We have seen decades of enterprise software development and evolution, from basic materials requirements planning (MRP) to enterprise resource planning (ERP) and from on-premise to the cloud. In 2018, we are now seeing the next step — enterprise software integrated with data flows from the internet of things (IoT).

This movement is driving significant digital transformation in part because IoT data is driving new insights into how products and assets are performing in near real time. This insight, if leveraged, can drive new business opportunities and even new business models. As companies adopt more advanced use cases for IoT, more of them will be able to use data from connected devices not only for analysis but to trigger business processes and transactions in enterprise software, automating entire value streams through the enterprise.

Early Stages

Even in manufacturing, where sensor-enabled machines are now commonplace, we are at the early stages. In 1968, General Motors knew it was necessary to find a replacement technology for its costly, unreliable relay switch-driven automation. Richard Morley of Bedford Associates offered up a modular digital controller that relied on ladder logic — the first programmable logic controller (PLC). Even today, data from PLCs drive manufacturing, with data sent to the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system to monitor, schedule or control manufacturing processes. SCADA is perhaps the precursor of modern IoT. Next steps include extending the availability of data beyond SCADA, which has historically been used on the plant floor, and into the rest of the enterprise. Data capture will come not just from PLCs but from an array of flow sensors, humidity sensors, temperature sensors, vibration sensors and other devices that enable smart support of equipment deployed in the field.

Already, we are seeing an increased focus on the use of data from connected devices for decision support. A study from Telecoms and Computing Market Reports reveals that the global manufacturing analytics market will grow annually by 21.9% between now and 2022. But according to a primary research study conducted by IFS, access to IoT data is still primarily limited to the plant floor:

• 85% of respondents said they have sensors on equipment.

• Condition-based and predictive maintenance are far and away the most common use case for IoT data. But only 20% of respondents said they had integrated IoT data with enterprise asset management software used to manage equipment maintenance.

• Most respondents said access to their IoT data was limited to those using a process automation system or supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system.