Driving Digital Transformation

By Massimo Merli, Consigliere di ANIE Automazione

Although today’s technological solutions make it ever cheaper, easier and faster to digitize activities, various research projects (e.g. McKinsey & Company) still show a reality where, despite the constant reduction in sensor costs, companies use less than 1% of the data.

All this while IIoT offers new ways of doing business, which require new approaches to security and risk management. On the other hand, a recent survey (November 2018) by IHS found that only just over 10% of respondents said they had completed IoT Proof of Concept projects and seen positive results, which is a rather daunting scenario.
Digitization represents the present and the future for the industry, and the benefits for business are too important not to be pursued. It is therefore necessary to identify the right technological approach – smart sensors, cloud computing or Big Data Analysis Apps – but above all it is necessary to identify the main elements that can affect efficiency and productivity.
Therefore, it is necessary to choose first of all the solutions that are business enablers of digital transformation, in order to obtain results in the areas of interest, such as:
• solutions that enable the empowerment of the workforce, smart operations and real-time profitability measurement that allow you to verify real results in terms of efficiency and profitability;
• solutions focused on asset performance, smart design and engineering and investment continuity that make it possible to make significant progress in reliability and performance;
• solutions that address information security, and regulatory compliance for greater safety and security;
• solutions for energy efficiency, environmental sustainability and business transformation that will help excel in the areas of sustainability and transformation.
It is essential to look at your digital transformation path first through the lens of a specific business goal, rather than starting with the choice of a technology and then verifying the results it brings to the business itself.
With this approach it is easier to find the right starting point and reduce risks, answering first
of all to the starting question that everyone should ask themselves: “where do I put my investment and how do I get the most out of it?”. It is a “low hanging fruit” approach, as the
Anglo-Saxons say, that allows you to get quick feedback – the “quick win” – that ensures the highest financial result with the lowest investment.