DHL-Cisco report reveals key role for mobile in logistics plan

DHL and Cisco have jointly released a new trend report which has predicted that the Internet of Things (IoT) will be worth over $8 Trillion by 2025, $1.9 Trillion of which will derive from the logistics sector.
The logistics sector is widely regarded as one of the fastest growing verticals in the M2M market, and thus operators will be encouraged that another two key players have inferred that mobile will play a key role in their plans to use IoT to improve business.
The report contains several detailed use cases that take into account a range of technologies, including mobile. Mobile will play a key role in transferring data within the overall supply chain, such as warehousing operations, freight transportation and ‘last mile delivery’.
For example, mobile will allow freight to be meticulously tracked, greatly increasing the security of cargo. M2M connectivity will also ensure more efficient delivery through real time detection of vehicular faults, and enable the identification of the best travel routes, by avoiding congestion and adverse weather. The Trend Report also contains a number of examples how meaningful decisions can be made from processing Big data (Big Data analytics), which, in turn, will increase productivity, health and safety, and running costs for the logistics sector.
In the publication, DHL and Cisco also identify a number of other key areas of growth in the IoT, including smart parking, energy monitoring, smart grids and usage-based insurance, all of which are known to have mobile solutions.
The report follows the collaboration between DHL, the largest global logistics company and Cisco, the global network equipment provider, devised to improve warehouse efficiency through real time analytics. This is a reminder that the growth of the IoT is being accelerated by collaboration and another example of heavyweight multinationals using mobile to unlock new IoT revenue streams.