Utilisation of the Internet of Things (IoT) during the pandemic crisis

Business application of IoT

Christian Leiva Beltran, Head of IoT solutions at RS Components, a global supplier of industrial components and tools, has first-hand experience of operating in the market. He cites security concerns and a prevailing “wired and on-site server” approach to industrial infrastructure being the main barriers to wide scale adoption. The vision of smart factories and networked logistics he presents is compelling, but he is clear that we are a long way off this sort of mass adoption. “There would need to be significant alignment across the value chain for this to be possible” he says.

The use cases are certainly out there - PwC for example have identified multiple segments where IoT utilisation could drive significant operational efficiencies[3], but the last few years can be characterised by a frustrating proof-of-concept phase, when it comes to the business application of IoT technologies.

Things might well be changing following the advent of the coronavirus pandemic, though. Christian is pragmatic about the scale of the pandemic effect, but he does see the landscape developing. “We think that the coronavirus pandemic will push manufacturers in the direction of IoT adoption” he says. He cites pre-existing clients who have been able to adjust to the realities of social distancing with less disruption to their industrial operations.

IoT technologies have facilitated real time monitoring of equipment and industrial components remotely, whereas those without the benefits of IoT technology have had to reduce operations or shut down entirely. “Given the pandemic, pragmatically, there will not be any sudden increase in demand for IoT right now” Christian says. But he expects the use case for IoT to be incredibly compelling when the pandemic passes, as the value proposition becomes even stronger. There may well be demand for remotely controlled industrial equipment, as practical benefits begin to win out over other concerns.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that macroeconomic uncertainty will play its part in dampening spend on IoT technologies in the short term, but the use case for industrial operations and supply chains underpinned by IoT technologies, as well as the other myriad of sectors, has become more apparent than ever. As economies stutter back into life, and capex begins to flow, we expect that implementing these operational efficiencies will be on top of a lot of agendas.