Kenya is an early adopter of machine-to-machine (M2M) communication in Africa.

This is according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) 'Annual Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) WAN Managers Study 2013 Survey,' which says 50% of Kenyan respondents said they have deployed M2M technologies while 27% are planning to use M2M in the next three years.

The IDC further says Kenyan enterprises “appear to be using M2M-enabled vending machines, security monitoring, and fleet management.”

However, advanced M2M applications such as smart metering, pay-as-you-drive-insurance, and intelligence building are not widely used in Kenya, says the IDC.

"This is due to the numerous inherent complexities involved when attempting to implement and manage such advanced M2M technologies," says Mervin Miemoukanda, a senior research analyst for telecommunications, software, and IT services at IDC South Africa in a statement.

"Likewise, the shortage of IT personnel and the limited service capabilities of providers are hampering the deployment of such technologies within enterprise IT environments."

The IDC also expects the Kenyan M2M market to grow significantly over the next three years as an “increasing number of companies are looking toward IT to support business transformation and spur continued growth.”

"As Kenyan companies become increasingly comfortable with M2M technologies, service providers need to serve up strong network, device, and application support for their enterprise customers," adds Miemoukanda.

"To achieve this, service providers need to partner with other M2M providers and engage more closely with their enterprise customers in order to better understand their requirements. This will help them provide superior customer service, thereby augmenting their overall customer satisfaction rates."