Technology is and has been in every grain of our lifestyle, whether one likes to admit or not. Despite all the hype around the digital detox that has people raving over, or even keeping screen time to a minimum, our exposure and inclination to technology do not just limit to what we ‘see’ or ‘touch’— it is way beyond that.
Today, we are solely framing this discussion around the impact of technology and innovations in business, in this era of Industry 4.0. Internet of Things (IoT) is a core of this paradigm-shifting movement in industries whereby businesses, and particularly manufacturers, use IoT technology to change or improve the way they operate. Simply put, it revolves around how machines interact with each other and how we know what’s going on within those machines through data. This then brings to the power of data collection, which results in major breakthroughs in data storage too.
The need for businesses to navigate the changes in the horizon is imperative, and especially post-COVID where manufacturers are hit with the harsh realizations on their reliance on human capital and social distancing. Here, we can explore the changes in businesses based on five factors; automation, visibility and compliance, security, experience, and scalability.
Automation.
Industry 4.0-equipped factories are empowered to drive productivity and keep costs down while ensuring quality and consistency across manufacturing processes globally. In turn, this enables companies across every sector to integrate and digitalize their business processes, and at any step of their entire value chain.
Visibility.
Visibility and compliance are tenets that enable users’ trust in going into business with you. From order entry point, all the way to delivery, visibility is required to inform customers, partners, and other stakeholders of the status at any time. Enterprises of varying complexity and scale need an efficient system to streamline administrative structures in order to minimalize risk factors and improve on adaptability and support. This is where compliance is important to make sure things go as planned and also ensure quick recovery after something goes wrong.
Security.
Cybersecurity isn’t a thing in a past, and in fact, it is something that also has gone through a revolution of its own to suit the scale of threats that it faces from time to time. Businesses need an efficient security solution to safeguard their operations from ubiquitous threats lurking from all corners. This is where the need for a cloud security system to be in place not only to keep your business in armor but also to provide agility for the manufacturer to thrive in this age of Industry 4.0.
Experience.
User experience is something to strive for when it comes to the digitalization of your enterprise. With robust automation in place, businesses can benefit from collaborations between clients and manufacturer that results in heightened engagement and co-creation via a seamless omnichannel platform, powered by AI and more.
Scalability
Automation gives manufacturers the ability to transition their human resources to more value-added tasks and provides the foundation to extend and expand product and service offerings. This comes in handy when businesses go global as process consistency can be maintained across locations. The use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to constantly reassess and re-plan tasks can be applied across various channels to ensure minimal human error. This particular factor gives a boost of confidence for any business to charge forward in their Industry 4.0 initiatives.
The future of IoT in business, in general, promises an inevitable growth to the point where the technology becomes ubiquitous – similar to mobile phones, wireless internet, and other technology that we take for granted.
If you sign up at GoTraining today, you will on your way to getting access to on-demand courses like AI, AWS, and more, as we are headed into this fascinating era. At GoTraining, we don’t leave you out, so take a tour today!
