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12/3/2018 – Article published previously in the blog “USA. And Emerging Markets “of CincoDías.com

Telefónica is the world leader in M2M, Connectivity and IoT, according to Gartner

Telefónica takes advantage of its strong direct presence in Europe and Latin America to develop its managed M2M services business and is distinguished in the market by the aggressive marketing and sale of managed M2M solutions. Of all the Global Digital Telcos in this Gartner Magic Quadrant study, Telefónica maintains the highest percentage of managed service clients.

The strategy of Telefónica promoted by its president, José María Álvarez-Pallete, is to focus on building M2M and IoT solutions in its networks, taking advantage of an ecosystem of value-added hardware and software manufacturers and middleware providers to address vertical markets. Telefónica has invested in acquiring a great experience to offer its clients a convincing portfolio that is distinguished by its management of accounts and services of integration of multisourcing services.

Telefónica continues to show success in the energy and public services, automotive and transportation sectors, and smart city initiatives. Gartner estimates that Telefónica had more than 20 million M2M connections under management at the end of 2016.

According to Gartner, Telefónica’s strengths in M2M are the following:

Telefónica offers managed M2M connectivity services that cover public, private, FAN, 2G, 3G, LTE and satellite LPWANs to a highly satisfied client base (Source: Advice Strategic Study of Business Success of Advice Strategic Consultants).
Telefónica enjoys high levels of satisfaction both for account management and for customer service capacity in Europe and Latin America. Its strength is based on a strong local presence and resources in all the geographies it serves.
Telefónica’s investment in personnel and processes related to the integration of multisourcing services provides a solid capacity to add and integrate service and technology provision associations to guarantee the success of the project and recognize the planned results.

The leading Telco Operators invest in the future of IoT, which includes a continuous generation of value from the IoT edge devices to the IoT platforms and related analyzes. The leading Telco Operators perform skillfully and often exceed expectations. Leaders have a clear vision of market direction and develop competencies to maintain their leadership. Leaders engage customers and provide value in multiple geographies. They form the market, instead of following it, and often set the benchmark for market growth. Leaders have the size and scale (for example, operations, sales and marketing, formal offers and product management) to look for great pan-regional and multinational opportunities for M2M-IoT connectivity. They have established a robust and diverse ecosystem of technology alliances and service delivery partnerships that span IT, OT and IoT to meet broad market requirements.

The context

As companies become more familiar and feel more comfortable with the value and capabilities associated with the digital business, and that M2M and IoT interact with OT, their methods for implementing these solutions are maturing. Today, many connected solutions are planned, implemented and maintained within invisible silos within the business units, such as product marketing, regional business units or operations and engineering.

CIOs should be included in the solution and provider selection process to determine whether managed M2M service providers can also provide a broader pre-integrated IoT solution. This strategy will ensure the profitability and security of these solutions, as well as reduce the opportunity costs of due diligence.
This Magic Quadrant evaluates the Execution Capability and Vision Integrity of 21 providers of managed services of M2M. CIOs can use this information and analysis to help them select supplier contracts that support critical functions and business objectives, as well as to assess the supplier for future capabilities as companies work towards broader IoT solutions.

Market overview

Security will become the main driver of the adoption of M2M and IoT.
According to Gartner surveys, cost reduction continues to be the most cited result that drives the adoption of M2M and IoT services, as companies seek to reduce the cost of service and control assets. As more companies connect more assets and business processes, security will become the number one consideration in the acquisition process. This scrutiny will be inserted in the reviews of the underlying SDPs, applications and management platforms. For example, Gartner expects significant investments in the management of private APNs and VPNs related to M2M services.

M2M

The machine-to-machine (M2M) managed services market allows connectivity, calculation and decision services that are necessary for the connected solutions. The managed services of M2M are a solution element within the broader sets of IoT, digital business and operational technology (OT) solutions in industrial environments. M2M managed services allow companies to collect, analyze and interact with data flows, thus providing companies the ability to monitor, manage and control (manually and through automation) assets associated with business processes.

Managed M2M services can include infrastructure and integrated and managed IT systems, infrastructure and OT systems, software, network services (connectivity) and IT services.

This Magic Quadrant focuses primarily on connectivity and a continuum of related value-added services, such as consulting, M2M device engineering, development and integration of M2M applications, related middleware aggregation, application hosting and related systems management.

Gartner’s coverage of M2M managed services focuses on providers that combine connectivity, technology and technology services that facilitate key business processes and related results.