Uptake has had a busy couple of months, and no one could argue the company is still in stealth mode. Recent notable events include:

• February 2018 - Hires Ganesh Bell as President, formerly Chief Digital Officer at GE Power
• April 2018 - Holds first annual analyst summit at HQ in Chicago
• April 2018 - Announces acquisition of Asset Performance Technologies, Inc. (APT)

Digital Transformation is a widespread trend across industry. Our research shows that about two-thirds of industrial organizations have already implemented Smart Manufacturing and Industry 4.0 technologies, or plan to soon. This trend is only accelerating. To date, most companies have focused digitalization investments on using asset- and operations-related data to improve core operational areas such as asset reliability, energy management, and production efficiency.

LNS Research recently participated in the 2018 Gensuite Conference in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. The annual gathering of the Gensuite ecosystem helped addressed a fundamental question faced by environment, health, and safety (EHS) business leaders: How can digital innovation improve EHS management? Based on the proceedings, the answer is “a lot.”

On Thursday, May 17, LNS Research hosted the webcast, “Keys to Successful New Product Introduction (NPI): Bridging the Digital Quality Divide.” The presentation explained why market dynamics force companies to rethink NPI and how leading companies drive innovation in today’s digital world. The discussion included an examination of why today’s NPI success rate is relatively low, and why market trends inhibit NPI success.

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend the OSIsoft User Conference in San Francisco. While the event overlapped with the biggest industrial trade show in the world, Hannover Messe, there was no noticeable impact on OSIsoft User Conference’s attendance. The conference has continued to grow year over the years, and this year the event expanded beyond the regular hotel contract to spread across three separate hotels.

In 2013, the concept of Industrie 4.0 was first touted at Hannover Messe, the world’s largest, and most expensive manufacturing show for exhibitors, industrial automation, and equipment. In the ensuing five years, the halls have been full of hype, everything 4.0 and grand promises of what is coming soon. Thankfully, signals from the Messe this year are aimed at delivery on a commercial scale. The Industrie 4.0 messaging spread across dozens of stands has gone, and the stand holders seem to be ready to deliver the first stage of benefits that Digital Transformation promises.

To say that industrial organizations today are operating in an intensely competitive, fast-changing business environment, dramatically understates the situation. Companies are under constant pressure to be more efficient, more innovative, and attain a competitive edge. Environment, health, and safety (EHS) and operations leaders face significant challenges with greater compliance obligations, complex global business networks, increased stakeholder demands for transparency, and the constant drumbeat of rapid change. Using a set of manual, localized solutions to manage business and operations data further adds to the woes of EHS and operations leaders.

On Wednesday, April 25, LNS Research hosted the webcast, “Integrated Risk Management: Five Strategies to Drive Operational Excellence.” The presentation examined why integrated risk management is the best way to reduce the likelihood and impact of negative outcomes to people, products, operations, the environment, and profitability plus deliver strategic value to the enterprise.

As the enterprise resource planning (ERP) market approaches the quarter-century mark, many manufacturers and asset-intensive industries are going through an upgrade or refresh cycle. With the growing importance of Cloud, mobility, Big Data analytics and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), these firms are frequently driven by competition, or senior management’s desire to change the company's competitive position, through Digital Transformation to become a Smart Manufacturing company. LNS has numerous end-user clients that see their business environment changing, and application decisions they made one or two decades ago now leave them with a technology portfolio that inhibits their ability to pursue Digital Transformation. Data from our IIoT survey shows that of the nearly 650 respondents, 62% list enterprise application spending as the number one investment area, over Big Data analytics and knowledge management. Unfortunately, many firms struggle with choosing their next generation ERP technology. What are the most common mistakes that make it so hard?

Last week, LNS attended the Schneider Electric Innovation Summit in Paris. It is one of the two flagship summits from 16 overall events Schneider Electric will hold this year to showcase their vision and technology. The event, first since Schneider Electric Software and AVEVA merger, was held in Paris from April 4-6 and had nearly 5000 attendees including customers, partners, prospects, employees, press, and analysts. The host city was painted green to match Schneider Electric brand color.