Connectivity across industry is set to power growth through innovation in machine to machine technologies. The automotive industry, healthcare, manufacturing and supply chain verticals are forecast to fuel growth by innovating more technologies in M2M communications.
Machine to machine connectivity allows manufacturing machines to communicate with each other for exchanging and gathering information such as machining process conditions to enhance productivity and efficiency.
“We’re going to see more automated and AI-driven technologies with companies applying AI tasks to drive greater productivity alongside automated contextual engagement,” said Maria Bell, senior research analyst at CCS Insight. “We will see a lot more mapping between the frontline process and operations through to the back end systems and components. Application code observability and explainability are going to be key features of future solutions along with value stream management and management dashboards.”
The Internet of Things and increasing number of connected devices will build on developments in network technology to improve productivity and efficiency aided by the increased penetration of 4G and 5G services. The growing adoption of short-range wireless connectivity technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and ZigBee for multiple applications such as patient monitoring devices, wireless beacons, and smart appliances will further drive growth.
“Tools and solutions will have to increasingly support hybrid environments, such as multi cloud or on premise, and be able to easily connect things at the edge,” added Bell. “They will also need the ability to connect to a broad swathe of products and allow composability so that as things come on the network that they are visible, they will need to be API led and connections will need to be standard.
“We’ll see a convergence of the number of different tools and perhaps a consolidation of types of applications, portals for solutions will see improved visual Tableau styling, and will be more platform centric. Application platforms like Microsoft 365, Salesforce and ServiceNow are present in every industry sector, and already widely deployed in organisations. Their ubiquity, in simplifying complexity in an intuitive way, as well as their use of visual styling and dashboards places platforms as the forerunners of interconnected systems of the future.”
Workplace transformation
Connectivity is key tobusiness needs as industry witnesses a transformation in the workplace. A recent CCS Insight workplace survey showed that fixed office networks are the biggest connectivity frustration. “As workers return to the office and continue to participate in online meetings it will put more pressure on corporate networks and fuel demand for more reliable office Wi-Fi,” said Bell. “Almost a third of all respondents in our survey said the lack of reliable Wi-Fi was problematic.
“Interconnectivity is transforming the way we interact, the way we organise ourselves how we communicate and how we work. According to CCS Insight 2022 senior leadership survey, only 40 per cent of desk based employees are back to full time office working with the remaining 60 per cent split equally between full time remote and hybrid work. And our employee workplace survey, showing that only 12 per cent of remote workers want to work in an office full time. This balance is expected to say to remain largely consistent and hybrid working is here to stay.”
