The Industrial Internet of Things is affecting many. From equipment and machinery companies to manufacturers, all must work on crafting a clear outlook to prompt a scalable impact. As IIoT increases production efficiency from a operations perspective, industrial equipment and machinery companies are looking to tap into this technology to develop new business models that are rather focused on customers and on driving revenue. No matter your organization's motive stimulate such a change, reaching these desired digital advances will require IIoT transformation.
The market for IIoT-enabled business models is expected to experience tremendous growth. Thus, industry players must define a clear path for their organizations, including fundamental topics such as the technical enablers to put in place, the optimal level of investment, the capabilities and partnerships that will need to be developed to uphold success and more.
What are some associated benefits?
Implementing IIoT technologies will not come without its challenges. However, successfully overcoming these challenges will lead the way to substantial business opportunities:
Device-management platforms: By using IIoT platforms, it provides support to the development and deployment of applications that oversee various connected devices.
Industrial automation and shop-floor communication: Considerable revenue growth and margin expansion opportunities are derived from IIoT technology investments. While platforms, softwares and app development are on the rise, other elements such as cloud connectivity have stagnated. Among the applications that are predicted to be most promising, it is possible to find overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), predictive maintenance ad cross-vendor shop-floor integration.
Strategizing for an IIoT transformation
In order to be strategic, organizations affected by this technology will have to remain true to themselves in performing an honest assessment of their current capabilities and challenges. Before embarking on this journey, they should carefully evaluate their use-case and platform options. Here's a methodic way to approach it:
- Understand your own starting point: Start by defining your current state and determining the priorities of your organization's IIoT strategy. Once you have a clear vision of where the business is headed, a roadmap of the transformation can be traced.
- Identifying use cases: Each use case must have a coherent and measurable value proposition. To determine the priority of a use case over another, one must assess its value, identify which monetization logic is most appropriate and define the technical and organizational requirements.
- Determining the value of an IIoT platform: Once you'll have narrowed your choice to a few platforms, you'll have to evaluate their offering as well as the growth and scalability potential. Also to assess, their technological capabilities and operational performance can't be forgotten.
Approaches to a successful IIoT journey
Although there is no standardized approach to implementing IIoT technologies in an organization, McKinsey was able to observe amongst successful players approaches and perspectives to adopt for a successful transformation:
- Set the ambition at the CEO level
- Focus efforts on a limited number of relevant use cases
- Don't be afraid of workarounds today while laying the IT foundations for a more robust solution tomorrow
- Build an ecosystem of business and technology partners
- Build a strong internal team with an agile mindset
By implementing a device such as Worximity's TileConnect smart sensor, you'll be able to monitor your KPIs in real-time and reach greater productivity levels. Naturally, this IIoT investment will ultimately result in a revenue increase for the organization and a greater awareness of equipment performance for future decision making.
