This Wednesday, IPN - Instituto Pedro Nunes welcomed a sold-out auditorium for the conference "The 4th Industrial Revolution and the Modern Company". More than a hundred CEOs and managers from the district's largest companies gathered to hear Microsoft and Openlimits talk about how companies can prepare for the digital economy and how production management technology represents a competitive advantage for industries in Portugal.

Tiago Sousa, Head of Marketing at Openlimits, stated that "this fourth industrial revolution differs from the previous ones in the speed at which change is happening and in the deepening and broadening of human-centred technological development. Any digital transformation process in companies must begin by mobilising the people who work in them, stimulating the creativity and adaptability of each individual".

Adapting to the new challenges posed by the fourth industrial revolution is crucial for companies' survival. However, 40% of them will disappear by 2020 because they are unable to adapt to digital transformation. Nationally, according to a PwC study, 86% of companies expect to reach high levels of digitalisation by 2020. This figure is above global expectations, as only 72% of companies worldwide are committing to this investment. 

The 4th industrial revolution includes technologies such as mobile devices, IoT (Internet of Things) platforms, geolocation technologies, advanced human interaction interfaces, authentication and fraud detection, 3D printing, smart sensors, Big Data analytics and advanced algorithms, multi-platform interaction and customer profiling, augmented reality and wearables, and cloud computing.

To overcome the new challenges of digital transformation, companies must invest in technologies that ensure agility, flexibility and speed. A number of options were presented at the conference, such as Flow Manufacturing, an MES (Manufacturing Execution System) industrial management software that allows the industrial manager to manage and control every production stage in real time, as well as increase productivity, ensure traceability and reduce production costs.

In terms of flexibility, the Openlimits Uplift, Office 365 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM solutions were presented, which enable companies to organise and access management information anytime, anywhere. To ensure security, Openlimits SkySafe was presented, a solution based on Microsoft Azure that simplifies the management and monitoring of backup processes, ensuring the encryption, scalability and continuous security of critical data on computers and servers.

According to Bruno Rodrigues and João Vintém, from Microsoft, digital transformation is based on four pillars: closeness to customers, the ability to transform products, process optimisation and empowering people. To address these topics, Microsoft offers three applications designed to be flexible and people-focused: Office 365 (productivity), Microsoft Dynamics (business solutions) and Microsoft Azure (cloud).

With more than 25 years of experience in information systems supporting professional management, Openlimits, a Coimbra company based at IPN, positions itself as a partner for companies' digital transformation.

Written by:
Openlimits

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