SINGAPORE, Nov. 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital disruption
is set to be the norm across industries as they look to transform
to keep their business relevant amidst the ever changing
technological landscape. The implementation of enabling
technologies such as low cost sensors, cloud computing, advanced
data analytics and mobility are expected to drive this
revolution.
Key examples of industries expected to undergo IT driven
transformations include Energy (Smart Grids), Media (Content
Streaming) and Manufacturing (3D Printing), all of which will be
influenced by the Internet of Things.
Mr. Andrew Milroy, Senior Vice
President, ICT Practice, Asia
Pacific at Frost & Sullivan identifies 5 key areas that
will be driven by the influence of the Internet of Things.
"By 2017, the Internet of Things (IoT) market will be one of the
fastest growing segments in the Asia
Pacific technology industry. The total Asia Pacific spending on IoT spending is
forecasted to be US$59 billion by
2020. This offers real opportunities, especially in areas of
manufacturing and consumer technology, which are expected to be two
of the fastest growing segments over the next two years," opined
Mr. Milroy.
The level of digitization in the manufacturing industry has not
kept up with the pace of other industries such as telecoms but the
onset of Industry 4.0 is set to change that. Various initiatives by
organizations such as the Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition
(SMLC), aim to bring together stakeholders to develop the measures
needed to facilitate the broad adoption of manufacturing
intelligence.
Besides manufacturing, the wearables market is also experiencing
strong growth. Frost & Sullivan estimates the global wearable
technology market at US$8.58 billion
in 2014 and will reach US$38 billion
in 2017 with a CAGR of 34% from 2014 to 2018. According to Mr.
Milroy, the Asia Pacific region
accounts for just over 4% of the global market and will lag behind
other mature markets in North
America and Europe in the
uptake of wearables, which are currently dominated by standalone
devices such as activity trackers and wearable recordings.
"It is expected that wearables such as smart watches and smart
glasses with a wider range of functions will eventually overtake
all other wearable devices to adopt a premium position in the
market. Notably, the smart glasses are anticipated to do extremely
well, with many promising application opportunities across
industries such as healthcare and manufacturing," noted Mr.
Milroy.
2015 is seen to be the year of software-defined everything as
the software defined revolution spreads beyond the boundaries of
the data centres. Programmable networks will enable the creation of
new business applications and services which will drive
efficiencies and new service models.
The adoption of the Internet of Things is however not without
its challenges, as there are several hurdles that could prevent it
from achieving rapid growth. Security and information privacy are
some of the largest hurdles to the adoption of IoT. With smart and
connected devices embedded in business processes and tied to
critical functions, the ability to negatively affect enterprises
and individuals is increased significantly.
Mobile Outlook 2015
Traditional mobile communications revenue comprising of voice
and non-voice (mobile data and SMS services) was estimated to be
US$567 billion in 2014. The market
will continue to grow, albeit at a modest rate of 2.7% over a
5-year CAGR to reach US$627 billion
by 2018. To buffer the decline in voice and SMS, data consumption
is expected to drive revenue growth across most of Asia, with key factors including LTE services,
smartphone proliferation and an increase in the consumption of
multimedia content such as real time gaming and video
entertainment; all of which are bandwidth intensive especially for
larger screen devices.
In particular, Mr. Ajay Sunder,
Vice President of Telecoms, Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific
pointed out that data driven devices, rise of the digital consumer
and declining revenue per unit of data are key trends that service
providers should take note in devising their strategy in the
digital era.
"Whilst falling smartphone prices, generous telecom plans and a
high smartphone penetration rate of 72% in Singapore provides growth opportunities for
service providers to generate revenue through digital media, they
must be mindful of the exponential data surge and resulting network
congestion which will compromise the quality of experience that is
expected in a mature market like Singapore," Mr. Sunder noted.
2015: Data Driven Devices
Smartphone penetration across the region is steadily rising,
along with a growing number of smart devices. These data driven
devices are accelerating the shift from voice to data usage
transition. "The multi-screen trend continues as consumers benefit
from declining prices especially with popularity of new brands such
as Xiaomi. Rising smartphone users are causing a faster shift from
voice heavy users to data heavy users especially in the more
developed markets," said Mr. Sunder.
"Vendors that are able to support the seamless sharing of
content and applications across multiple devices will have an
advantage. Nevertheless, with the recent popularity of phablets
(hybrid of smartphones and tablet), there is a trend towards
multi-tasking on a single device," he added.
As the growth in data is leading to an increase in ARPU for
operators, revenue per incremental MB is falling. Operators are
buffering the decline with multi-SIM packages to take advantage of
the multi-device trend. However, the consolidation of devices via a
phablet may challenge that strategy.
2015: Rise of the Digital Consumer
The usage of social media is becoming more prevalent across
Asia with Facebook being the most
popular social media platform in many countries. In view that 59%
of the 3.2 million Internet users in Singapore uses Facebook, service providers are
increasingly leveraging upon social media platform as an important
tool in their promotion and marketing campaigns.
"Besides social media, there is a growing necessity for service
providers to re-evaluate their reliance on traditional mobile
services and invest in new areas of growth. The Internet of Things
offers opportunities across different industry verticals such as
transportation because the service provider sits right in the
middle of the eco-system," said Mr Sunder.
"Service providers have to move beyond their comfort zones and
establish partnerships with third parties such as vendors, device
makers and chip set modules providers in developing an ecosystem
that will incentivize the proliferation of value-added service that
consumers and enterprises are willing to pay to fill the void in
traditional revenue," Mr Sunder added.
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Media contact:
Melissa Tan
Corporate Communications – Asia
Pacific
P: +65 6890 0926
E: melissa.tan@frost.com