Industrial Ecosystems

Grappling with complex ecosystems, energy transitions, and planet earth.

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Source: https://theconversation.com/humanitys-sustainability-is-no-excuse-for-abandoning-planet-earth-80699. Time to go? Shutterstock

It has been fashionable to “hang” any network of relationships with the ecosystem tag; it has become the de jour or trendy label to suggest this announced initiative indicates it is complicated and highly valuable.

Well, in all honesty, most ecosystem “tags” are only an extension of building out a more significant community than the one previously, looking to deal with increasing complexity and expecting commercial gain, well that alone is not an ecosystem approach.

Ecosystems fascinate me; they do have a significant opportunity to change what is existing for something new. The need is to balance the healthy interactions and the conditions for that environment to flourish. Of course, many people might argue, “so what is wrong with what we have got?” Often I can’t disagree with this view, we do replace what works seemingly well because of our need to leave our own “footprint” in the world.

In Business we have “stolen” this ecosystem concept from its original meaning: “An ecosystem is a geographic area where plants, animals, and other organisms, as well as weather and landscape, work together to form a bubble of life.”

In business terms, we have taken this into these larger communities that interact through their network connections; they are dynamic or aim to be better than the previous structure.

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Compressing innovations time needs platforms and ecosystems

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We all facing this growing pressure of time. In our daily work, in managing product and service life-cycles, as well as constantly considering business model overhauls as they become ever more connected.

We are not in stable markets anymore but increasingly volatile ones. Innovation needs to be at the forefront of the changes occurring and it above all else needs to find solutions to compress its time from ideation to commercialization.

It is through acknowledging that platforms and ecosystems are today’s new order to deliver innovation. Platforms that connect into the customer needs within its broader ecosystem of design, so the innovation needed to be delivered is capable to match those needs. Innovation requires greater collaboration, a process that is connecting everyone involved in the process from discovery, to design, through to the final viable product, to be on the same platform and contributing their part to the final offering.

Let’s explore some of the parts of the new innovation order:

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China and Asia for Ecosystem Dynamism

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I was trying to capture the Asian dynamism in how they go about Ecosystem designs for their businesses.

The critical captures for me are based on three critical aspects to create this dynamism.

Firstly, in the social conditions within Asia and China for especially smart technology-led connected solutions.

Secondly, the ability of the solution provider in having the capabilities to push the boundaries, in regulatory change and technology innovations, and ‘impose’ radically different structures along the complete supply chain and have as their central focus the customer engagement processes, that delivers the solution needed in the quickest possible time, at the most economical and convenient cost, at increasing scale to drive down costs.

Thirdly having that significant engagement at the top of the organizations, in designing, directing and determining the outcomes and injecting the enthusiasm, drive, and passion for change and commitment.

I believe these three aspects are creating more dynamic ecosystem environments in Asia and especially China.

In Asia, it is a far more top-down but highly entrepreneurial mindset for those that have broken through and built real scale and really very big businesses on their platforms with the excellent technology and a sharp-minded approach to connecting up the ecosystem within the design and solutions.

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Moving technologies forward at scale

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It seems all IIoT is paved with good intentions. Yet many still are caught up in the “Pilot Purgatory” that McKinsey & Co and the World Economic Forum suggested is plaguing our present pathway to moving towards the 4th Industrial Revolution. In their white paper released in January 2018 called  “The Next Economic Growth Engine- Scaling Fourth Industrial Revolution Technologies in Production,” they tackle this well.

We still face many problems in taking the “idea” of transformation through pilots into full-scale implementations. Many companies are in the investigative phase, where it is estimated that the average number of pilots can be around eight different industry 4.0 solutions. That is a fair amount, so why do we still seem trapped in pilots.

I think it is for many reasons; let’s take a look at several inhibitors here as my view:

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Are You Struggling with Technology Evolution and New Designs?

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I have been struggling with a fair amount on a repositioning within my business offering. I think firstly, that innovation has become digital innovation and that is one space I need to keep going towards. Not only in understanding all of the implications of this shift but in my own capability building, to deliver more support to this significant change we are undergoing, through so much technology connecting up all of the innovation “pieces,” from insight triggering, to final delivery of the finished design.

The other focus area is continuing to extend out my approach and understanding of the growing importance of platforms and ecosystems within a business. They form the future approach to build a thriving and sustainable business.

My questions recently have been where is my fit in this thinking or supporting platforms and ecosystems, beyond what I am presently doing?

The visual shown above is attempting to frame this for me. There are four critical aspects of platforms and ecosystems that need to be shaped. Let me explain:

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Facing the future- the galactic war of IIoT platforms moves into its next phase

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So Hannover Messe 19 (#HM19) is behind us. The pavilions are being pulled down, some stored away for use next year.

The buzz, excitement and the sheer energy and effort, that thousands put into their role as part of this event, is amazing. The exhibitor, like the committed visitor, ends up exhausted, even ‘spent’ but was it worth it?

The “housing” under HM19 of so many competing forces within Industry all vying for attention is overwhelming. It reminds you of how competitive and confusing all of this transformation stuff is. So conflicting actually.

The memories can be fleeting or they can be lasting. In the end, they nudge us all nearer to decisions, these sort of events help us to become more informed. what we lack is a better way of containing all we have learned so we can filter it, sort it and relate the multiple messages to our own needs. Not easy but “do-able” in better ways than we have today. The “return on investment” gets better if we can make connections into “connected stories” I have some thoughts on these but that is for another time. Let’s get into this piece.

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Digital transformation is our place of purgatory today.

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We are caught in a moment of time. All the hype, push, the argument for making the “digital transformation” is so badly stalled in many of our Corporations. We are running a marathon, mostly it seems fueled by “spent” energy and a growing sense of lowering our belief and confidence that we can finish this.

These digital transformations are like the deer, suddenly caught in the headlamp of a car that simply freezes, they seem immobilized, even for brief seconds, sometimes its reaction to flee is too late, it gets caught out by the oncoming car.

I feel many of our entities are caught in this moment of fear, bewilderment, rather paralyzed in how to tackle digital transformation. It is overwhelming. The advice available often does not help, it compounds that fear, they seem to be just staring at the size of the problem.

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Entering the Fray Differently in Industrial IoT Platform Solutions

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We have ABB forming a JV with Dassault Systems. We have Rockwell firstly linking up with PTC and now a Rockwell and Schlumberger tie up. They will significantly make a difference in the complexity of those offering  Industrial IoT platform solutions.

What do these strategic moves mean to the IIoT market and to potential clients?

In some way, they indicate levels of consolidation, the realism of how to compete, and catch up with the bigger IIoT Platform investors today, that have been pushing and pioneering the IIoT market.

The two, GE with its Predix IIoT platform and Siemens and its Mindsphere one, are equally facing a certain crossroad in future decisions. I’ll outline later in this article or have raised questions previously in past posts. The impact of these competitors joining the fray is certainly announcing this market is getting highly competitive.

What will be future decisions for others offering more niche platform solutions as well, such as Bosch and Schneider Electric? More is yet to come but when you begin to see multiple announcements in acquisitions, partnerships, and JV’s, then you know the market is entering its next phase of growth – that crossing the chasm, one that is entering a very competitive positioning to grab market share and client wins. Investment decisions are perhaps about to get even bigger or solution sets more “imaginative” to attract clients into making their commitments.

Firstly, a short snapshot of the recent Partnership announcements

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Are PTC and Rockwell Automation Delivering the Connected Enterprise?

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In June 2018 we saw that Rockwell Automation (ROK) made a $1 Billion investment into PTC that will give Rockwell just under a 9% ownership interest in PTC. I decided to wait to look at this. Now here is the time for a review eight months later.

I have made initial snapshots (all separate links) on Schneider Electric, Bosch, GE, Siemens, ABB,  Alibaba and Baidu to look a little deeper at their platform offerings. I still have to dig into Azure and AWS sometime but this partnership of a leading software provider in the IoT space and Rockwell, dedicated to industrial automation takes precedence, as my primary focus is on platforms and ecosystems in business IIoT.

Rockwell had not responded up to this point in a strategic way to the very strong pushes, led by their largest competitor, Siemens on IIoT platforms. Siemens has been building their Mindsphere offering in their own unique purposeful ways.

This move and partnership between Rockwell and PTC might change the game significantly. PTC will be supplying a real IIoT backbone of platform components and are rapidly delivering an integrated industrial digitalization solution.

Slapping $1 billion on the table really does potentially transform both businesses.

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Are we learning the lessons in the Fourth Industrial Revolution?

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https://www.weforum.org/events

So it is that wonderful time of year. Business Leaders mix with other Global Leaders, Influencers and those that want to move and shake present opinion, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland from 22nd to 25th January 2019. Now I love this event. The deluge of fresh reports on all things concerning our leaders thinking come flooding out, all hoping to be read and understood in their seriousness.

You have to apply “selective reading” but this year the main theme is Globalization 4.0. It strikes me the challenges within the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) have shifted to this new emerging theme of Globalization 4.0. So after I and many, many others have got used to one revolution we seem to have merged this into another. The argument is simple, the condition of the planet, a changing multipolar international order, and rising inequality are shifting the goal posts. If we do not gather around the need for changing the deteriating human condition and reducing the rapidily depleted natual resources that we have at our disposal, by taking action at corporate, national and international level we are, can I say it, “simply fried”? Globalization4.0 is somehow trying to scope out the issues, for heading this off. Well, maybe!

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