M2M: Operators vs. IT Service Providers

K. Weldon

Summary Bullets:

• Operators note that the annual increases in their M2M connections are running in the 25-40% range, which aligns with their own predictions and with overall industry growth estimates that would lead to a market of several billion connections by 2020.
• As connectivity commoditizes, however, value-added services are the real ‘meat,’ estimated to generate as much as 70-80% of the total M2M revenue base over time.  What are the IT service providers doing to get some of this service revenue for themselves?

IT service providers are not standing idly by as operators start to offer consulting, advisory, and managed services for M2M.  In fact, many of them are actually empowering operators to gain M2M revenues through their telco vertical practices.  For example, Accenture and Tech Mahindra empower operators by offering assistance in making telcos’ business models more profitable, and by providing custom application development for the carriers’ enterprise customers.  However, there is an increasingly blurry line between what operators need to do to go up the value chain and what IT service providers traditionally do themselves.  How aggressive are companies such as IBM, Accenture, Logica, and Tech Mahindra in M2M; which areas provide partnering opportunities; and which areas do they want for themselves?  A few examples: