Cost reduction & operational efficiencies driving Industrial Internet

Almost three-quarters (72%) of industrial businesses across Europe cite cost reduction and operational efficiency as the biggest drivers of Industrial Internet progress, made possible by improved visibility into plant asset performance and control levels available to operators.

The findings go on to suggest that the same proportion (72%) of respondents plan to increase their Industrial Internet spending, with some willing to increase expenditure in this area by more than 30%.

More than 60% of automotive and discrete enterprises are already involved in Industrial Internet initiatives, while just over half (56%) of process manufacturers have started theirs.

The research – released by Stratus Technologies – polled those responsible for IT, business line, digital transformation and the Industrial Internet in companies in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, the Nordic and Benelux regions.

As companies become more aware of the financial, productivity and data integrity cost of downtime and the need for continuous control system availability, IT infrastructure availability has become a business-critical requirement.

However, the challenge many industrial companies are faced with is the functional coordination and collaboration of operational technologies (OT) with information technologies (IT). A vital step in creating continuous availability for critical IT infrastructure.

As such, business are increasingly exploring solutions which require minimal onsite IT expertise to deliver continuous availability. These systems often come with the added business benefit of helping to lower both the total cost of ownership and the risk involved with taking advantage of other emerging benefits of more connected enterprises, such as virtualisation and control systems operating closer to the ’edge’.