An intelligent industry means an intelligent culture.

We believe the future of industry is intelligent: with these words, Franck Greverie, Chief Portfolio Officer at Capgemini, in my opinion, has enclosed the profound meaning of the evolution towards which the business world is moving.

Even before sharing what our idea of Intelligent Industry is, I think it is interesting to start from the meaning that links the concept of intelligence to that of companies on the market today. In fact, it is not substantiated in the simple development of highly innovative tools, undoubtedly necessary, but the essential premise is to favor an approach based on a data-driven culture. The latter, at times a little overused, needs a deeper study and greater understanding. In this sense, a fairly recent Harvard Business Review article comes to mind, from which a very important aspect emerges: the biggest obstacles to creating data-based businesses aren't technical; they're cultural. An evidence that denotes that any type of innovation, must commence on the premise that it is essential to begin from a cultural vision in order to recognize oneself before building the foundations of data-based business.

Giving shape to an approach of this type means, first of all, making strategic choices which, starting from the highest organizational levels, are driven by numerical evidence. Secondly, it is crucial to contribute to a contamination between the different branches within each company, encouraging dialogue between those who handle data every day and those who work in other sectors within the company itself. Access to data, which every organization can have, as well as the understanding of how to use it, are also two essential aspects, intended to ensure that a data-driven approach is functional for coordinated and programmatic work.

This proposition represents what we strongly believe in and what drives our idea of a smart industry. Returning to the opening words of my speech, digital transformation, which is faster every day, requires us to digitize entire business areas, starting with the processes that govern them. It is therefore a question of looking at a set of aspects - products, services, functions - that are guided by technological innovation. In 3 steps we can talk about intelligent products and systems, intelligent operations and intelligent support and services:

At its simplest Intelligent Industry means harnessing the power of data to foster innovation, make new and differentiated “smart” products, improve supply chains, create new customer experiences and deliver new sources of value.

At a time when the pandemic crisis has uncovered new or perhaps old unattended needs, we are called to rethink processes, products and services to offer to customers new solutions. 5G, the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence certainly represent just some of the key tools that add further value to a production process, which requires increasingly sustainable and competitive businesses.