Mr Jeff Travers, Head of IoT, Ericsson, on Wednesday urged service providers to regard Internet of Things (IoT) as a game changer for their businesses.
In a statement in Lagos, Travers said that IoT would lead to investments in new technologies and establishment of new business models for revenue sharing and increased use of indirect channels.
According to him, Ericsson’s conviction on IoT resulted from a study it conducted on “Exploring IoT Strategies’’.
“The study provides unique insights on IoT value chain positioning from 20 leading telecom service providers globally, as they engage with and position themselves in the IoT market.
“It identified an IoT positioning framework, which captures service providers’ roles and sub-roles in the IoT value chain.
“It provides commercial insights, key capabilities required and case studies for each role.
“While revenue growth is the unanimous key driver for telecom service providers entering the IoT market, the report reveals that multiple paths are being pursued to achieve that revenue growth with 70 per cent of the interviewees having no well-defined strategy.
“In addition, the interviewed service providers believe cellular IoT and new 5G technologies will be a game changer in IoT.’’
According to the official, the role categories identified by the study are those of network provider, connectivity provider, service enabler and service creator.
He said that while the network provider and connectivity provider roles were seen by respondents as foundational, driving most of IoT revenues, 80 per cent of study participants planned to create value beyond connectivity.
Travers said that service providers noticed that additional value could be created either by providing differentiating services through sub-roles within the four roles, or by progressively offering end-to-end solutions as service enablers or service creators.
He said that the study confirmed the importance of IoT to the current and future business of leading service providers, no matter where they would operate.
“They are also creating new delivery models for as-a-service and online services and driving innovation with partners and customers,” he added.
