How to adapt and implementInternet of Things : A case study of how Tieto is working with IOT in the context of digitalization

Abstract: As if today’s society, globalization, digitalization and labor mobility is daily increasing, and individuals are, in one way or another, constantly surrounded by Internet. Technical change, in general, is one of the fundamental engines of economic growth and structural transformation in modern societies. Internet has long been seen as the most disruptive technology of our time, but now new technologies are entering the market, including the concept around Internet of Things (IOT). New dynamics is being put on the market, and companies are forced to re-think their way of working with innovation. The market for IOT is developing, rapidly, which creates a huge pressure on companies to maintain innovative and relevant in the market. Companies are willing to invest, but due to challenges and questions marks, they end up doing nothing. The overall purpose of this thesis was to investigate how IT consulting companies can implement and apply the concept of Internet of Things (IOT), and what type of challenges they were facing. In order to achieve this purpose, this study was empirically grounded in a case study at the Finnish-Swedish IT Consultancy Company, Tieto, at division Telecom and Media located in Stockholm, Sweden. The division is partly responsible the internal research on the topic of IOT, and has as a goal of increasing profitability regarding the use of this disruptive technology. The results indicate that Tieto, as well as other companies, are investigating in the ecosystems of IOT. Companies are also starting to realize the use of partnerships, and that they might be required to join under one, if they want to provide an end-to-end IOT solution. However, the results also indicate that there are several challenges in the progress when adapting and implementing IOT. Some of these challenges were found to be: maturity in the market is slowing down the process; complexities in the partnerships; complexities in the IOT service; the demand of forming new operational models; and the realization of that one cannot be everywhere. Nevertheless, the IOT solutions generate enormous complexitivities, both in the technical aspects and the partner related aspect. The findings of this study have implication on that even though the market is facing many challenges, the future for IOT is looking promising, and IOT is predicted to contribute with tremendous growth within all industry segments.