‘How IoT Logistics Will Revolutionise Supply Chain Management’

The combination of mobile computing, analytics, and cloud services, all of which are fuelled by the Internet of Things (IoT), is changing how delivery and asset management companies are conducting their operations, the Executive Chairman of IoT Africa Networks Ltd, Lare Ayoola has said.

According to him, containers go missing all over the world and it usually takes months to find them assuming they are ever found, but with IoT logistics, it would be difficult for containers to go missing, and when they do, they are easily found.

The Disrupting Asset Tracking with IoT webinar, in conjunction with Connected Finland, was organized recently to shed more light on the challenges facing the asset management industry. The Asset Tracking webinar, the first of many IoT webinars, was a two-hour event with an audience of about 130 industry experts in attendance.

According to recent research report, asset tracking remained the fastest-growing industrial IoT market worth $3.93 billion by 2023. Delivery company DHL and tech giant Cisco estimated in 2015 that IoT technologies such as asset tracking solutions could have an impact of more than $1.9 trillion in the supply chain and logistics sector. Also, there will be 267 billion IoT asset tracking devices deployed in the global industry by 2027.

Knowing where things are at any given time can be critical to transforming business operations – reducing risk, saving money, improving efficiency, and potentially even driving new service revenue, Ayoola said.

According to him, “IoT Africa Networks Ltd, in partnership with Sigfox, enables customers to observe their entire asset tracking network be it industrial, commercial, business, or residential in a convenient and budget-friendly manner. You might not be able to rely on electricity in Nigeria, but you can rely on Sigfox. This is because the Sigfox devices can be powered without electricity. Their battery life can last for more than four years on a single charge.”

During the webinar, Ayoola, outlined the impact of IoT on the supply chain, and how IoT management would transform inventory, logistics, manufacturing, distribution, construction, insurance, security companies, and more.

Founder, Connected Finland, Tom Lindblad, was on hand to shed more light on the challenges being faced in the asset tracking industry and how IoT is best positioned to revolutionize the operations of the asset tracking industry.

“The IoT network, that Sigfox and IoT Africa provide, is enabling us to track things we never could have before thanks to new technologies and smaller form factors. Some of the potential use cases for the IoT connectivity are tracking assets along the supply chain and receiving alerts on anomalies such as unauthorised trailer detachments, virtually fence and manage herds, intercontinental sea-freight tracking, recovery of stolen vehicles, monitor the logistic supply chain, track industrial assets, enable real-time tracking of consumer’s luggage worldwide.

“The IoT Africa Networks, Sigfox, Tranter IT, and Connected Finland partnerships are strategic and critical for development in Nigeria. The major drive for IoT in Nigeria is for companies and cities to connect everything and stay in control of their assets and business operations,” Lindblad said.