Additionally, sophisticated users are bringing more lines of business into their program, recognizing it as one of the best ways to unify disparate parts of the business. M2M may start as a single business process – for instance, scheduling a retailer’s restocking – but expands to span and integrate several processes. For example, automatically tracking sales across sites cannot only help plan restocking visits, but guide strategy for where to open new stores, give input into which new products should be sourced or developed, and help production make more accurate estimates.

Another facet of this evolution is that, previously, M2M has been used to automate internal business processes. However, two-way communication is now enabling more sophisticated customer facing applications. Companies are evolving their M2M strategies to drive new customer experiences, increase retention, and push for more revenue through customer-facing connected products and services.  In fact, 66 percent of those already using M2M say their M2M strategy today focuses on external audiences. 

However, as M2M becomes more sophisticated, and takes on a transformative role and expands across business processes, it poses some challenges to organizations. Its ownership and position within the organization will change, and could be a point of contention. Technology decisions and implementations are traditionally the domain of the IT department; however, M2M projects are already seen as innovation projects by 21 percent of businesses. CEOs, senior leaders and strategy roles are most likely to see M2M in the context of innovation initiatives. As M2M plays a larger role in determining customer experience and competitive advantage, we predict that by 2016, more than a third of businesses will describe their M2M projects as innovation projects – and it will not be owned by IT.

A Study in Sophistication: Skypatrol

Another facet of this new phase of M2M is that businesses are increasing the size and scope of M2M initiatives by adding more M2M connections, expanding into new countries and connecting new devices. More than half of organizations studied have added more connections and four in ten have expanded solutions into more countries. With the seemingly limitless potential of M2M, businesses need to be sure to implement solutions that are “future-proof” and will allow them to expand functionality, as well as geographies, with ease.

Take Skypatrol as an example. Skypatrolis, a leading supplier of integrated GPS tracking solutions, providing turnkey risk mitigation and tracking solutions for the vehicle finance market, new car dealers, rental car companies and fleet managers globally. To manage its nearly 1 million different devices installed in vehicles, truck fleets, construction equipment, and oil and mining operations worldwide, the company wanted to leverage a global M2M network for reliable and efficient connectivity for their electronic-tracking services.

By doing so, Skypatrol can pursue a sophisticated M2M strategy – with the ability to expand into new markets easily. For example, Skypatrol provides solutions for motorcycle and car dealerships in the Stolen Vehicle Recovery space in addition to serving the vehicle finance market often referred to as “Buy Here Pay Here”. These turnkey solutions can now be readily launched in any of the countries supported by Vodafone’s Global M2M SIM. Additionally, Skypatrol can provide services around the world without being distracted with the task of country-by-country IT integration, allowing it to focus on its core business while expanding its offerings into new markets.

Adding another layer of sophistication, Skypatrol’s Fleet Command solution moves beyond GPS tracking to fleet automation with data analytics, to manage fleets of any size. M2M is at the heart of their innovative solutions as well as the growth of the company overall.

What’s Next for M2M?  

M2M in 2015 has been an exciting year for M2M, and 2016 will prove to be as well. With more businesses than ever before acknowledging the potential of M2M, and more companies across a greater number of sectors embracing M2M, it is being used across business in innovative ways – cementing the future of M2M as a key business driver. This next phase in M2M’s evolution presents new opportunities for organizations that take their businesses to the next level today.

The question now is not whether to adopt M2M – but how best to use it to drive a business forward.  Leaders are bridging business functions and extending M2M beyond the company's four walls. They are eradicating siloes and sharing data, then leveraging that data to transform the way they are making decisions and doing business. Those who take this sophisticated approach and make M2M part of their DNA will see the greatest impact on their businesses.