We are living in the dawn of a new era. Whether you call it Industry 4.0, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), or Smart Manufacturing, there’s no denying that manufacturing is evolving at a pace never seen before.
With the dawn comes illumination, but not necessarily clarity. The breakneck speed with which companies are figuring out how to collect (and find value in) massive amounts of data, and integrate digital technologies such as industrial robotics, 3D printing, machine learning, OCR, cloud computing, augmented reality, and sensors, can make the Industry 4.0 revolution seem intimidating and enigmatic.
The thing that makes innovation so compelling, and exciting is the possibilities that come with it. Sure, it can be scary to take a leap of faith and try something new, but the simple possibility, even the smallest outside chance that it might work, is what drives many of us to ask, “What if?”
We recently announced that SYSPRO is one of the first ERP solutions to be integrated with Microsoft Office 365, to bring core ERP data into the Microsoft environment and enhance the way people work.
Customer Service Bot a Big Hit at ERP Conference
Recent advances in robotics and machine learning (AI) have happened so quickly that industry observers could be said to be suffering from whiplash as the implications of AI start to be fully realized, even as the technology itself is still maturing.
Today’s IT world has become truly hybrid. Businesses are now needing to manage a blend of on- premise and cloud-based assets, being delivered and supported by a multitude of providers.
Steve Jobs’ original vision was not for static apps, but rather services that could be accessed as needed. This vision is now starting to take shape with PWAs (for all you non-techies...Progressive Web Apps).
Historically, enterprise software has had a captive audience. Over the past two decades little has been required to engage users. The very existence of a solution was generally enough for businesses to make use of it. This is no longer the case, with users becoming implicitly more savvy to what is and isn’t user friendly. This has mostly been spurred by easy access to things like consumer applications, increasing the level of end user expectation.
Many companies opt for innovation when faced with disruption in their markets. They think of an innovative product or service or even a new mobile app as a quick-fix for dwindling revenues or declining market share - a sort of nip-and-tuck or crash diet for the business that will help it look more attractive to its customers and shareholders.