IoT Maturity Doubles as Partner Program Ecosystems Expand to Target Growing Enterprise Demand

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In its recent analysis ranking more than 500 companies on their IoT service capabilities, ABI Research finds that both partner programs and their member companies continue to mature in their IoT offerings, with 59% of listed organizations receiving a high IoT maturity grade. This is nearly double the number of organizations that received a high maturity ranking when ABI Research first analyzed these IoT ecosystems in September 2015. This increase in IoT maturity stems in part from the actions of partner program parents who offered their members access to training and certification programs.

“Within these ecosystems, there is a continuing shift from traditional volume-based partnerships to value-based partner engagements,” says Ryan Harbison, Research Analyst at ABI Research. “These IoT programs require a higher level of engagement from both parents and participants who together seek to offer a differentiated solution using a diverse and sometimes undifferentiated set of technologies.”  

The ecosystems offer primarily B2B solutions to clients looking to utilize IoT solutions to increase sales opportunities and decrease operating costs within specific vertical markets. Over a nearly two-year period, ABI Research identifies a 40% increase in the number of companies offering manufacturing, industrial, and enterprise IoT solutions. The biggest increase, however, occurred in the hospitality segment, which saw a 164% growth in the number of companies offering vertical-specific solutions. This is due to increasing demand from hotels looking to monitor and automate building processes while also offering guests personalized digital experiences.

Companies active in these ecosystems range from hardware providers such as Aaeon-Onyx, Renesas, and HCL Technologies to development tools and services providers like Cognizant Technology Solutions, VMware, and Capgemini. While the success of these programs is dependent on collaboration among hardware, connectivity, and software providers, these ecosystems skew more toward the software side than the hardware side. The IoT service categories with the biggest increase in participants are connectivity management services and device cloud to device software platforms.  

“It is crucial to track changes within these ecosystems, because these developments reflect the trajectory of the overall IoT market,” concludes Harbison. “Enterprises and end-users across all vertical markets will continue to turn to these ecosystems to more effectively navigate the otherwise fragmented technology and supplier landscape.”