Thailand leads Asean IoT exploration poll

Thailand is the top country in Asean for enterprises to explore and implement Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to boost their productivity and innovation, thanks to awareness based on government policy and investment in both soft and hard infrastructure, according to a survey.

The survey by the Asia IoT Business Platform in 2017 found 89% of enterprises in Thailand are exploring and/or implementing IoT solutions, the highest percentage in Asean, followed by Malaysia (86%), Indonesia (83%), the Philippines (80%) and Vietnam (79%).

The survey had 1,573 respondents in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.

In Thailand, the percentage of those enterprises exploring and/or implementing IoT solutions has increased to 92% this year, with manufacturing holding the largest share (27.4%) of overall industrial value, as it is critical to adopt and deploy IoT to capitalise on the new economy.

Irza Suprapto, chief executive of Asia IoT Business Platform at Industry Platform Pte, said the figure in Thailand is not surprising because of the many Industry 4.0 related projects.

The high percentage is a positive for Thailand because manufacturing is the largest contributor to the country’s economy, said Mr Irza.

There has been strong interest from local enterprises in Thailand to implement digitisation and IoT projects. The demand creates an ecosystem of innovation locally as it encourages investment by technology startups and established solution providers in Thailand,” he said.

Mr Irza said in 2017, 89% of Thai enterprises were exploring and implementing IoT, of which 42% are in the fact-finding stage, 25% of them are in the exploratory stage and 22% have already implemented and/or benefited from IoT solutions.

In 2018, 92% of Thai enterprises are exploring and/or implementing IoT, of which 35% are in the fact-finding stage, 29% are in the exploratory stage and 28% have already implemented and/or benefited from IoT solutions.

The survey also shows 26% of Thai enterprises have dedicated teams to implement digital transformation, with 32% saying digital transformation has already been implemented in at least one functional area within their businesses.