ANZ named as a top nation in IDC Asia/Pacific’s IoT Readiness Index 2017

New Zealand and Australia lands 3^rd and 4^th place of the index compared to the rest of Asia Pacific (excluding Japan)

Australia and New Zealand ranks among the top four countries in Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APeJ) that are the most capable and ready to generate efficiencies linked to IoT solutions, says a new IDC report, APeJ Nations and IoT: A Comparative Assessment . New Zealand and Australia comes in third and fourth place respectively in IDC Asia/Pacific’s Internet of Things (IoT) readiness index in APeJ.

This new IDC report provides a comparative assessment of APeJ countries’ readiness for sustained IoT adoption, as well as their ability to facilitate its accelerated development. The report reveals that the countries at the top of the index like South Korea, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia ranked well in all measures of stature, business readiness and technological preparedness. Other countries included in the benchmarking exercise are China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, India, and ASEAN countries namely Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam.

IDC predicts that the APeJ loT market will grow from $335.6 billion in 2016 to $565.5 billion in 2020 (see Asia/Pacific (Excluding Japan) Internet of Things Forecast and Analysis, 2014–2020 #AP41342517 ) as the global IoT landscape continues to mature. With such growth and business opportunities at hand, loT vendors and service providers are faced with an increasingly complex set of choices as to which markets to enter to gain the most value and globalize their offerings.

“On the impact for vendors operating in the market, both Australia and New Zealand must be considered attractive investment targets by virtue of their level of overall infrastructure maturity, size of the digitally-aware skills base and the level of innovation expressed in those markets,” says Hugh Ujhazy, Associate Vice President for IoT research, IDC Asia Pacific.

Ujhazy adds, “Knowing where a country stands in the loT index will help global and local IT vendors identify the opportunities that lie ahead of them as they line up their strategies at federal, local, and enterprise levels.”

Some highlights from the assessment include:

• New Zealand scores exceptionally high on measures such as ease of doing business and startup procedures, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, and innovation, all of which point to necessary components for a business environment that is ready for the growth of the IoT. This is considering they have a relatively small GDP and population compared with G20 countries.
• Australia and New Zealand ranked in the second quartile in terms of country competitiveness, a combination of GDP and the Global Innovation Index.
• New Zealand edged out Australia in infrastructure investment, having higher overall ICT spend per capita than Australia, while Australia had a higher ratio of secure server deployment.
• In terms of regulation and ease of doing business, both countries were on par, falling slightly behind Hong Kong and Singapore in this respect
• In terms of the skills to support IOT deployments and the creation of intellectual capital through the number of local patents, both Australia and New Zealand were on par with each other, sitting slightly behind South Korea in this category.

“Governments in Australia and New Zealand are startup and business friendly in general, fostering an innovation market where there is fierce competition for venture capital funds. This aspect may lure IoT experimentalists to capital markets outside of ANZ as they seek funding to scale beyond early proof of concepts,” says Ujhazy.

At the country level, the IoT readiness index also hopes to provide the public sector and policy makers the opportunity to look at specific concerns or opportunities for their country, regardless of their high or low ranking. For example, a country with a high level of patents but a low number of tertiary graduates may be able to create innovation but lacks a skilled workforce to roll-out real life solutions. Then, the action then could be to either import skills, develop local gap training programs or go somewhere else. In summary, this model helps its users not only decide where to offer IoT based solutions but also the actions required to deliver success in those markets.

This report also provides insights, outlook and essential vendor guidance for technology leaders looking to invest and participate in the IoT journey of these APeJ countries – the strategic recommendations differing based on top tier, mid-tier and low tier countries covered in the study.