Journeying to the Cloud to reduce the digital divide in the industrial sector following the pandemic

This represents a tremendous opportunity to grow and to do so in the way you best see fit to adapt to Industry 4.0. The gear levers are within everyone’s reach, big and small. In fact, the access model for new technological enablers democratizes technology as it’s supported by the Cloud, under a pay-per-use system, as a subscription, either as a platform (PaaS), infrastructure (IaaS) or service (SaaS), the latter being the most popular as it requires no investment in hardware or maintenance to access cutting-edge advanced software. According to a report by the consultancy firm Gartner, it is predicted that this cloud access model will grow by 16% this year compared with 2020, reaching a turnover of 117,000 million dollars.

“The ability to use scalable and on-demand cloud models to achieve profitability and business continuity is driving organizations to rapidly accelerate their digital business transformation plans. The increased use of public cloud services has boosted the adoption of the cloud, making it the ’new normal’, now more than ever”, highlights the aforementioned report which predicts that the spending on cloud IT will accelerate after the pandemic, rising from 9.1% today to 14.2% in 2024.

There’s still a very long way to go. Although companies recognize the need to embark on the journey to the cloud, most only have an average of between 20% and 40% of their processes in the Cloud, and only simple tasks, according to another report by Accenture. “It’s important for businesses that fell into crisis and have significant digital gaps to embrace the promise of the cloud right away. By doing so, they will be able to mitigate business risk, re-emerge stronger and be prepared to prosper amid future uncertainty”, affirms this consultancy firm in the aforementioned document.

To maximize the benefits that Cloud brings to the business fabric, these four elements must be included:

• Migrate and adapt: we have to select which data and processes will remain on-premise and which will be transferred to the cloud. Cloud shouldn’t be viewed as a goal, but rather as a means of accessing advanced cutting-edge software.
• Modernize and accelerate: just like with any journey, you have to prepare beforehand. In an industrial plant, we have to sensorize machines and processes to interconnect the factory and share all the data. We have to consider the data flow of all the systems as a whole. With a solid in-plant architecture, we can set off on our journey to the cloud.
• Operate and optimize. The flexibility offered by the cloud is enormous, but we have to know how to handle it and adapt our capacity needs to demand. That’s the way to maximize performance, otherwise cost will rise. This is why it’s essential to address consumption peaks and even anticipate them using Artificial Intelligence technologies.  
• Innovate and grow. The cloud is a catalyst for innovation and the bridge that leads to growth. By filtering the data and analyzing it with artificial intelligence, we can detect consumption patterns and, therefore, prospect new business models, accelerate new environments, experiment quickly and test in real time. Equally, it facilitates machine learning to automate processes and subsequently save time and money.

All of this is possible with the change of mindset brought by the new digital ecosystem that forces us to be more collaborative, to work more closely with suppliers to co-create more efficient and productive solutions.

Given that, as people, we have learned to be resilient in the face of adversity, we also have to make sure that our plants are capable of adapting with flexibility and agility to the changing world in order to be sustainable and competitive in the long term. And the cloud is the perfect place for being flexible, streamlined and innovative. “Companies that continue to delay their move to the cloud not only incur an opportunity cost, but also risk their own survival”, concludes the Accenture report. All that remains is to choose the right partner to accompany you on this journey to the cloud. At Lantek, we know how to help companies in the sheet metal cutting sector to set off on this journey and transition towards digitization. Get on board with us and we’ll accompany you on this journey towards Industry 4.0.