PARTNERS ’ PERSPECTIVE
Industrial channel partners and cloud adoption
Kerry Grimes , Head of Global Partners at AVEVA
Manufacturers should align with industrial software channel partners to facilitate migration to hybrid cloud platforms , that have end to end data integration , explains Kerry Grimes at AVEVA .
Since the 1990s , manufacturing organisations have taken gradual steps to automate and digitise their processes and operations by adopting ERP software . However , ERP applications were never intended to and remain challenged by not being able to effectively integrate and interpret the vast quantities of data produced by production equipment .
HMI , SCADA systems , manufacturing execution systems and other operational and control systems have been the standard for manufacturers on the plant floor . These existing systems , as well as ERP , are being challenged as industrial software is increasingly embracing digital platforms and being transformed into well integrated , end to end systems for the manufacturing sector .
Today ’ s incremental advances in big data , predictive analytics , business process management and augmented reality are enabling industrial manufacturing organisations to make sense of proprietary operational data like never before . What is more , digital platforms like cloud , Internet of Things , smart and edge devices are driving down the cost of digital transformation in the manufacturing sector .
Digital transformation is also driving a shift in how industrial software is consumed , moving from an on-premises , perpetual software ownership model as a capital expense into a periodic , subscription and cloud deployed model that can flexibly adapt to changing business requirements .
Manufacturing enterprises should enlist the services of industrial channel partners who are well skilled in cloud migration journeys and work closely with industrial
Selecting the right industrial channel partner , one that is well skilled in managing hybrid cloud based industrial software , is a vital step towards digital transformation . software vendors who provide hybrid cloud , software subscriptions .
As machines become smarter through Industrial IoT , manufacturing execution systems are integrating machines with connected assets and transforming factories into seamless , smart organisations .
Inside the plant , visibility into operations and resources , aided by manufacturing execution systems , enables better decision making and collaboration between plant and enterprise functions . Historical production data provides insights into optimisation and continuous improvement .
However , unless manufacturing execution systems are able to digitally model the industrial manufacturing plant – by aligning with digital technologies and digital platforms – they will not be able to cope with the demands of transformation inside manufacturing plants .
According to the World Economic Forum , the value of digital transformation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution is estimated at $ 100 trillion over the next ten years , across all sectors , industries , and geographies . The manufacturing sector , which has long been a driver of global prosperity and economic growth , is key to this transformation .
Another transformational strand within manufacturing is the unification of storage and analytics , leveraging the domain expertise necessary to address industrial challenges , in a unified hybrid cloud solution that spans the entire value chain . Hybrid cloud platforms ,
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