Jared Deith, Chief Revenue Officer of KORE discussed the state of the IoT industry on the final episode of season 5 of IoT Unplugged, as unpacking this reflected the health of the market, a rich variety of use cases, and the pressures of the potential impact of tariffs if they are imposed by the US.
Deith characterised the IoT industry as being in good health, as the number of connected devices continues to grow, technology becomes more accessible, and costs go down as a result.
Real-world examples of where KORE operates includes connected health, where hospital costs can be brought down through remote monitoring of patients in the home; and logistics and transport, which is utilising smart labels to comprehensively track parcels.
One major challenge facing the industry is a decline in globalisation and increase in protectionism, said Deith, resulting in an increase in regulatory barriers which are affecting roaming agreements among companies. However, the role eSIM can play in this is significant: by allowing companies to easily switch between local profiles, such as choosing a Brazil profile for an automotive company operating in that country, some of the complexity in deploying devices globally is removed.
Another is the potential imposition of tariffs, which were announced by President Trump on 2nd April with a 90-day pause put into place recently, because of how they may affect hardware.
“When you’re looking at a remote patient monitoring kit that use an Android device with various medical sensors with a SIM packaged together, all of those components have become more expensive if these tariffs stay,” said Deith. “We can do certain things for our customers … we can move production or our partners can move production out of China into Taiwan and other areas.” Deith noted that although countries like Taiwan weren’t spared from tariffs, the 90-day pause is providing companies with an opportunity to rethink their existing supply chain.
Because of the current market volatility, Deith recommended companies ensure they work with firms that can navigate changes in technology, tariff changes and regulatory challenges.
To listen to Deith’s in-depth insights into the state of the IoT market, listen to the full podcast episode, which is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and at the link below.
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