Industry fears digital competitors

Around 70 percent of companies are willing to join forces with their business partners for Industry 4.0 projects in order to invest jointly in digital infrastructure.

"Digital transformation in the industry requires new strategic thinking".

says Johannes Diemer, Industry 4.0 manager at DXC Technology.

"As our latest Industry 4.0 study shows, the market success of the current business model at the majority of companies is based on a special product with which they have developed a unique selling proposition - this is reported by 57 percent of German industrial managers.

At the same time, only just under one in five companies currently rules out the risk of losing market share to new digital competitors. In this situation, 70 percent rate positively the idea of working together with partners from their own value chain and investing in cooperatively used digital platforms."

Among the most important investment goals in the next three years, one in two managers lists close cooperation in building digital platforms with business partners from their own network. Just under one in two companies is prepared to join forces with competitors in order to share the investment costs in digital infrastructures.

"As the Industry 4.0 survey shows, the use of digital platforms for solutions in the smart factory of the future plays a key role"

says Johannes Diemer.

"This creates entirely new opportunities for businesses to collaborate with their value-added partners across traditional boundaries. In the process, these digital platforms pave the way to connect business and production networks, enabling them to tap into shared resources and connected marketplaces."

Digital platforms will be the basis for operating entire value networks - including order management, automated contract processing or supply chain integration.

For this purpose, a digital platform not only enables the use of cloud solutions. Hybrid systems with edgeline components or blockchain solutions are also used to implement functionalities of business and production platforms.

Need for action in Austria

In another study, DXC Technology asked 100 industrial managers in Austria about the opportunities and risks of the smart factory of the future. Only for every fourth industry manager in Austria, Industry 4.0 already has an important strategic significance today.

However, around half see the digital revolution as an opportunity to improve their competitive position. However, the desire for an Industry 4.0 partnership is comparatively low: Around one-third want to tackle the digital transformation together with partners.

Many companies cling to old ways of thinking - new business models are only systematically developed in isolated cases.

"Austrian businesses should rethink as quickly as possible - classic business models will be permanently influenced and changed by the digital transformation"

says Dietmar Kotras, General Manager DXC Austria.

"According to our latest Industry 4.0 study, around one in two of those surveyed think that the digital revolution offers important impetus for a future business model - however, major investments are not being considered by the majority at the current time."

The respondents mainly want to use Industrie 4.0 internally to reduce costs (48 percent) and improve quality in production (43 percent). Only 18 percent use Industrie 4.0 for their current business model.