By Orlando Cintra, Senior Vice President of Technology and Innovation at SAP Brazil
Everything we touch, say and do generates data. However, this data does not create itself. Rather, they are a representation of many complex connections between people, devices, and companies.
As we use technology and contribute to this ocean of data, the Internet of Things (IoT) is starting to take on a more central role in the evolution of commerce and society. Gartner predicts that the number of IoT-connected devices will increase nearly 30-fold in just over a decade. As a result, everything – companies, processes, data and things – will be networked.
The digitization of connections in real time is the backdrop for the digital economy. It is changing the way we buy and sell. In fact, it is simplifying everything: the market, business relationships, companies. It allows companies to run everything more easily, quickly and with fewer resources.
This trend will significantly change our lives. The IoT will revolutionize the way we work, live and play, and transform the way companies do business and compete. The intelligence embedded in a growing network of hyper-connected devices will increasingly connect people and businesses to everything else – and become the fabric of a digital economy.
In the digital economy, companies can unleash unprecedented modes of vision, innovation and alignment. Talent can be deployed more flexibly, and decision makers can find the tools and information they need to better serve their customers and achieve desired business outcomes.
Machine networks connect sensors, components, equipment and activities that enable companies to capture market data, reduce operational risk, find agile supply chains and provide unparalleled customer experiences. By automating data collection and operations, companies can manage remote processes, monitor trends and achieve new levels of competitive advantage.
But is your company ready to transform and succeed in the digital economy? The biggest barrier to digital transformation is complexity. Less than 1% of today's data is being turned into business benefits.
According to a study by the John M. Olin School of Business at the University of Washington, 40% of companies listed on the S&P 500 index will disappear in the next decade for not keeping up with technological developments. This market value indicator made by the financial consultancy Standard & Poors includes 500 shares of companies chosen according to their sector, liquidity and size.
The key to taking advantage of the digital economy is speed in getting the right information at the right time. This era of unprecedented hyperconnectivity demands a company that operates its business and processes in real time, that uses dynamic data to make decisions instantly.
There is a window of opportunity for companies to develop sustainable competitive advantages with the thousands of data available. By applying the power of real-time computing, such as the SAP HANA platform, companies will be ready to make better business decisions. According to Forrester Research, the technology, which is already used by more than 7,000 companies in the world, is currently the main one in the market to support the processing of information in real time. See the full report here.
With new technologies companies can reinvent their business model, simplifying collaboration to connect people, devices and business networks in real time. Embrace high-precision segmentation, social marketing, demand-driven supply chains, smarter business planning with real-time scheduling and simulations, and proactive risk management with powerful pattern recognition.
Several customers in Brazil already use the SAP HANA solution, such as Suzano Papel e Celulose, Gnatus, a manufacturer of dental equipment located in Ribeirão Preto (SP), and Liquigás. The latter, for example, started to have the accounting closing in a much more agile way, as it is no longer necessary to run reports overnight to use them the next day. Reports are now updated in real time. Gnatus, on the other hand, is managing to make better business decisions, as it started to deliver information much faster to the business areas.
The city of Buenos Aires is also taking advantage of technologies to be more efficient. It suffers from terrible floods in the rainy season, which cause great material losses and, even worse, human lives. Today, with the use of real-time data analysis technology, the city government can monitor the sanitation system of the most sensitive areas of the city and know, in real time, which ones are blocked and which need maintenance to provide technical support. . The result? Cleaner streets, no flooding and safer, happier citizens.
With the right technological resources, the data avalanche of the digital economy can become a beautiful wave that will take your company to the height of sophistication: simplification.
Businesses will continue to transform. The only way to enter the next level of competitiveness is to continually maintain the innovative spirit. And for that, the recipe is to simplify everything in order to achieve more.
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