Industrial digitisation expected to grow 65 pc: Study

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SME Times News Bureau | 22 Jul, 2016
Going digital being the priority for most of the top company officials, more than a quarter of the industrial firms think their exposure to digitisation is high and expect it to rise to 65 percent within the next five years, a recent survey said here on Thursday.

"More than a quarter (27 percent) of the industrial companies have rated their level of digitisation as high, and this value is expected to rise to 65 percent within the next five years in India. Globally, this number is expected to grow from 33 percent to 72 percent during this period," the report, Industry 4.0: Building the Digital Enterprise, done by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said.

Industrial companies in India and Asia-Pacific have the advantage to leapfrog ahead of those in the developed economies given their greenfield starting positions.

As a result, they have fewer legacy issues pertaining to outdated systems, processes, technological capabilities, which need to be addressed, the report stated.

"For an emerging economy like ours with a very strong focus on the growth agenda, it is only natural that industrial products sector will leverage the technological breakthroughs for building its digital ecosystem. This will enable them to add significant value to their customers by knowing how the product is being used and will also drive efficiency improvements across the value chain," said Sudipta Ghosh, Leader - Data and Analytics, PwC India.

According to the report the key challenges in front of the companies are many. Many of them lack of clear digital operations vision from the leadership (45 percent), lack of skills in data analytics capabilities (53 percent) and fostering a strong digital culture (41 percent).

"Operational disruption from cyber security breaches is another top concern for Indian industrial companies. Overcoming these challenges will enable them to reach their potential and objectives of digitisation by 2020," it added.

"The manufacturing industry today accepts that digitisation is no longer a luxury for organisations, but a necessity to drive revenues, efficiency and profitability in the future. Progressive Indian industrial companies are willing to invest heavily in digitisation technologies such as sensors or connectivity devices as well as software and applications such as manufacturing excellence systems," said Bimal Tanna, Leader - Industrial Products, PwC India.