Communications technology has been driven by the advancement of automation software in the past few years, and this trend has been especially prevalent in the industrial sectors. The Internet of Things has been one of the most spoken about trends in manufacturing of late, and automation has played a major role in this, especially through functions such as data and document capture, business process management and enterprise resource planning.
Now, even those companies that are well outside the purview of manufacturing have plenty of lessons to take from the ways in which these tools and services are implemented, used and optimized among various departments. Remember, workflow automation and virtually every other type of function targeted with this software can be made significantly more efficient and effective with the help of these tools.
Future is now
Engineering.com recently reported that a wealth of new computer chips have helped to drive automation even further in several nations, while use has been especially prevalent in one of the most prestigious manufacturing countries in the world – Germany. According to the news provider, the Germans are planning to spearhead a movement aptly titled "Industry 4.0," which will be characterized by a wider variety of Internet-connected devices, more intelligent decision-making and plenty of automation tools.
Workplaces in virtually every industry have started to move in these directions as well, even accounting firms and banks, as automation and IoT have remained as two high priorities for decision-makers across the board. The source pointed out that all of the buildings individuals frequent, transportation vehicles they use and offices they work in will get the "smart" classification as soon as Industry 4.0 is completely underway.
Engineering.com noted that this name was landed upon because of the current revolution in communications technology's place in history, often marked as the fourth industrial revolution.
Strong and building
Automation was the third industrial revolution, and it remains just as important today as ever. Business leaders must recognize that firms which do not embrace technologies that are widely accepted and ubiquitous will likely be putting themselves at a significant competitive disadvantage.
From e-invoicing and data capture to ERP integration and more, automation can quickly take an inefficient and antiquated environment and turn it into the next generation of workplaces in the click of a button. The time to get moving on provisioning and deployments is now.
