ISG Provider Lens™ IoT - Transformational Services, Technology, Solutions, Platforms and Industries - Nordics 2019 - Consulting and Services
Internet of Things (IoT) services are a conglomeration of functions such as consulting, implementation and overall IoT ecosystem management. Solutions are used to enable the interaction and exchange of huge amounts of data through a network, and to analyze the data to derive meaningful insights that stimulate well-informed decision-making. Governments in the Nordics region, which includes Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and their associated territories, are prepared to improve the lives of their citizens by adopting new technologies like Internet of Things, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and machine learning (ML).
Industries in the region are looking forward to 5G telecommunications network rollouts because 5G will improve network speeds drastically, and in turn benefit IoT implementations. IoT deployments and use cases in manufacturing, healthcare, smart buildings, connected cars and other industries are gaining momentum and have been able to drive cost savings, better business decisions, operational efficiencies and process improvements.
Some of the key IoT-related trends in the Nordics region are presented below.
Enterprises look for the right partners to ensure successful IoT implementations. Enterprises are investing heavily in various IoT projects across domains and verticals. They are looking for strong partnerships for technical enablement and market entry to achieve commercial success beyond the proofs of concept (PoCs) and use cases. They are looking at IoT as a platform for change that will help the Nordics region to become more connected and improve collaboration in all-encompassing areas of business, trade, investments and digitalization. Focus is on commercial success, and enterprises are looking for solutions that can be scaled up to generate revenue.
Collaboration on smart city projects. The governments in the Nordics region are collaborating through the Nordic Smart City Network project. The project helps governments in knowledge sharing and developing best practices for urban development in addition to combining all the fragmented smart city pilots. Under this project, the five Nordic countries are combining their labs to improve scalability and promote development of innovative smart city solutions. Service providers need to focus on developing scalable solutions that can be leveraged across all five countries.
Connected vehicles and smart buildings are the next big things in the Nordics. Usage-based insurance, vehicle diagnostics and vehicle platforms will drive growth in the connected vehicle segment. Volvo and other automotive companies are investing in navigation- and insurance-related services. However, the focus is slowly moving to develop intelligent transportation system to improve travel at the city, national and Nordics regional levels. Building automation and security for commercial as well as residential buildings are the main growth drivers for the smart buildings domain. As building security applications’ commercialization increases, service providers need to look for ways to integrate smart buildings and homes seamlessly with their surrounding infrastructure to enable smart city formation.
Industrial ecosystems transformation through IoT. Manufacturing companies in the Nordics are leveraging IoT to develop digital systems and improve shop floor processes. Enterprises are increasingly looking at automation enabled by IoT to digitalize production, integrate suppliers, customers and other parties involved in the business, and to perform preventive maintenance on machinery. Nordics enterprises are looking at developing smart factories and connected industrial processes as a solution to counter competition and to ensure that manufacturing processes are in-sourced to protect jobs. Because manufacturing is one of the frontrunner verticals in IoT adoption globally, service providers can easily leverage their existing global solutions to cater to the demand in the Nordics region.
Focus on 5G and Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT). Narrowband IoT is a low-cost technology to transmit a small amount of data from multiple devices. All the leading telcos are ramping up their NB-IoT deployments because it consumes little power, enables long battery life and can address various connectivity needs. 5G development is another area of interest for the region because the technology will significantly improve network speed and enable real-time communication between devices and their ecosystem. 5G rollouts are likely to open up a range of new use cases for IoT.
Reinforcing cybersecurity infrastructure. Enterprises and governments in the Nordics region are highly sensitive to security breaches. The governments of Norway, Sweden and Finland have announced plans to invest heavily in national security infrastructure to prevent cyberattacks, especially state-led attacks launched by hostile governments. It is of utmost importance for service providers to showcase their IoT security capabilities in order to win large IoT transformation projects offered by both the private and public sectors. Embedded IoT security in devices and sensors, network security, endpoint security and protection for sensitive data collected by sensors are some of the key areas where service providers need to keep themselves up to date to be compliant with the cybersecurity requirements for IoT projects in the region.