Trends in Industry 4.0

Every new technology that secures a position in the marketplace sets off disruptive industry changes through its inherent features, agility, and adaptability. Industry 4.0, or the Fourth Industrial Revolution, is one such trending topic of recent times and it’s expected to change the market dynamics of IoT in the near future. This article outlines the top emerging trends of Industry 4.0 that are poised to play a significant role in transforming the IoT marketplace over the next two years.

Trend #1: Standardized Industry 4.0 / IoT Complete Solutions

Currently, IoT solutions are still in the periphery of individual consumer products, its potential not being explored at large. Having said so, it is, however, the custom-tailored approach of consumer devices that form the basic foundation for standardized solutions. In the future, Industry 4.0 / IoT solutions will not just rely on standardized platforms, it will also pack in a comprehensive range of integrated solutions to cater to a diversified array of upcoming and challenging applications.

Trend #2: Industry 4.0 / Integration of IoT Data, Big Data, and Analytics

While evaluating the variety of IoT solutions being offered in the market right now, it is evident that analytics, big data, and machine learning are key functionalities that are playing a pivotal role in every IoT product portfolio. The world we live in is heterogeneous, and it will continue to be. This is why integration of IoT data, analytics, and big data will be a persistent topic that will surface every now and then in the current and future IoT ecosystem. Synthesis of heterogeneous devices, data, and applications isn’t trivial, as it represents the “compulsories” of the Industry 4.0 and IoT world.

Trend #3: Today’s Industry 4.0 Users Will Become the Vendors of Tomorrow

Very rapidly we will get to see a band of emerging enterprise users, trying to gain perception and expertise of Industry 4.0 through their in-house designs, which they will eventually market to external customers. These typical Industry 4.0 / IoT enterprise users, in this process, will subsequently become the future Industry 4.0 / IoT vendors. Simply put, this concept is also strikingly applicable to companies as a whole. Especially in the IoT space, it is an outstanding idea to build fast and agile subsidiaries to counterbalance the rigid, corporate IT structures. The idea for industrial enterprises is to develop an entire production process line, starting from order entry to delivery, including connecting with vendors and clients on an open ERP platform.

Trend #4: IoT Ecosystems

We are in an extremely interconnected global economy; no longer is it the size of one’s company that matters. Rather, it is one’s network that matters, as the network provides the decisive power in gaining ground and winning market shares. This concept, however, isn’t particularly limited to Industry 4.0 or IoT. Instead, it plays a key role in all succeeding market developments across the Internet of Things spectrum. The IoT ecosystem, largely centered on IoT platforms, will stretch its limits and continue to expand over the next two years, around which increasingly interconnected micro services will be grouped.

Keeping your ears to the ground for emerging trends like these will help you harness the potential of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, optimizing applications and processes through the Industry 4.0.