The Big M2M Conversation: What2What?

You know what I would like to know? What is the highest degree of separation between human action and machine reaction.

Firstly I think everyone who works in M2M is agreed that it's something of a misnomer. In almost all "M2M" there is actually some user intervention of some sort. We did a calculation a few months ago and in 80% of cases M2M has a human on one end in some way, shape or form. So it also incorporates M2H (machine to human). Secondly the way in which these elements interact is so diverse that it's impossible to come up with a universal rule about what M2M is. Everyone has a different definition depending on their purpose (mostly who they can sell their stuff to) and that's fine. In truth there is no one thing called M2M. It's a (sometimes) handy way to categorise the concept of adding value to a service proposition through connectivity.

Great points - thanks Matt. I fear, though, that your "the concept of adding value to a service proposition through connectivity" is a pretty broad one in the sense that it could include just about anything IT'ish... and a tad narrow in the sense that it appears to rule out non-commercial M2M or internet of things applications.... these appear to me to have flavour of "let's get the data collection going and find the real value later,"

M2M is indeed a difficult nut to crack because, frankly, companies integrating M2M technologies into their business models (whether operational or service oriented) don’t consider themselves a part of the M2M industry. For instance, they may be smart grid or connected car service providers, but M2M is not their core discipline bailiwick. M2M is really a construct of the suppliers to these industries whose horizontal offerings cross multiple vertical markets (cellular or other RF modules, network and platform services are common to most “M2M” applications).

By the same token, consumer devices using M2M technology easily fall under the umbrella of M2M just as any B-to-B or industry solution based on the above definition.

I agree with Matt, nearly all M2M applications have some human element, whether it’s an admin a technician an alarm respondent or manager analyzing and responding to the data.

As for Ian’s remark that Matt’s comments are somewhat limiting, I think the truth of the matter is a little more complex. In truth, most early (and existing) M2M deployments have been very value driven.. For example, a logistics company needs to know what’s happening with their fleet in order to guarantee delivery at a particular time and location. To that end, they develop and maintain a fleet tracking application that tells the operations team where their trucks are, rate of speed, etc. The operations people get huge value from this application and are able to save money on fuel as well as provide better customer care by notifying clients in advance of any delays, etc. Still – I agree with Ian, few M2M applications have achieved the fullness of their potential value either internally for these companies or for the public.

One limiting factor for existing M2M applications is that many exist in what we’ll call “silos” providing data and related value only to certain business units or specific processes. To achieve their full potential, they must be fully integrated into existing enterprise IT applications connecting the feeding data to the entire enterprise. Take fleet management as an example, by providing appropriate access not only the logistics team, but also HR, payroll, billing, purchasing, customer service, etc. the entire enterprise can becomes exponentially more efficient.