Platforms for the Industrial Internet of Things and B2B

The business-to-business (B2B) and industrial aspects of the Internet of Things (or Industrial Internet of Things, IIoT) constitute one of the main market segments. While it may not get as much mainstream media attention or not really be noticed by the average consumer, some of the most important developments in IoT software are happening in the B2B/IIoT segment, and that’s where some of the biggest pain points lie between large companies.

The IIoT covers a range of products and intelligent principles for data-driven design, application and automation in industry (where the “industrial” part of the name is often used for other industries such as manufacturing, automotive, infrastructure, etc.). The aim of the IIoT is to enable companies, for example, to increase the profitability of their internal processes, ensure optimal resource allocation and improve the offering for their customers.

In 2017, Bain & Company predicted that the B2B market would grow to more than $330 billion per year by 2020 — more than double the value of the consumer/residential/home market — and that about $85 billion -Dollars of that amount would have accrued to the industrial sector. Industrial sector (see figure below, source: Bain and Company).

However, one of the biggest challenges in the IIoT industry is that there is currently no clear and obvious leader or single standardized platform used by most companies. In many ways, this is not surprising: the variety of industrial and commercial activities undertaken means that creating a single all-in-one platform would pose an enormous challenge and would probably not be able to more specifically meet the needs of specialized companies Platform.

There is competition between some of the leading international industrial and technology groups and billions of dollars are being spent on research, development and implementation of the IIoT. Just to name a few:

– GE ma Predix ;

– Siemens, Mindsfera ;

– Schneider Electric, EcoStruxure ;

– Atos, Kodeks ;

– PTC, ThingWorx;

– ABB, ABB capacity; AND

– Microsoft, Azure.