As the Internet of Things blankets the globe, industries will need to adapt to emerging machine-to-machine (M2M) technologies, and that includes B2B operations. Emerging markets, especially, will need to take advantage of M2M innovations to drive business and economic growth.
Communications technology conglomerate Ericsson has announced a new M2M initiative for Indonesia aimed at facilitating the expansion of both B2B and B2C operations in the nation. According to reports released Wednesday (March 3), Ericsson’s Indonesian unit has joined forces with Indostat, a leading telco network in the nation, to launch a M2M platform aimed at boosting IoT integration in the nation.
Known as the Ericsson Device Connection Platform, the new solution is targeted towards developing economies to offer cloud-based services to its business customers.
According to the announcement, the new M2M platform will aid B2B processes including procurement, billing, payment and other day-to-day logistics. The platform will additionally offer real-time data insight into traffic, and the platform can be fully integrated into businesses’ existing systems, the companies said.
The launch of Ericsson’s DCP is the first of four for the partnership. The companies added that in addition to Indonesia, the M2M solution will also be released in Qatar, Algeria and Tunesia.
According to Dr. Nasser Marafih, the Group CEO of Ooredoo – which owns Indostat, the service provides more agile support for businesses in the nation. “Additionally,” he said, “the platform will play a key role in speeding up the implementation of smart city technologies, supporting our customers’ Connected Lives and helping develop smarter economies, smarter infrastructure, smarter environments and smarter governance in the markets that we operate.”
The hyperconnected Internet of Things world is expected to reach 5.4 billion connections by 2020 in the B2B market alone, according to a recent report by Verizon Enterprise. IoT aims to utilize the data pouring in from all of these connections and analyze it for the benefit of business operations, a service crucial to B2B players monitoring their global supply chains and payments, especially as e-commerce and technology innovators focus on emerging markets for new progress.