Accenture Technology Vision for Industrial 2016

Industrial & Automotive:
retooling for digital
advantage
Accenture Technology Vision
for Industrial 2016

Pivoting to digital: New technologies are not just transforming how
industrial companies manufacture their products. They are also having a
profound impact on workforce and marketplace dynamics, creating new
pathways for collaboration – amongst people, machines and organizations.
Increasingly, companies’ destinies will be defined by how successfully they
use digital to reorient their workforces, enable collaboration and both
anticipate and drive disruption.
Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved.

More and more companies are discovering that it’s how technology and people
work together that is creating whole new vistas of opportunity. It is a phenomenon
that is playing out in all five key trends of this year’s Accenture Technology Vision
for Industrial 2016:
The five technology trends for Industrial
Intelligent
Automation
Liquid
Workforce
Platform
Economy
Predictable
Disruption
Digital Trust

Automation is a defining characteristic of
industrial businesses everywhere. But today,
its principal purpose is no longer solely cost
reduction and operational efficiency. In fact, in
our survey, industrial executives say that their
top reason for automating tasks is to innovate
and create new business models.
Intelligent
Automation
The essential new
co-worker for the
digital ageTREND ONE

Machines and software intelligence are bringing new skills
into the workplace
The people + machines nexus will
create “The Perceptive
Enterprise”: companies that sense
and respond rapidly to the needs
of their businesses and customers
The industry is investing more in automation.
have increased their
investments in deep learning
85%
plan to up their spend on
machine learning
78%

The penetration of digital technologies into
industrial companies is having a profound
impact on the workforce in these
organizations. The priority for most companies
is now to find ways of reskilling and retooling
their people to take advantage of the
enormous benefits that digital can bring.
Liquid
Workforce
The workforce for
today’s digital demands
TREND TWO

Enterprises with liquid workforces focus on building fluidity
into three main areas: skills, projects and organization
of executives believe
training is more
important than ever
have started building a
future-fit workforce
of executives believe a
more fluid workforce will
improve innovation
In a connected world, a
holistic view of the
value chain is
essential. To achieve
that, companies are
investing in
collaboration solutions
90%
22%
Industrial executives
know their people need
new skills but just
75%

While there has been arguably less visible
platform development in large industrial and
automotive companies than in consumer
industries, this is changing and fast. Companies
are now investing heavily in digital innovation,
with platform business models at the heart of
their investment strategies for digital
transformation.
Platform
Economy
Innovation from the
outside, in
TREND THREE

Platform-based business models, and the strategies they
enable, are driving profound global macroeconomic changes
of industrial executives agree that in a digital world, platform business
models are a must-have
The car is becoming a
“platform on wheels.” Once
automotive gets a common
industry standard for APIs,
the connected vehicle market
will surge ahead
84%
Executives ranked
“Asymmetrical Growth”
as the most important
growth strategy over
the next three years
Enabled by platforms,
they are capturing new
revenues from
complementary markets
Companies are getting
more innovative with
platforms, distinctions
between tech giants and
industrial players are
increasingly superfluous

Businesses have always collaborated. But
digital is transforming where and between
whom that collaboration can take place. In
short, all limits have been lifted. The focus
on creating a better product is shifting to a
customer-centric mindset where service,
experience and outcomes should dominate
thinking.
Predictable
Disruption
Digital ecosystems drive
the next wave of change
TREND FOUR

Fast-emerging digital ecosystems, and the businesses that
power them, are blurring industry boundaries
Every aspect of the industry is being
disrupted by digital platforms and
ecosystems. Companies are thinking
in new customer-driven ways and
shifting the focus from products to
solutions
of companies believe
industry boundaries are
being erased and new
paradigms are emerging
agree they are under
pressure to reinvent and
evolve before they are
disrupted
82%
84%

As companies’ products become
increasingly smart and connected, they are
inadvertently offering new opportunities to
cyber attackers and possibilities for data
breaches that can imperil business
reputations and destroy customer trust.
Digital
Trust
Strengthening customer
relationships through
ethics and security
TREND FIVE

With every digital advancement creating new vectors for risk,
trust is becoming the cornerstone of the digital economy
of executives believe they
are exposed to more digital
risks than they can handle
report that compared to two
years ago, they have
suffered from twice as many
privacy/security breaches
75%
48%
Smart products expose companies to
the same risks as tech companies.
A new approach to product
development and design is needed,
with security and privacy embedded
throughout the supply chain

Next Steps
Digital technologies and an evolving workforce together create an environment that
is challenging companies to take a strategic approach to aligning their people and
technology. Automotive and Industrial companies looking to take their next steps in
this evolution should consider the following actions:
Appoint a C-level champion to lead a
cross-functional team of technologists and
business experts to explore how automation
can help reinvent the business
Prepare the workforce to work effectively
with intelligent automation
Involve the workforce in designing and
managing the change journey that intelligent
automation requires
Assess existing organizational models to
ensure they remain relevant in the digital
world
Identify and prioritize parts of the business that
are primed for platform business models
Identify areas of the business that are
vulnerable to disruption from new
platform-based business models
Recognize the opportunities emerging
from the Industrial Internet of Things and
develop strategies to drive benefits
Meet industry experts to review trends
and identify areas of future disruption
Consider security implications of
connected devices, equipment and
products carefully, address them upfront
and make sure to extend security
"beyond the product"

Contact us to learn more
Eric Schaeffer
Global Industrial Lead
eric.schaeffer@accenture.com
David Martyny
Global Industrial Technology Consulting Lead
david.w.martyny@accenture.com
Join the conversation
@AccentureInd

Accenture Technology Vision for Industrial 2016

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