TECH SPECIAL.................... 3D printing, Internet of Things & smart machines will be a good disruptive force

3D printing, Internet of Things & smart machines will be a good disruptive force

The world has become digital as people and businesses are now able to interconnect more seamlessly using technologies. These days, information is exchanged across borders digitally and in real time as well, driven by a surge in demand for content, services and products.
Old buzzwords like computerization, automation, and internet are no longer adequate for businesses in a digital world. To stay ahead of the competition, companies need to rethink their long-term strategy.
Possibly a game changer which disrupts existing business models, digital business helps bridge the physical-digital divide, promising an unprecedented convergence of people, businesses and devices.

Another important consideration is how things interact in the digital age. More than seven billion people and businesses, together with an additional 35 billion devices and things will exist by 2020. And will not only communicate, but also transact with each other.
Moving forward, negotiation as another kind of interaction will emerge too, making the transformation from traditional to digital business timely and even more inevitable.
New Key Enabling Technologies

Enabling digital business is the advancements and proliferation of new technologies, such as 3D printing, Internet of Things (IoT) and smart machines. Collectively, these innovations disrupt the way enterprises manage demand, execute supply functions and engage customers.

3D printing: Also known as additive manufacturing, 3D printing is the process of producing a threedimensional object. By referencing a digital 3D model, successive layers of material are "printed" to create an object featuring virtually any shape.
Utilizing 3D printers, products and components can be manufactured on demand, thus reducing the capital tied up in finished goods inventory. The consumable and raw materials for 3D printing would be the only major variable cost, offering businesses a minimum capital outlay.
IoT: Although open to diverse interpretations, IoT describes a network of devices that are connected to the Internet. Embedded with sensors, these devices are typically employed to collect data and can be controlled remotely. Combined with data analytics and cloud computing, IoT delivers remote monitoring and a host of advanced applications. 

To minimize cost, IoT can be incorporated into a machine to enable a "physical asset as a service" model, providing the flexibility to charge its utilization depending on usage metrics. Without an upfront capital expenditure, users will just need to pay for the actual operating service.
Smart machines: There are two kinds of smart machines - those that do physical work and those that do cognitive work. For example, newer mobile robots can be redeployed and taught to tackle an array of jobs, ranging from moving inventory to assembling parts - unlike older industrial robots often designed to do one type of job.

Another example of smart machines is cognitive computer systems that come with advanced artificial intelligence. While they still cannot replace an employee completely, such systems can now handle increasingly more complex tasks traditionally performed by people such as helping doctors determine diagnoses and treatments.

How Disruption works
The above-mentioned "technology disruptors" have a significant impact on a myriad of current business practices. These can include risk assessment in the unbanked segment, taxation strategies and customer loyalty management. Here are three further examples.
Redefining a product life cycle: 3D printing provides enhanced flexibility in product management. Companies may choose to test their initial product launches via ultrashort production runs that are 3D printed, and then scale up to traditional manufacturing for high output capacity if the market responses are positive.

Furthermore, a product that can be 3D printed will be made available indefinitely for the market, produced as and when required rather than being discontinued. Unlike conventional manufacturing techniques, 3D printers are able to churn out different products without costly retooling.

New leasing models: Many asset leases are calculated using depreciation schedules, which are loosely based on calendar time and a presumed usage pattern. But thanks to IoT, companies can closely monitor how an asset was used, such as the hours run and the maximum temperatures reached.

This insight allows residual values and leasing costs to be more accurately determined. Tracking these metrics is more transparent with IoT, mitigating dispute and risk during the lease term.
Hybrid workforce planning: In the future, a typical workforce will be comprised of people, augmented workers and smart machines. Leveraging on augmentation devices, such as wearables like the Google Glass, regular workers can effectively bolster their overall productivity.

Another option is to employ mobile robots and cognitive computers to deal with the workloads. Consequently, a resource planner will have a number of choices and will have to find the right balance of workers and machines to be deployed.

Like it or not, digital disrupters will change the traditional business models and continuously present new challenges, and they can come out of nowhere and happen so quickly and on such a large scale that it is hard to predict or defend against.

Therefore, businesses need to start building sustainable competitiveness and flexibility in order to react fast and reap the benefits as the first mover to gain an upper hand in competition.

- Hung LeHong is a VP and Gartner Fellow in Gartner Research

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