Digital Transformation: Riding manufacturing’s third big wave
Harnessing cloud can help a CIO transform how products are
manufactured, maintained and continually improved.
The manufacturing vertical is poised to enter the next big phase
of disruption. After witnessing two revolutionary waves of assembly line and
computerized automation systems, it is now readying itself to ride the third
big wave of digital transformation.
The impact of digital can already be felt on businesses.
Enterprises in the manufacturing vertical are under immense pressure to become
customer-centric and agile. On the one hand, clients want more and more
customization; while on the other hand, the supply chain is being disrupted by
the emergence of new channels.
There are several other disruptions happening - product
lifecycles are being impacted; orders are being customized for individual
clients; devices in the field or on the factory floor are providing vast
volumes of data for proactive maintenance, inventory management and analysis;
resources can be tracked with accuracy; and there is a perceptible move from
device-and-support to a product-as-a-service model.
To match these trends and make the most of the opportunity
thrown up by digital, it is inevitable that the enterprise IT infrastructure
undergoes a change. A combination of analytics, automation and communications
can be harnessed to gain business agility, employee satisfaction and efficiency
gains. However, the one technology trend that is at the core of digital
transformation is cloud computing.
Cloud comes across as one of the most important productivity
platforms that manufacturing companies should invest in. It can deliver twin
benefits of lower IT costs and greater business capability.
A cloud-based approach gives companies the opportunity to
incorporate their inherent knowledge and intelligence into varied sales
situations. Although on-premise solutions can also enable this, cloud can be
rolled out quickly, is easily customizable, and displays potential to boost
adoption rates across channel partners.
While the strong benefits of cloud are clearly visible, service
providers seem to be falling short on delivering them. Research has revealed a
gap between expectations of enterprises and solutions offered by telecoms
service providers.
According to a global study commissioned by Tata Communications,
the solutions offered by network service providers don’t always meet the
expectations of enterprises, whose technology priorities are ranked as -
security (52%), cloud (43%) and mobility (32%).
Compounding the problem is the challenge of ‘shadow IT.’ While
the IT department is putting existing workloads onto the cloud, different SBUs
(Strategic Business Units) are bypassing the CIO and procuring their own cloud
solution. This results in a siloed infrastructure that is difficult to manage.
Demanding a grip on such a situation from a CIO could be a tough
ask. However, aligning with the right partner can make the task easier.
“Through the right partnerships, service providers
are able to open up new revenue streams in growth areas such as cloud and
unified communication and collaboration (UCC), without having to invest in
developing their own solutions from scratch. By joining forces with like-minded
organizations, service providers are best-placed to address their
customers’ increasingly complex IT requirements and facilitate their
digital transformation,” said James Parker, President, Global Sales, Tata
Communications.
For example, the Tata Communications cloud platform allows
enterprises to connect all their clouds to a single dashboard, thereby
providing a single, simple overview of their cloud footprint through a single
pane of glass. The company also recently unveiled the latest addition to its
IZO cloud enablement platform, IZO SDWAN, which boosts flexibility and agility
for corporates.
Providing his feedback on the solution, Mohammed Shahed Khan,
Group Head, IT Infrastructure & CISO, Fujitsu Consulting India, said:
“Given the multitude of IT projects we undertake for our customers, the
flexibility, scalability and reliability of our network is paramount. That is
why we are currently deploying a next-generation hybrid network – it will
enable us to accelerate service delivery and connect new applications and
devices in an instant. A software-defined WAN will make us more agile, and
empower us to continue to stay ahead of the competition, effortlessly.”
This shift of
leveraging technology to bring about digital transformation puts the role of
the CIO under the spotlight. They have the opportunity to come across as a
driver of digital transformation rather than just a business enabler.
Harnessing cloud through the right service provider can help them transform how
products are manufactured, maintained and continually improved.
http://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/shapethefuture/news/detail/1454
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