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Ericsson
interviewed 25 original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in different sectors to
reveal six key drivers that will change the trajectory of their current
business. Ericsson’s new report, “Connected Industries - A Guide to
Based
on interviews with 25 global OEMs, industry experts identify their
digitalization challenges and the goals they want to achieve. They describe how
cellular technology and 5G enables their digital transformation to serve their
customers better. Sectors such as smart metering, automotive and
industrial are represented.
The
number of cellular IoT connections is expected to reach 5 billion by 2025 –
with most of this growth coming from enterprises. Gartner* expects that by
2021, 50 percent of OEMs will use their IoT offerings to obtain data on usage
to drive their product strategy. This is up from 25 percent today. By 2022, 75
percent of OEMs will use their IoT products to sell new services or consumable
offerings to their customers, up from 28 percent today. These numbers point to
a promising potential for enterprises that understand the need to transform
their businesses and products digitally.
The
report outlines six common drivers among the surveyed enterprises. From a
business point of view, they need to transform products and services to remain
competitive, optimize to increase efficiency and achieve sustainability goals.
From a technology perspective, drivers include digitalization with automation
and data insights, security to stay ahead of threats, and flexibility to scale.
Grundfos
is a Denmark-based water pump manufacturer and one of the enterprises that was
interviewed. Established in 1945 it is now a USD 3 billion multinational
enterprise and is working with Ericsson to incorporate IoT into its pumps.
As commercial and industrial buildings become “smart,” building managers
and owners are demanding that every element of their infrastructure be
connected. Grundfos’ ultimate goal is to provide water-as-a-service — all made
possible by digitalization. Using cellular technology in both pumps and pump
production, Grundfos is a leading example of a global organization harnessing
the power of enterprise IoT.
Fredrik
Östbye, Group Vice President and Head of FutureLab at Grundfos, says,
“Global cellular connectivity allows us to determine not only when a pump may
need to be replaced, but also how to optimize the flow and delivery of water.
These analytic capabilities put us in a position to successfully evolve our
business model from selling pumps to eventually selling water as a service.
We’re also exploring the potential of cellular technology in our manufacturing
facilities. By introducing a 5G network in one of our plants, we set out to
investigate new opportunities in industrial production.”
Kiva
Allgood, Head of IoT at Ericsson, says, “Digital transformation is a team sport
and we are thankful for the tremdous amount of insight our enterprise partners
have shared on how they are transforming, how they make money, save money and
launch new services. The insights they have shared about what is critical in
their digitial transformation journey validates the need for a secure,
reliable and global dedicated cellular IoT network.
* Gartner, “Drive IoT Product Strategy Based on OEMs’ Benefit
Priorities,” Published 12 August 2019