Field Service Insight Trend #2: IoT - Computing At The Edge

This is part two of a five-part series outlining the top trends in the field service market. Our second trend is one that will be open up new deployment opportunities for a wide range of industries.

Technology Disruptions

The technology landscape for IoT devices is undergoing a big change. The data protocols used to connect assets to the cloud are being upgraded, providing new opportunities and use cases for a wide range of industries. Although the shift from 3G to LTE has been in place for consumer technology, its impacts on commercial telematics is just starting to be felt. This is especially true for North America where many of the large network carriers are rolling out new dedicated protocols and expanding to other markets in Europe and China.

LTE technology offers many new capabilities for commercial applications beyond the obvious improvements in bandwidth. Most telematics use cases have specialized needs and LTE is well positioned to provide additional value and new opportunities. Berg Insights has forecasted and accelerated deployment of LTE, which will replace 2G (GPRS & CDMA) and 3G networks in the next few years. This rollout of new technology will provide many new opportunities for improving field service delivery.