The IoT market will accelerate Industrial 4.0 in Asia

Specifically, the connected nature of IoT offers the real-time data insights needed to redefine business models and spearhead industry transformation. Businesses across different industrial and commercial settings are turning to new game-changing technologies built on IoT and harnessing them to enhance their time efficiency, automate response, and improve sustainability.

Against this backdrop of global interest in IoT, it is unsurprising that Asia Pacific IoT spending is expected to reach US$437 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 12.1%¹. According to IDC, this is driven by increased adoption of IoT in areas such as location tracking, facial recognition, remote working, and video-centric application.

This projected boom in IoT adoption in the region is driven by a combination of factors even as Southeast Asia moves up the manufacturing value chain². For instance, overall production is set to rise with the Asian Development Bank forecasting a 5.2% rise in the gross domestic product (GDP) for Asia this year as economies and borders slowly open³.

In addition, the percentage of people in Southeast Asia categorised as middle-class is expected to more than double from 24% today to 51% in 2030, with expected disposal income set to top US$300 billion this year⁴. This growing affluence is driving demand for more manufactured goods even as the manufacturing industry faces mounting pressures to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

To simultaneously produce more and increase sustainability, industries must transform and innovate by turning to Industry 4.0 and leading IoT technologies.

As organisations turn to connected devices, they have two main options: proprietary wireless implementations or cellular-powered devices based on global standards. While there are situations where the former works well, the latter is gaining preference due to its ability to its flexibility and performance for a wide variety of evolving IoT device types, as well as the ability to function regardless of national borders.

This gives industrial original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) the ability to develop products that work across multiple markets in the region, lowering the cost of product development and allowing them to allocate a much larger proportion of their investment towards innovation.

Of course, Southeast Asia is hardly a monolithic region, which means there is no one mobile provider operating across the entire region. This market fragmentation is worsened by factors such as language barriers, cultural differences, as well as differing digital adoption rates and regulations.

These factors contribute to a situation where mobile contracts must be individually negotiated, increasing implementation costs, and serving as an additional barrier that invariably slows down rollouts. Moreover, varying service level agreements (SLAs) further increase the complexity to support cross-border deployments.

One way to overcome the inherent challenges of the APAC connected devices market is for an industrial OEM provider to work with a mobile network operator (MNO) that offers mobile connectivity across multiple countries.

Singtel Multi-Domestic Connectivity Solution eliminates the hassle of dealing with different partners and regulators. Instead, OEMs work with a lead MNO to navigate the complexities of the region from a business, technical and regulatory perspective.

This is possible due to Bridge Alliance, a mobile alliance covering 34 countries, of which Singtel is a founding member. This results in a single process to streamline operations, engagements, and activities, with one contract and a standard service level agreement across multi-domestic markets.

A unified portal support offered by a dedicated team of experts from Singtel offers core network and connectivity management, allowing the real-time management of SIMs from a single pane of glass with centralised monitoring and support, unified reports and analytics, and a unified billing process. Under the hood, an application programming interface (API) allows for rapid integration with various MNO systems for ease of integration.

Ready to tap into the booming APAC market?

¹ IDC Expects Internet of Things Spending in Asia Pacific to Reach $437 Billion in 2025. IDC. Jan 2022.

² How ASEAN Can Move Up the Manufacturing Value Chain. Boston Consulting Group. June 2021.

³ Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2022: Key Messages. Asian Development Bank. April 2022.

⁴ Go 'glocal' to grow in Asean. The Straits Times. Jan 2021.