Vodafone Group has published its second annual ‘M2M Adoption Barometer’, a global survey of the machine-to-machine (M2M) market, which shows that companies in Asia Pacific were among the leaders in M2M adoption globally. The survey, carried out by Circle Research, captured the views of more than 600 executives – 38 per cent of whom were from the Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific (AMAP) region - involved in setting M2M strategy in seven key industries across 14 countries.

M2M, which connects previously isolated machines or devices to the internet to make the ‘Internet of Things’ possible, is now a mainstream solution. The survey findings suggest that 22 per cent of organisations on average globally have adopted M2M, an increase of over 80 per cent on last year. In 2014, 27 per cent of AMAP based companies on average have adopted M2M solutions – a 15 point increase over 2013. Average adoption rates were 21 per cent in Europe and 17 per cent in the Americas.

The 2014 survey predicts that the AMAP region will continue to lead the rest of the world over the next couple of years – with adoption expected to hit 48 per cent on average across companies based in this region in 2015. This year’s report also suggests that by 2016 the gap will be negligible with all regions close to 55 per cent average for adoption.

Globally three sectors have emerged as front runners in M2M with nearly 30 per cent adoption rates: automotive, consumer electronics, and energy and utilities. Vodafone’s report shows that the consumer electronics sector is at the forefront of a shift from the warehouse to the living room. Automotive is the most mature of the sectors where M2M is now seen as an enabler for additional services such as remote maintenance and infotainment. M2M adoption in energy and utilities is also growing rapidly as ‘smart’ home and office services such as intelligent heating and connected security gain popularity.

While more firms are seeing a return on investment from M2M than last year – 46 per cent of respondents cited a ‘significant increase’ compared with 36 per cent in 2013 – there are still some barriers to adoption, including managing security concerns and the challenges of global deployment.

Niklas Ekarv, Director of Machine-to-Machine in Asia Pacific said, “This year’s report findings leaves no doubt that momentum is accelerating as companies in Asia Pacific begin to realise the commercial potential of the Internet of Things. Machina Research expects M2M connections in Asia to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20 per cent till 2023. This technology is transforming whole industries across Asia as companies find new ways to operate and engage with their customers. Greater China is expected to dominate Asian M2M revenues as per Machina Research, followed by Japan, India, Korea and Australia. Vodafone has invested in capabilities across Asia Pacific to become the provider of choice for M2M solutions.”

Alex Chau, Principal Analyst at Machina Research said, “We estimate that the market in Asia Pacific is expected to grow to over 9.4 billion connections by 2023 and is expected to be worth over US$679 billion in revenues – a 4x multiplier increase over 2013. Vodafone’s M2M Barometer report indicates just how fast M2M is being adopted. M2M technologies are being used more and more to drive efficiency and add new features, giving companies a competitive edge. It is also starting to facilitate new ways of working, fundamentally changing how organisations do business and how they serve their customers.”