ERP giant SAP and industrial automation company Schneider Electric announced on Tuesday that they will expand their cooperation in the field of IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) and digital transformation, focusing on sustainable infrastructure and ease of deployment.
The two companies plan to create preconfigured deployment options for IIoT customers, so any company looking for field service management tools that use augmented reality can simply select and use the partnership’s preset hardware and software configurations. (Technology integration for shop floor operations using digital twins for lifecycle management is also planned.
The idea is to simplify and speed up the deployment of so-called Industry 4.0 applications – systems that link IT such as ERP software with operational technologies used in manufacturing processes, the companies said in a joint press release. While potential customers are interested in Industry 4.0, many of them view design and deployment as headaches, which slows the spread of new technologies.
“Our companies are aligned on the importance of collaboration, innovation and open standards to make integrated information and operational technology solutions easy to use for our mutual customers,” Peter Maier, president of industry and customer consulting at SAP, said in a statement.
Sustainability was also mentioned in the press release, with the companies saying they plan future products to help companies with energy management.
However, the fact remains that Industry 4.0 is still very much in its infancy, which means the new agreement between Schneider and SAP is as much a matter of blending cultures as it is of creating new solutions, says Marcia Walker, research director for IoT at IDC express.
“Effectively integrating the cultures of two companies is just as challenging as integrating the cultures of the IT and OT people,” she said. “I see huge potential for Schneider Electric’s industrial and energy-centric perspective to complement SAP’s ERP-centric heritage. Schneider Electric has proven their ability to integrate cultural change into technology development, as evidenced by the establishment of Schneider Electric University Got this.
Additionally, the drive for new industrial technologies comes with its own dangers, said Katell Thielemann, vice president and analyst at Gartner Research. Any time technology is added to existing production systems, it creates cybersecurity risks, she said.
“Industrial production systems are filled with cyber-physical systems that need to be protected in unprecedented ways, and the announcement is conspicuously silent on this front,” Thielemann said.