We have come a long way since the first Industrial Revolution in the 1700’s. Cyber-physical systems, AI and the IoT are the new steam engine and water wheel.

Companies and governments are scrambling to make sense of the rapid progress our new digital age but what is the result of all this hype?

In light of this in 2017 Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) developed what they call a ‘thought leadership framework’ designed to help companies harness the power of digital technologies to drive their growth and transformation agenda.

The Industry 4.0 idea that originated in Germany with it’s four ‘design principles’ is mirrored in TCS’s ‘behaviours’ designed to push companies into the new digital age of innovation.

Now two years later a survey they conducted has found that the movement is gaining traction and the results are looking good.

For those who are willing to adapt that is.

Industry 4.0: Delivering the foundation for manufacturings future

Calum Roberts, Director of Enterprise Sales at Veeam, explains how industry 4.0 is now the ‘holy grail’ for manufacturing’s future.

Tata Consultancy Services surveyed senior business decision makers from more than 1,200 large enterprises. Spanning 11 industries and 18 countries.

Whilst only nine percent of survey participants or ‘Leaders’ have adopted all four behaviours. A whopping 82% of companies or ‘Early Adopters’ have embraced one to three of the behaviours, with mass personalisation being the most prevalent at 78%.

Of all the companies that have adopted all four behaviours in the Business 4.0 model, 60% expect to see a growth of over ten percent in the next three years.

K. Ananth Krishnan, CTO at TCS, was pleased with the results: “The study reveals a strong link between Business 4.0 maturity and technology adoption.

“Leaders are more likely than other participating companies to have driven digital growth and realised double digit revenue gains.”

Leaders are also three times more likely than ’followers’ — 9% of participants that have not yet adopted any of the Business 4.0 behaviours — to have embraced AI, blockchain and IoT technologies, and twice as likely to have embraced automation the study found.

European businesses accounted for the greatest number of ‘Leaders’, followed by Asia Pacific and North America, when adjusted for the respondent mix.

“Agile methodologies, cloud, automation, and AI are examples of tech pillars that enable Leaders to change course and adapt to shifting market dynamics much better than companies with inflexible ‘idea to execution’ timelines of months or years,” said Krishnan.

Business in Industry 4.0 paving the way for change

Businesses need to ensure they are investing in emerging technologies to not only streamline activities, but also – and more importantly – train their employees

The name of the game with the Business 4.0 model is taking more risks and being open to new ideas.

One third of all survey participants said they plan to transform their business model within one year to embrace risk – and 47% plan to do so in the next three years.

Krishnan Ramanujam, global head, Business and Technology Services, TCS said: “Successful business transformation journeys require a fundamental mindset shift from the top, with senior leaders driving digital behaviours forward within their organisation and overcoming perceived business or cultural challenges,”

The landscape is looking good then for companies seeking to “transform” in this fourth industrial revolution.

“Thanks to digital technologies, we have a great opportunity to move from past philosophies of optimising scarce resources to a Business 4.0 approach that harnesses an abundance of talent, capital, data, computing resources, and broader ecosystems to solve business problems and deliver value,” said Ramanujam.