In 2015, 26 companies globally spent US$ 1 billion or more each on Internet of Things (IoT) initiatives. While most people in companies and government bodies read and set aside for the future the “hype” of IoT, there are some that are putting in the hard work and investment now.
According to the TCS Global Trend Study 2015 (free download, registration required or just watch the four minute video below), the IoT Leaders are in seven industries- banking and financial services; automotive; travel, hospitality, and transportation; high tech; insurance; telecommunications; retailing; and healthcare and life sciences. Notably, these industries operate in the “real-world” and IoT is not limited to a single sector.
“Digitally reimagine their businesses”
The report lists seven characteristics of companies that have generated the most revenue from their existing investments in connected technology. Top of that list is that “early IoT leaders are more likely to digitally reimagine their businesses and produce substantial value for customers – not just value for themselves.”
The notion that companies have to “digitally reimagine” their business has increasingly appeared in the last few years in different contexts. Whether it is Artificial Intelligence or IoT or Big Data or Virtual/Augmented Reality or any other exponential technology, a common theme is fundamental re-thinking of how companies achieve their core strategic vision.
Digital Reimagination In NZ
New Zealand companies and local government bodies clearly don’t have the scale or resources to make billion dollar investments in IoT. They do, however, have a pressing need and opportunity to digitally reimagine how they will achieve their core strategic vision. This isn’t about “number 8 wire” bottom-up innovation but strategic leadership in its truest sense.
In fact, I think it is the very lack of our scale and resources that provides the basis for pragmatic and effective IoT initiatives in NZ. We need to however be careful that this digital remagination is not in isolation from the context that the report highlighted, “produce substantial value for customers – not just value for themselves.”
Towards this goal of helping companies and local government bodies take advantage of IoT in their digital reimagination and creating customer value, KotahiNet recently more clearly laid out what advisory services it can provide specifically to them.
Digital reimagination is not a single, one-off exercise. Nothing is constant and insights are iterative, derived from learning by moving forward. That’s why KotahiNet’s advisory services for businesses and government bodies ranges from educational to strategic to operational to projects and back again.