Happy New Year! With each new year, you have the opportunity to evaluate the past year and set goals and strategies for the coming year. This year, at Savi, we want to help companies take advantage of the immense opportunity to leverage what is possible with the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, and advanced analytics.
We know that many supply chain dependent companies are still hesitant to implement IoT technologies due to the belief that new digital technologies are more applicable in the consumer market. Although, what they don’t know is that IoT technologies are already transforming the supply chain by providing intelligence that leads to numerous operational outcomes—such as true visibility, accurate estimated time of arrivals, risk identification, predictive modeling to anticipate supply chain changes, and insight into improved operational processes.
To make our case, we want to share new market intelligence by IDC, a premier global provider of market intelligence for supply chain and technology markets, which confirms the impressive influence that IoT technologies are expected to have on supply chain operations and why these technologies are worth adopting this year.
IDC has defined IoT-enabled analytics as a new market that will continue to drive unforeseen operational benefits in the supply chain—estimating that the global market for the IoT will maintain a compound annual growth rate of 16.9% to reach over $1.7 trillion from 2014 through 2020[i].
They state that the IoT has the power to change the way traditional supply chains operate by enabling “a layer of agility and responsiveness never before seen.” They believe that this is only possible through IoT-enabled analytics and its ability to turn raw data into actionable insight. More so, IDC anticipates that intelligent devices and sensors will be a major source of data in the supply chain with an estimated 28.1 billion sensor devices connected via the IoT by 2020.
Good news is that most companies are already generating large volumes of data, but they struggle with challenges around handling raw data because it is riddled with duplicate, corrupt, and incomplete messages. That’s where IoT and analytics come in. Only an advanced analytics solution will be able to turn raw data into actionable intelligence. With this type of intelligence, companies are able to receive end-to-end supply chain visibility as well as insights to anticipate problems, forecast outcomes, prescribe solutions, and prevent costly disruptions.
Companies that are already adopting IoT technologies within their supply chains have been able to distinguish themselves from competitors by gaining knowledge to create dynamic, resilient supply chains. As a result, we hope that supply chain companies will resolve to adopt technology innovations that leverage the power of IoT, Big Data, and analytics to maintain their growth in the coming years.
[i] IoT-Enabled Analytic Applications Revolutionize Supply Chain Planning and Execution, IDC Whitepaper, 2015