Industry partnerships will be at the forefront of innovation
10 September 2021
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As a leader in digital transformation of energy management and automation, Schneider Electric recently commissioned IDC to develop an IDC InfoBrief on ‘The Future of Partner Ecosystems’.
As the world rapidly digitises and becomes more complex, the challenges of sustainability, climate change and the energy transition are too big to tackle for any one business alone. Organisations are increasingly looking to combine forces to innovate and co-create, as the market moves to open, interoperable, digital and simplified systems and ways of doing business.
The IDC research reveals that 64% of partners are co-creating with their customers and partners (a 38% increase on 2018). The vast majority (96%) of companies are either currently or considering co-creating with vendors to develop new digital products and services. There has also been a dramatic shift in marketplace participation with almost three quarters of partners (71%) selling via a marketplace in 2020 in comparison to just 4% in 2018.
Top considerations for companies when considering partnering with a new vendor
Sustainability plays a key role when companies are in the process of selecting partners with almost two thirds (60%) of organisations now incorporating sustainability metrics into their RFPs. Other key considerations include: the ease of doing business (91%), the availability of engineering support (79%) and best in class technology/product (78%).
Rohan Kelkar, Executive Vice President, Power Products Division, Schneider Electric said, “This report reveals that increased digitalisation of our economy can present both challenges and opportunities for global organisations, with partnerships becoming the cornerstone of innovation for sustainability and energy efficiency. We are seeing that intelligent power infrastructure, in particular, can make a significant difference to businesses’ bottom line while improving emissions and resilience. By investing in IoT solutions and smart digital infrastructure, companies across the globe can make themselves more resilient and ready for the all-electric world, no matter what the future brings. They can also co-create, partner and innovate by leveraging today’s digital marketplaces, such as Exchange.”
Stuart Wilson, Research Director, European Partnering Ecosystems, IDC said, “IDC is predicting $6.8 trillion of direct investments in digital transformation from 2020 to 2023. With 65% of GDP predicted to be digitised by 2022, partners can move faster and stay ahead of the curve by co-innovating and developing cutting-edge solutions fit for the new digital and electric future. Harnessing combined skill sets requires a new mindset and a new approach from partners based on collaboration, cooperation, and a genuine desire to work together to improve customer experiences and business outcomes. These are the attributes that future-proofed partners will focus on, coupling this with a longer-term and increasingly services-focused relationship with customers.”
The extent of digital adoption varies substantially by industry
The biggest opportunities lie in the construction industry due to greater investment in making buildings smart. Commercial buildings account for a significant proportion of overall energy use and emissions production, thus significant savings of up to 30% can be made by reducing energy wastage. What is clear is that investing in a more intelligent digital foundation across facilities and technology infrastructure brings substantial competitive advantage, with Digital Leaders (the top 24% with the most advanced adoption of digital technologies) seeing markedly higher revenue growth. For example, just a 20% improvement in data centre efficiency can reduce overheads by €260,000.
Intelligent power infrastructure can save customers money while improving emissions and resilience
IoT is a growing market, which has only increased since the beginning of the pandemic. Research from IDC has found that the energy sector is planning on investing the most in this technology (90%), far beyond the investments planned by the manufacturing sector (80%) and retail and wholesale (75%). The main challenges that these sectors face are all very similar: costs, complexity of deployment and security. This shows that companies are thinking about IoT solutions as part of their overall business strategy in order to harness the data and intelligence gathered by network monitoring to drive 360-degree business outcomes.
Read about the latest on Partnerships of the Future and get access to the recent findings from the global markets by downloading the IDC InfoBrief, sponsored by Schneider Electric, ‘Embracing Digital Ecosystems to Deliver Intelligent Power Solutions’. The report explores how we can embrace a digital Ecosystem to deliver intelligent power systems in order to help partners prepare to face any challenges ahead and how they can work with Schneider Electric to be future ready.
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