Smart Channels MARKET REPORT
“The more skillsets you have in-house, the stronger your position will be when discussing IoT strategies.
Whilst investment may be significant, having a broad understanding of the complexities will enable
house. Individuals with skills
and knowledge can be a real
advantage when pushing into the
IoT arena, this will not only help
your customers feel con dent
you are serious about delivering
IoT in their business, but it will
also help in upskilling other
team members.
What I wouldn’t recommend
is investing in an infrastructure
and platforms in the early stages
of including this to a Partner’s
portfolio. It is costly and time
consuming, rst steps should
be nding an expert Business to
partner with, giving them access
to everything their customers
should need.”
Where to start
e IoT opportunity is
undoubtedly huge, some might
say its too big to digest. For
partners looking to step into
this world there are a number of
areas where it would pay to focus
rather than trying to swallow
the ‘IoT beast’ whole. I asked my
IoT experts if smart buildings
was a channel opportunity.
Cunli e says, “Smart
buildings are indeed a prime
opportunity—after all, every
business needs a building. And
with government legislation
cracking down on business
energy usage, smart building
management is becoming very
important very fast.”
Also, keep an eye on the
self-driving vehicles market—or
do one better, and get involved
now. With 5G’s near-zero
latency capabilities and policies
being expanded to include them,
we’re about to see some serious
breakthroughs with smart cars.”
Le Saux commented, “Maybe
not every Partner within the
Channel but, for those that
get involved in supplying
infrastructure then this is
an area where they could see
more doors to open.” Jon-Paul Clarke, Business Development Director, Wireless Logic
© greenbutter y-stock.adobe.com
bandwidth, data consumption,
secure interconnects and signal
strength are all considerations to
expedite the right solution for your
customers. And in more instances,
end-to-end solutions requiring
suitable pre-con gured routers are
now coming to the fore.
Importantly, the facilities
management space is becoming
more automated, more selfmanaging,
and more reliant
>
some growth. More and more
businesses are looking at ways
in which they can make their
building smarter, greener and
generally more energy e cient.
ere are lots of retro- t
solutions in the marketplace now
that can be utilised in the Smart
Business space. But without the
knowledge and skills to be able
to articulate to an end-user the
long-term bene ts of a Smart
Building this could be a missed
opportunity.
Alternative connectivity
solutions are also critical in the
Smart Building space. Whilst a
large percentage of the Channel
will be aware of xed line and
cellular as a way of making
buildings and objects ‘smart’,
these forms of connectivity may
not be the optimal solution
or may not work in certain
areas of a building. Low Power
solutions such as LoRa, Sigfox
and BLE are critical to delivering
Smart Building and making
sure a Partner can o er a mix
of traditional connectivity and
alternative connectivity solutions
will be key to winning in this
space.”
Jon-Paul Clarke said, “If
facilities management, HVAC
(Heating, Ventilation, Air
Conditioning) lift control,
access management, CCTV,
parking, and more are your
areas of expertise, then yes,
smart buildings is a growth area
for IoT connectivity. But for
each application, factors such as
on the ability to deliver free-
WARNING!
JON-PAUL CLARKE, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR,
WIRELESS LOGIC
“Of course, position yourself as experts, but experts within your specifi c
vertical markets that you serve, to supplement your core products and
services. Then overlay your expertise and experience with specialists
that can deliver on advanced IoT focused connectivity.
A partner’s expertise should be focused on the all-important
relationship with the customer. Build on what you are doing already with
IoT but don’t let IoT be your downfall. Oversell and under deliver, that is
the danger if you don’t provide the right watertight solution.”
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