Selecting software solutions for a business enterprise has always been a difficult decision for many reasons, including the following:
- Stakeholders may not understand the technology aspects, or appreciate how the solution will tangibly improve competitive advantage (i.e., reduce costs or time to market, improve collaboration, decision-making or operational excellence, get closer to customers etc.).
- The existing technology landscape may impose certain constraints, which, if not considered before the decision is made, may lead to additional costs and/or delays in implementation.
- In-house teams may be unfamiliar with newer technologies, and hence end up relying on the vendor’s assertions and assurances to a much higher degree than desirable.
- The solution may not possess all the functionalities the enterprise needs.
- Users may resist using the software because it represents a major shift from their zones of comfort. Inadequate training of users before roll-out may increase resistance.
- In the absence of clear business goals that the software is expected to deliver, assessing ROI and project success becomes much harder and more subjective.
The above apply just as much to large companies as to MSMEs. And they are as relevant for selecting factory-level IoT solutions to drive your company’s Industry 4.0 strategy as they are to selecting other functional solutions.
Based on our experience of working with manufacturing companies, here are some tips for you, as a decision-maker or influencer in selecting IoT solutions for your factory, to ensure that you do, in fact, select the best available solution.
- Do not fear IoT because it is a new concept or captures data from non-computers. Remember that CNC machines today probably have as much processing power inside them as computers did at the turn of the century.
- Start with a clear overall vision of where you want your business to be in say, 5 years, including what role your manufacturing facilities and “Industry 4.0” will play in getting there. Articulate how far you want to go on the “Industry 4.0” journey in the next 3 years or so. This vision must be clearly-articulated and must be signed-off by the C-suite.
- Identify specific outcomes you seek and map them to available solutions before selecting one. Working with use cases can give you a more realistic basis to assess “fit” of a solution with your objectives and vision.
- IoT adoption need not be long-drawn, expensive projects. Start small, and scale up gradually.
- All else being equal, select solutions that are more intuitive to understand and easier to use; this will enhance adoption by various stakeholders. But make sure that the architecture is flexible and the solution is built using modern technology.
- Right from the start, assess the solution for scalability, ease of implementation (including likely disruption to operations)and data security (including where data will be stored).
- Based on agreed priorities within the company and factory, implement solution pilots for one or two specific use cases. Use these pilots to iron out wrinkles such as enhancing buy-in (especially amongst supervisors and workers), refining performance metrics and what data points will objectively help in measurement, and setting up protocols to use the alerts that the pilot solution will throw up.
- Based on how well the solution is able to deliver on the promised outcomes, assess its scalability across your other assembly lines and factories. Implementing multiple IoT solutions will only complicate matters.
- Share the results with all the stakeholders, including workers. If the outcomes are not as expected, work with the solution provider to analyse root causes and work with the relevant stakeholders to ensure that they are fixed. Identify “champions of change” in every line and shift, who are jointly accountable for improving outcomes.
- The pricing aspect of solutions is important too. Be willing to try innovative pricing models such as pay per piece or outcome based- e.g., a lower fixed price combined with a % of the money saved.
- Plan for user training in collaboration with the vendor. Involve experts from the vendor organization for the actual training so that changes to the implementation can be made if necessary to simplify things for users.
Successfully implementing IoT solutions depends on more than just the right technology investments. Realizing the targeted benefits depends on the human element- creating a conducive workplace culture, promoting buy-in amongst all stakeholders and frequent, open communication.
We’d love to hear about your IoT adoption journeys, so do share them via comments or write to us.
