs are starting to adopt M2M solutions.
M2M and the IoT have evolved so much that we recognised the need for standardisation to allow the sector to develop in a more controlled manner. Our Global Partners Programme (GPP) has enabled a structured environment for manufacturers and technology companies to unify processes and improve quality control. Given that this technology has grown to the extent of requiring this sort of initiative, it is surprising that it has suddenly acquired a new label to differentiate it from the IoT of consumer-driven technology. Is the 'industrial' label really only a demonstration of how the IoT is beginning to impact additional sectors and more businesses?
In reality, the IoT bridges both consumer and industrial activity and differentiating the two will be virtually impossible as they are, by nature, irrevocably interlinked. (anton.lesaux@telefonica.com
partnersdigital.telefonica.com)