Digital transformation investments focused on process automation, Accenture says

Future 5G investments will focus on creating service revenues

HANNOVER, Germany–Despite major marketing efforts coming out of the telecoms sector, industrial manufacturers today aren’t focused on “leveraging 5G within the four walls of the plant,” Accenture Senior Managing Director and Product Industry X.0 Lead Eric Schaeffer explained during an interview at the Hannover Messe industrial fair this week.

Rather, 5G is viewed as an enabling connected products to create new revenue streams based on digital services above the line whereas existing technologies are creating efficiencies and reducing below the line operating expenses.

Based on Accenture’s work with industrial sector clients, “Today they’re leveraging robotics to drive efficiencies in their operations It’s more process automation than anything else. They have the perception that, on the efficiency side of their business, they’re already leveraging technologies” like the internet of things, artificial intelligence and edge computing, Schaeffer said.

For 5G, he said the goal would be creating an opportunity for incremental revenues based on real-time connectivity with products.

Discussing how to successfully execute on digital transformation strategies, Schaeffer said it has to a well-managed, partner-driven process. “The first step is realizing you do need to set up an ecosystem. You need to open up your organization to the outside. The second thing is it needs to be managed. You need to understand who you need to partner with, what’s in it for them and for you.”

During Hannover Messe, Accenture released research based on a survey of 1,350 executives from 13 industries that showed scaling digitalization investments beyond the proof of concept stage, which requires strategic thinking in order to realize a positive return. The company identified four management best practices that can help create successful digital transformation efforts:

• “Defining the value that will guide innovation efforts;
• “Focusing on external value and internal change;
• “Enabling innovation in each business function;
• “Building in-house innovation factories.”

“Successful digital reinvention can only be driven from within, with digital capabilities that sit inside the core functions of a business”, Aidan Quilligan, managing director and global lead for Accenture Industry X.0, said in a statement. Success companies “first pinpoint what their customers most value, and then build digital factories to bring the might of their entire organization behind delivering that very value. This is how they overcome the challenges to innovation that all companies are facing.”