According to AVEVA, 85% of firms intend to expand their investment in digital transformation over the next three years to combat climate change, embrace automation, and realize the performance advantages of modern technology. The findings are based on an AVEVA-commissioned survey of top industry executives and managers on their innovation objectives.
Over 850 digital transformation professionals from a variety of industries were polled by AVEVA, including manufacturing, large-scale agribusiness, food and beverage, infrastructure, energy, electricity, and chemical processing. The goal was to learn about the various market opportunities, pressures, and innovations that are driving businesses to adopt digital operations by combining AI, industrial software, and human understanding to achieve exceptional results.
“Industrial leaders are leveraging advanced analytics and digital innovation to rethink how they design, engineer, and operate,” says Ravi Gopinath, Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Cloud Officer, AVEVA.
He added, “Bringing together rich, timely, and accurate industrial data with the scope and scale of the cloud, smart analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI) are empowering industrial teams to collaborate better, operate with agility, and elevate what they can achieve. This is set to transform how we all live and work.”
In a post-pandemic environment, nine out of 10 industrial firms regard merging sophisticated technologies like the industrial internet of things (IIoT), AI, and cloud with their employees’ insights as critical to achieving greater performance. AI and automation are now widely regarded as essential technologies for keeping up with the competition. More than half of companies in China and Germany (56 percent and 55 percent, respectively) have made digital transformation a major priority for the coming year, with investments in workforce solutions, cyber security, connected worker strategies, and cloud.
The pandemic has heightened awareness of the need for immediate climate action, which is cited as a top priority by the majority of industrial enterprises (90 percent). Nine out of 10 (89%) firms are committed to attaining net-zero carbon emissions and addressing climate change within a five-year time frame. According to industry leaders, a focus on sustainability has become a need for success.
According to 85 percent of businesses, sustainability-driven needs will promote innovation across the value chain. As a result, these companies intend to improve visibility and performance assurance for sustainability-related measures. Germany, Austria, and Switzerland are at the front of the global competition for environmental-related business innovation, with 47 percent of Germans, Austrians, and Swiss seeing it as a major priority, compared to 41 percent elsewhere.
Approximately 80% of industrial enterprises are focused on fulfilling or exceeding environmental laws, with 83 percent stating that the transition to renewable energy sources will be a top priority. Circularity and recycling within the value chain are crucial to 83 percent of customers, with Latin America leading the way (44 percent of companies).
“At AVEVA, we are committed to helping our customers unlock the benefits of digital transformation to drive efficiency and sustainability. As the industrial world accelerates, AVEVA’s solutions offer a proven pathway to support the shift to net zero while driving profitability and sustainability. Our study shows that Performance Intelligence, AVEVA’s unique capability to combine data and AI-infused analytics that span the entire industrial life cycle, accelerates sustainability for many businesses. The new research reveals that 75% of companies believe they are on a journey to realizing Performance Intelligence, while 89% state that they are committed to driving sustainability. At AVEVA, we are committed to supporting both of these aspirations, to drive even greater value,” Gopinath concluded.
