Asset Tracking Market - Growth, Trends, and Forecast (2020 - 2025)

Given the high prices of enterprise and industrial assets, especially fleet equipment, the need for monitoring and tracking these assets is paramount. Further, in a bid to determine the total cost of ownership, managers across industries are finding the need for a centralized system that provides critical information such as location, maintenance history, contract(if any) among others, for all assets, in real-time. By using a combination of hardware software and network services, the managers are being able to incur lower administrative costs, better accountability and cost savings. Further, with information on the asset condition, they are able to plan for maintenance and future growth, thus resulting in overall efficiency.

GPS tracking, a contrast to the traditional barcode and spreadsheets, has emerged as one of the common practices to accelerate productivity gains, reduce operational costs and also to streamline compliance.

Further, RFID based asset tracking solutions have also been on the rise. For instance, Zebra technologies, which specializes in RFID and location technology, reported that on the shop floor, across industries such as automotive and electronics, managing the assets has become simplified with the implementation of IoT technology. Manufacturers are adopting Industry 4.0 practices and converting/setting up smart factories, in which the workers use a combination of technologies such as RFID, wearables, mobile automated systems among other technologies to monitor the physical processes on the shop floor, thereby enabling them to make decentralized decisions.

On the other hand, with an increasing need for Just in Time shipments (owing to e-commerce boom), the need for tracking assets has increased further.

Overall, technologies such as RFID, sensors, Location-based technologies, integrating software, and the recent IoT implementation have been serving the need for asset management. Factors such as e-commerce and increasing industrial assets due to Industry 4.0 have been promoting the asset management market.

Key Market Trends
Transportation and Logistics Sector to Witness Significant Growth

- Transportation and Logistics sector has been greatly driven by the shifting economic conditions and strong consumer confidence. These factors, along with the growing popularity of e-commerce, have radically changed the fundamental distribution patterns. Therefore, for logistics companies, asset management has more utility beyond reduced costs, i.e., increased customer satisfaction (retention).
- According to Verizon’s 2019 Fleet Technology Trends Study, 64% of fleets reported having used GPS fleet tracking software, up from 59% in the previous year(2018). Such statistics indicate the increased use of asset management technologies.
- Although different forms of trailer/truck tracking technologies existed for many years, the advances in the IoT and connected devices have greatly expanded the capabilities of the asset monitoring systems. IoT across the transportation space now offers a much broader range of information in addition to the location and status of the trailer, but also the cargo inside.
- According to Cisco, over the next decade, the logistics industry, with the implementation of IoT, is likely to generate USD 1.9 trillion, as a result of unlocking higher levels of operational efficiency. This is considering the fact that IoT connects millions of shipments in real-time.

North America Expected to Dominate the Market

- With a strong manufacturing and transportation and logistics base, North America offers significant potential to the asset management technology providers. Further, the government contributed to increasing the need of asset management in the region. For instance, in the transportation and Logistics space, the Federal Highway Association (FHWA), along with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), State and local departments of transportation (DOTs) has been encouraging the application of asset management.
- International and domestic companies in the logistics industry of the United States have benefited from a highly skilled workforce and relatively low costs. according to the data from Select USA, United States Business Logistics Costs reached USD 1.6 trillion in 2018, which is 8% of GDP, indicating the high level activity in the region.
- Further, the region also houses significant asset management technology providers, which indicates the region’s dominance in terms of innovation in the market.
- Moreover, the region has also been known for new technology adoption and has been one of the largest regions to have implemented IoT across industries, starting automotive. In line with these trends, asset management vendors are increasing their foothold in the region. For instance, in March 2019, NimbeLink, a provider of cellular Internet of Things (IoT) solutions and services, announced that its NimbeLink AT2 Asset Tracking Solution will be made available in Canada, exclusively on the world-class TELUS LTE-M network. Branded as the TELUS LTE-M Asset Monitor, the device enables TELUS customers to track the movement and condition of their key assets throughout Canada.

Competitive Landscape
The asset tracking market is fragmented considering the presence of multiple vendors providing different solutions. The solution providers are investing in multiple R&D to improve the existing solutions and launch new products by integrating the latest technological developments in their solutions. Also, the companies are viewing global expansion as a path to attract maximum market share.

July 2019 - T-Mobile launched America’s First Narrowband IoT Asset Tracking Solution. T-Mobile for Business will sell the first asset tracking solution, Roambee BeeAware, on a Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) network in the United States.

March 2019 - Trimble introduced its new TMT ServiceConnect module, which is designed to enable fleet shops using Trimble’s TMT Fleet Maintenance (TMT) software, to be connected to medium and heavy-duty service locations(more than 4,500). According to the company, by licensing the add-on module, its TMT users would gain direct connectivity to multiple service centers to ultimately get equipment transported faster.

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