Vodafone has pulled together an enterprise bundled with the various component parts in an IoT stack to enable business customers in the UK to make their own IoT solutions. The UK division is working with IoT.nxt, acquired by Vodafone’s South Africa-based operating company Vodacom last year, on the proposition, which it reckons will “extend” its local “lead” in the IoT space among the operator set.
Vodafone UK said it will offer customers “every part of an IoT solution”, covering sensors and other IoT devices, including after-market units to integrate legacy equipment into IP-based IoT comms, plus a single data management platform to oversee operations, and ongoing support (“professional services”). The move will remove barriers to adoption, including for companies without specialist in-house IoT capabilities.
It will target the utilities, logistics, public transport, healthcare, manufacturing, and building management sectors, as a matter of priority. New research from Vodafone on the ‘smart buildings’ market says investment in IoT stands to reduce carbon emissions by 1.2 million tonnes per year in public-sector buildings, and save taxpayers up to £380 million annually. It could save energy usage in buildings by 15 percent, it said.
Vodafone has polled the market, it said, to find 87 percent of early adopters in the UK have seen quick returns on their IoT investments, with 76 percent claiming to be able “to do things they couldn’t do before”. At the same time, it said complexity in IoT remains an obstacle, and the new proposition from its IoT team looks to ease deployments, consolidating multiple processes, and old and new devices, on one platform.
Anne Sheehan, UK business director at Vodafone, commented: “We’re taking away complexity, and making it simple to deploy, simple to manage, and simple to see the return on investment. With our colleagues at IoT.nxt we can be unique in the UK market – we’ll grow our leadership position from here, and deliver customers a digital capability that will prove invaluable in meeting the pressures of business today.”
Nico Steyn, chief executive at IoT.nxt, said: “After a successful collaboration with Vodacom in South Africa, we are thrilled to power the new era of Vodafone UK’s IoT strategy. IoT is perceived by many businesses to be complex and bespoke, but it doesn’t have to be. We hope to change that perception with a platform which can be adapted to any business, and type of connection, and any use case.”
