IoT - security and stability

The current global situation is hitting many industrial companies, especially those in the manufacturing sector, hard: Global supply chains and logistics chains, not only to Asia, are being interrupted and production is being stopped. Delivery problems and production downtimes are the result.

The first, common reflex of many responsible persons in such situations now could be: Reduce as quickly as possible all costs that are not necessary from their point of view. However, innovative, future-oriented digitalization projects should not be put to the test. After all, strategically targeted investments in IoT applications can now help the digitally networked global economy in the following ways:

- Protecting the health of employees, relatives, customers and partners

- Maintaining the ability to act and make decisions

- Maintaining innovation and competitiveness

- Moderate cost reduction

The current situation could therefore even be an opportunity to set the course for a secure future after the crisis through the targeted use of innovative IoT projects not only currently on the market but also internally. IoT-supported applications in the following infrastructural areas are ideal for this:

Digital Workplace & Home Office

Mobile and flexible working is an important component of so-called "digital resilience". The "Digital Workplace" is regarded as a guarantee of business continuity and requires the corresponding infrastructure with the necessary bandwidth (VPN), suitable hardware (notebooks, smartphones) and the necessary authorizations (e.g. Active Directory) and accounts (SaaS). Flexible, digital workplaces are not only ideal as a preventive measure, but also enable operations to be maintained in the event of site closures, etc. The use of video conferences is recommended for meetings, and the entire Augmented/Virtual Reality area for the maintenance of machines and systems. A positive side effect: Travel activities are minimized, personnel resources are saved.

Collaboration, co-creation and agile working

Agile, flexible cooperation in cross-functional and decentralized teams is an important success factor. For the required fast problem solutions, such a working method is a clear strategic asset that provides support in many areas: In the analysis of supply chain problems, in communication with suppliers and customers, in remote maintenance of production plants and IT systems.

Cloud Computing

Now the strategic advantages of cloud computing become apparent. Companies that are well positioned here now benefit from competitive advantages:

1. The on-demand model comes into play when sales decline, as only IT capacities that are actually used have to be paid for.

2. Data and workloads can be flexibly moved to the globally distributed data centres of the cloud providers if their own data centres are no longer accessible during site closures or entry stops.

3. Individual services and APIs can be used in a highly flexible manner, which guarantees the ability to innovate even with a reduced budget.

Data Strategy and Analytics

Transparency, traceability and forecasting ability become the decisive success criteria of digital business processes in the event of a crisis: Up-to-date and reliable information on stock levels, delivery dates or the availability of personnel in the global branches and production sites of companies are immensely important factors. Any company with an intelligent, clearly structured data strategy is well positioned here: Big Data, a secure and company-wide data platform and APIs as well as easy-to-use analytics tools and dashboards - that is the secret of success.

Digital products and solutions

The digital transformation as a model for success: At this time, the share of e-commerce compared to stationary trade increases rapidly. IoT solutions provide targeted and sensible support here: remote maintenance of networked machines and over-the-air updates of digital products, for example, reduce the deployment of service personnel. Digital self services such as FAQs, chat bots and portals also reduce the workload of personnel-intensive call centers.

Digital innovations

Especially in the long term, innovative solutions based on emerging technologies will be a way out of previous analog dependencies. For example, artificial intelligence and analytics help to significantly improve the simulation and forecasting capabilities of companies. Decisions in the event of a crisis can therefore be made on the basis of facts and not purely emotionally. In addition, largely autonomous manufacturing plants, logistics centers and supply chains based on autonomous machines are able to maintain production and thus supply. Thus, in the event of a crisis, drones and autonomous vehicles could not only ensure mobility but also deliver vital medicines to contaminated areas.

Dashboards for monitoring

Strategically structured dashboards should be set up with the most important key figures and information. They thus provide the company management with the necessary overview and thus the ideal basis for making the right decisions.

Globally connected economy needs a strategically targeted digitalization strategy.

The global connection of the economy will continue due to the omnipresent digitalization: Smart homes, smart factories, autonomous vehicles and smart cities will become part of everyday life. In such a connected world, crises will no longer be singular and location-based, but will increasingly run along network paths. It doesn't matter whether they are real viruses like Corona or digital threats like computer viruses and malware. Responsible Chief Digital Officers should therefore assume for the future that such scenarios can occur again and again.

To be prepared for such times, companies should consider the following points when aligning their IT and digital strategy:

- Establishing automated, intelligent, independent and loosely coupled systems, business processes and services via interfaces - from autonomous production plants and robots to drones and autonomous CRM services

- Building agile, flexible and highly adaptable infrastructures, systems and processes. Continuous and sensor-monitored adaptation of systems to user needs and contexts (weather, time of day, stock levels, material quality, etc.)

- To make highly networked, automated and complex systems resistant: Establish resilience by designing distributed, loosely coupled and redundant systems. Not least because, with a large number of distributed resources, individual failures are less critical.

Happy Easter!