Fourth industrial revolution (4IR) Industry 4.0 is all about digital, AI and automation for productivity in the form it never existed before. In most of the cases, completely eliminate human intervention, or slow down caused by humans, since AI and robotics can never stop 24×7 basis, but humans we may need few shifts for it. Micro precision and high-tech manufacturing, it only advanced robotics can handle.
For humans to coexist with AI and robotics, how to deploy humans in the right way, without slowing down the enterprise is one of the key challenges human enterprise needs to consider. Business sustainability has changed from each round of industrial evolution, it reflects on the large enterprises in the world, and the public listed at their era. You will notice the largest enterprise is shifted from the bank, real-estate property, retail, oil and gas, vehicle, technology and what next?
We start to have next wave industry or sector company listing, from those who focus on electric vehicles (EV), despite not being the one selling the most cars in the world yet, but their stock market price is over-traded so much that it reflects the market speculation for their future earnings potential. It is hard for modern day to define in specific how to classify one of the enterprises belonging to which sector or industry, as modern enterprises typically operate borderless. I give you the example, telecommunication, will buy cybersecurity business and offer those as complement services. Airlines will go into sectors and industries where in the past they had strategic alliances with others. We will also see most of the bank players do not even consider being active in pursuing fintech, insurtech, or provide mobile wallets, but let other people be proactive in pursuing those. Companies like Apple, besides supplying hardware, get a huge portion of their revenue from the online App Store application purchase, subscription and other services, and even operate their own Apple TV shows exclusive content, and offer Apple Pay, their own payment services and even offer Apple credit card financing to their customers.
The traditional role of sticking to your core business and outsourcing the rest, may be required to rewrite, as a great innovative leader is progressively pushing the limit for what modern technology can use for transforming the existing and future business landscape. Apple from being a PC maker to offering smartphone, then tablet, followed with smartwatch is just one of the examples. What next you think they will offer? They offer their own core designed ARM-based system on chip (SOC) and universally make their new generation of their product away from the long term supplier Intel. Rumor has it that Apple intends to produce smart glass, smart car, where we need to see in real life whether that happens.
Each generation of the change, industrial revolution set the new strategic capability needed to compete with the rest, either you possess it or you don’t. For those who continue to operate with the old generation of top management, and use their success in the past business model, attempting to duplicate it is both dangerous and potential for synergy. Inertia kills most of the enterprise due to reactive, passive react to any innovation, but at the same time, too aggressive and landing in the new market too soon will be risky too. When the world reaches the next wave of big things, the majority of the goods are produced by robots. What role human labor needs to play and coexist with AI and robots remains a key theme that will drive the world for the next few years to come. At the time being, how ready are your enterprise in terms of adapting modern emerging technologies, and can you apply them for your own enterprise as an edge over the competition? New definition of productivity and sustainability in project economy, you need to define it with the new paradigm.
E-SPIN Group in the enterprise ICT solution supply, consultancy, project management, training and maintenance for corporation and government agencies did business across the region and via the channel. Feel free to contact E-SPIN for your project requirement and inquiry.
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