Industry 4.0: How ‘the rise of the machines’ is being driven by Cloud

The technologies defining the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’, more commonly referred to as Industry 4.0, are being powered by cloud infrastructures. The Oracle Cloud: Opening up the Road to Industry 4.0 report has found that from robotics to artificial intelligence, businesses view the cloud as a blank canvas upon which to build their innovation strategies. 

The research investigated how companies in EMEA are managing the transition to Industry 4.0 and sheds light on which technologies they are investing in to continue succeeding in the data-driven age. Within the Middle East, surveyed markets included the United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait. 

The majority of Gulf businesses are currently implementing, or plan to implement, new innovation strategies:

• 64% have or plan to implement robotics technology
• 59% have or plan to work with Artificial Intelligence

Most Gulf companies also recognize a cloud infrastructure is required to bring these technologies to life – 52% believe an enterprise cloud platform provides the opportunity for organizations to capitalise on innovation such as robotics and artificial intelligence.

Encouragingly, a large majority of businesses are on course with their plans to establish a single integrated cloud model across their organization. 

While only 14% of Gulf businesses currently have an integrated cloud model in place that works for legacy applications and new platforms, this is higher than any other surveyed region. Additionally, 33% say they are implementing one this year and another 38% expect to do so in 2017. Only 3% have no plans in place to make this transition. 

Pascal Giraud, Senior Director IaaS Foundation & Cloud Platform Oracle EMEA, said: “Despite an uncertain economic climate, businesses understand that at the speed of today’s market a first-mover advantage has never been more valuable. Some of the world’s most successful companies, including Uber and Airbnb, were founded at the peak of the financial crisis. This just goes to show that opportunity never sleeps. 

The dawn of Industry 4.0 is seeing companies fall into either an innovation fast lane or slow lane, and the rise of integrated cloud infrastructures has made it cheaper and easier for businesses to outpace the competition."

Tim Jennings, Chief Research Officer at Ovum, said: “As businesses continue the process of digitization, they require a flexible and scalable digital infrastructure to underpin this change. An integrated cloud platform that delivers both infrastructure services and platform services enables enterprises to quickly develop new business solutions, taking advantage of new digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data and the Internet of Things.”