In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the lifestyle brand LMVH converted its perfume factories into hand sanitiser factories and supplied the authorities and European hospitals with free sanitiser. Even in India, the automobile manufacturing group Mahindra paused the manufacture of cars and shifted instead to the manufacture of ventilators to support the medical infrastructure.
These are just a few examples of how businesses worldwide pivoted during the pandemic. The pandemic was a global crisis, but this time of disruption also presented us with an opportunity to innovate. The pandemic fundamentally changed the way businesses operate and manage evolving customer needs. The NTT’s 2021 Global Managed Services Report found that 87.3 per cent of business executives say that the pandemic accelerated their digital transformation strategy and 89.2 per cent agree that it has significantly changed their processes and how they operate.
The Ukraine war is also affecting the global supply chain and dramatically increasing costs the world over. Businesses must build resilience into their DNA to not only function but also thrive in challenging circumstances. Strategizing a new path forward requires creating a structured roadmap to address these challenges. What we need is a technology-led resilience framework. One thing is for sure in the ‘Next Normal’, businesses that have been adopting digital and cognitive technologies at accentuated pace are thriving better in these challenging times. When deployed right, the technologies can have a profound impact on the value chain and offer a competitive advantage.
Power of cognitive automation
The need for faster decision-making and increased data handling during the pandemic necessitated cognitive automation. The global cognitive computing market size is expected to reach USD 72 billion by 2027, with a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 26 per cent. Cognitive technologies can transform the supply chain by helping predict bottlenecks and delays, develop solutions, manage customer expectations, and optimise the operations overall.
Popularity of digital experiences
The first prototype of virtual reality was in 1838 when Sir Charles Wheatstone outlined the concept for a stereoscope. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are now being used for manufacturing, R&D, healthcare, education, gaming, entertainment, construction and law enforcement.
VR and AR technologies have opened new possibilities in reimagining the complex product design, development and production processes. For example, design engineers can leverage AR and VR toolsets to superimpose a 3D CAD model over a physical prototype to assess how well the digital and physical models match.
Reimagining product development with digital twins
Digital twins are another key technology that has been there for decades. Developed for the Apollo missions, NASA scientists created a digital twin of the spacecraft and conducted experiments on the clone before the mission started. The rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) has made it more popular, and it is being used in the manufacturing and healthcare industries.
Currently, where demand cycles for products are short, costs are high and customer needs many, companies need to innovate and design better products faster. Creating a design, simulating the model to see how it responds to the environment, running tests to predict customer usage and manufacturing the final product will become even more efficient using digital twin technology. A product design engineer can identify problems in manufacturing and reduce the number of physical prototypes, cut back on development costs and accelerate time-to-market by leveraging digital twins.
Asset use with the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)
Companies need to be predictive and agile when taking a call on how to preserve their business continuity and build enterprise resilience. Predictive maintenance solutions combine the power of innovative data analytics and IIoT technologies to improve asset use and maintenance efficiency. By using advanced sensors, actuators and video solutions to share the performance data of your critical assets in real-time, we can accomplish better machine reliability with condition-based maintenance.
Asset security with geo-fencing
The theft or damage to the key assets of a business is always a concern. In the current post-pandemic recovery stage, it could also result in the end of operations. As a result, it is important that organisations leverage geo-fencing, which uses GPS, RFID and other location tracking or object detection technology to define and create geographical boundaries to monitor and protect key assets. An industry report predicts that the global geo-fencing market will cross USD 1.8 billion by 2022 at a compound annual growth rate of 27.5 per cent.
Workplace safety post pandemic is vital
In the past year, we have seen more and more businesses resume operations from offices. Some have moved completely back to the office while most have opted for the hybrid model. Employees returning to the workplace expect that the organisation does the utmost to ensure their safety. With the current shortage of critical talent and the great resignation, it is a need that has to be prioritised.
The post-pandemic workforce is people-centric, and organisations that put in place well-being processes to guarantee better and deeper connections will greatly benefit. A calibrated enterprise risk management approach that employs integrated technologies, such as thermal sensing, enforced path directly through the video intelligence, safety score carding and advanced dashboarding will enable workforce safety and contact tracing. Research also shows that engaged employees are 28 per cent more likely to recommend and recruit others into the organisation.
Business agility is driven by cloud modernisation
Around 85 per cent of the organisations are expected to embrace a cloud-first principle by 2025. Cloud Modernisation is a sustainable foundation that accelerates business agility and scalability. Cloud can turn monolithic applications into new microservices of value. Now, we have No-code and Low-code tool frameworks that accelerate infrastructure automation, further accelerating cloud adoption.
We live in an uncertain world today and businesses need to survive and thrive in this ‘Next Normal’. However, we also can make our enterprises more resilient with adoption of technologies at the accentuated pace and put in safeguards against the future disruptions. We need also remain committed balancing the diverse interests of the organization with that of various stakeholders in maintaining sustainable practices and a sense of stewardship.
(The author is Mr. Venkateswara Kunche, VP- Digital Solutions, Hitachi Vantara and the views expressed in this article are his own)
