Monday Morning Impact – September 18

IDC: IoT Showing Opportunities for Service Providers

International Data Corporation (IDC) has issued a report stating that the Internet of Things (IoT) is generating significant opportunities for service providers of all types across every global region.

The Americas region represented 52.2% of the worldwide IoT services market opportunity in 2016. Meanwhile, the EMEA region represented 34.4%, and Asia/Pacific (including Japan) represented 13.4% of the same market during the same time period.

According to the Framingham, Massachusetts-based market researcher, project-based services represented the highest percentage of market opportunity in 2016, and will gain nearly one point of market share to 56.7% by 2021, approaching $30.8 billion. Furthermore, business consulting represents the fastest growing segment of the project-based services market.

“Service providers have a real opportunity in the IoT services market to show significant value to their customers by helping plan, implement, support, and operate IoT initiatives,” said Rebecca Segal, group vice president of worldwide services at IDC.

The study, “Worldwide Internet of Things Services Forecast, 2017-2021,” details the market sizing, spending forecasts and growth rates for the worldwide Internet of Things (IoT) services market as well as provides insights for services firms looking to capitalize on this opportunity.

Channel Impact^®
IoT will open up new customers and new types of offerings for channel partners and other service providers who take a creative and vertical approach to growing their businesses.

Apple and Accenture Forge Alliance to Create iOS Business Solutions

Apple and Accenture are partnering to create solutions that will strengthen the business relevance of iOS.
Accenture will create a dedicated iOS practice within Accenture Digital Studios in select locations around the world. Working in conjunctions with co-located staff from Apple, the combined team is expected to launch a new set of tools and services that will help enterprise clients engage with customers using iPhones and iPads. The teams will likely include visual and experience designers, programmers, data architects and scientists, and hardware and software designers.

“Based on our experience in developing mobile apps, we believe that iOS is the superior mobile platform for businesses and are excited to be partnering with Apple,” said Pierre Nanterme, Accenture’s chairman and CEO. “By combining Accenture’s vast digital capabilities and industry expertise with Apple’s market leadership in creating products that delight customers, we are in a perfect position to help our clients transform the way they work.”

New ecosystem services are expected to help clients address a wide range of iOS integration requirements to connect to back-end systems, leveraging Accenture’s systems integration expertise and the unique iOS advantages built by Apple with key partners like SAP and Cisco.

In addition, planned IoT services will feature new tools, templates and predesigned code to help clients take greater advantage of the data from IoT platforms in their iOS apps. The teams will also develop migration services to help clients more quickly and easily transfer their existing legacy applications and data to iOS.

Channel Impact^®
The two companies bring together complementary synergies that can help extend Apple’s position in the business world, as well as in the rapidly expanding realm of the Internet of Things.

Avnet Acquires Dragon Innovation

Avnet has acquired Dragon Innovation, which comes to the table with a cloud-based platform and human expertise to help manage the full manufacturing process from strategy and planning for earlier stage products to factory selection and production oversight. The acquired company has worked across a wide range of industries including emerging IoT vertical segments such as home automation, wearables, robotics and automotive.

“With the addition of Dragon Innovation to our connected ecosystem, Avnet further meets the needs for companies of all sizes head on – helping them launch new hardware products in an efficient and cost-effective manner that accelerates time to market,” said Avnet CEO Bill Amelio. “Dragon Innovation’s hardware manufacturing expertise augments Avnet’s design and supply chain capabilities beyond electronic components to encompass the entire finished product. Equally important, Dragon Innovation complements our digital strategy by delivering their services through a combination of software and access to subject matter experts matched to the customers’ needs as they move swiftly through the stages of product development.”

“We use a combination of technology and human expertise built into accessible, straightforward online tools,” said Scott N. Miller, chief executive officer of Dragon Innovation. “We are thrilled to be joining Avnet, an established market leader who shares our values and has significant resources and reach to enable us to help companies build hardware better than ever before.”

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Channel Impact^®
Distributors are making major strides in finding new ways to add value above and beyond their more traditional core competencies. The acquisition of Dragon Innovation further enhances Avnet’s role in developing new technology products by simplifying the manufacturing process, particularly for those projects that advance IoT.