SMEs have found their best practices for the IoT – and are looking around to see what else can be done with the constant stream of data.

No signs of hesitation and procrastination: The Internet of Things (IoT) is establishing itself among Germany’s small and medium-sized businesses. However, companies are no longer limited to monitoring and controlling machines and processes. They want to do even more with the constant stream of data sources. Because: critically checked and sensibly combined, they enable much more exciting applications. Thus, digital services and business models have landed on the priority list of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and are likely to become even more relevant. This is the finding of the PAC study "The Internet of Things in German SMEs 2019: Importance, Fields of Application and Status of Implementation," which was conducted on behalf of Deutsche Telekom and looked at 161 companies from the retail, logistics, transport and utilities sectors as well as the manufacturing industry.

IOT APPLICATION CASES FROM REAL LIFE

In the SME sector, 12 fields of application for the IoT are crystallizing, which can be divided into three groups:

1. Monitoring and controlling processes and devices remotely
2. Analyzing sensor data and thus automating processes
3. New digital business models such as maintenance-as-a-service

Fundamentally, the study emphasizes, it is nothing new for small and medium-sized businesses to monitor and control devices and processes. Particularly in the logistics, transport and supply sectors, as these benefit most if the entire supply chain is transparent.

SCHMITZ CARGOBULL – THE TRAILERS IN THE IOT

How do you monitor a fleet of several hundred or thousand vehicles? The Westphalian SME Schmitz Cargobull, for example, not only sells its customers trailers, but also, on request, the appropriate telematics solution to efficiently manage the vehicle fleet. An IoT solution from Telekom transfers the data from each networked trailer via mobile communications to the screen of Schmitz-Cargobull’s customers. The fleet managers use this system to locate their vehicles in order to predict exactly when they will reach their destination. In addition, they are always notified if the doors have been opened or a trailer has been stolen. For refrigerated transports, they also monitor the temperature in the hold and the fill level of the refrigerator tank.