Industrial Internet Consortium publishes white paper on digital transformation in industry

The Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) announced the publication of the Digital Transformation in Industry white paper.

This new white paper focuses on digital transformation in industry and the role innovation processes play in it. It also covers the disruptive technologies that transform the way companies operate, service and maintain equipment. The white paper is designed as a guide that business managers, technology managers and risk, security and safety managers can use to develop business models, leverage key technologies and determine the level of trustworthiness they will need as they begin their digital transformation journey.

“Digital Transformation is the next disruptive wave hitting industry. With this publication, we have described the key technologies that underpin digital transformation and the first steps for any enterprise looking to deploy them,” said Jim Morrish, Founding Partner of Transforma Insights and Co-chair of the IIC Digital Transformation Working Group.

Digital transformation initiatives fall into three categories:

New business models - entails an enterprise transforming to offer a substantially changed service to technology users, often associated with new ways of charging for services.

Enterprise operations - focuses primarily on increasing the efficiency (or reducing the cost, or risk) of providing products and services to technology users.

Customer experience - focuses on changing the customer experience in absence of other changes. These projects tend to center on generating new service revenues or providing new services to customers, particularly field services.

“Digital transformation is a business strategy with the objective to improve business and industrial models and create new ones. This is achieved through the innovative and principled application of digital technologies along with business and organizational realignment,” said Bassam Zarkout, Founder of IGnPower and Co-chair of the IIC Digital Transformation Working Group. “Digital transformation is not a project. It is strategy led by a vision and powered by a committed program, which may involve multiple IIoT projects.”

The white paper covers a wide range of technologies that can enable digital transformation, such as:

* Edge Technology
* Hyper Connectivity
* Data Security
* Artificial Intelligence and Analytics
* Digital Twin
* Distributed Ledger
* Human-Machine Interface
* Additive Manufacturing
* Data Sharing
* IIoT
* Autonomous Robotic Systems
* Innovation at the IT/OT Boundary
* Micropower Generation–Energy Harvesting
* Servitization
* Technical Platforms for New Business Models and Payment Methods.

Trustworthiness of systems is a key element of a digital transformation strategy; a lack of trustworthiness may place an organization at a disadvantage, vis-à-vis its competitors and can have dire consequences. This could include human injury or worse, interruption of critical infrastructure, unintended disclosure of sensitive data, destruction of equipment, economic loss and reputational damage.

Overinvesting in trustworthiness, can on the other hand increase capital and maintenance costs, reduce flexibility and functionality and introduce cumbersome processes. “Companies embarking on digital transformation must weigh the risks and benefits of both underinvesting or overinvesting in trustworthiness,” added Morrish.