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  • 1191009061

    New research explores how disruptive new technologies are impacting digitalization efforts

    Since 2022, Eaton has been researching and analyzing digital transformation trends in some of our key market segments. In this report, we analyzed reponses from over 1,300 decision makers in the utilty, data center, building and manufacturing segments about the ways new technologies like AI are affecting the continuity of their digitalization efforts. To find the answers to these questions and many more, download our FREE report.
    Download the 2024 report
Brightlayer Digital Innovation

Adoption, execution and expansion of digital transformation in the wake of AI

Research and analytics by S&P Global Market Intelligence, 01/07/2024

Key takeaways:

PEOPLE AND TECHNOLOGY BECOMING LESS OF A LIMITING FACTOR FOR DIGITAL TRANSFORATION

Research shows marked improvement in both the ability to access skilled staff and openness to move away from legacy technology in order to accelerate digital transformation efforts.

In 2022, 29% of organizations said skills and staff shortages were holding them back vs. 23% today.  We also saw a significant improvement related to reliance on legacy technology.  In our last survey 33% of respondents said that legacy technology was holding them back.  Now, just 23% have similar views, signalling willingness to take advantage of new digital tools like AI. 

There’s a big gap between expected technology application and actual deployment

Half of enterprises today are executing their digital transformation strategy, with most others in the consideration phase.  But less than a quarter of survey respondants have broadly adopted digital technologies to assist them in the transformation efforts.  When it comes to AI/ML technologies, predictive analytics – which can impact operations most directly – is the most in use or planned flavor in use by OT-powered organizations today.

For inquiries regarding the use of data, charts or information contained in this report, email research@eaton.com
BL report download image2024.jpg

In the two years since we first partnered with Eaton on this survey and report, the sands have shifted beneath our feet. Global macro-economic trends, geopolitical challenges and massive and ongoing technology change means the world looks different, even across a mere 24 months. Yet some things remain the same: enterprises understand that digital transformation is not about adopting new technologies but about fundamentally changing how businesses operate and deliver value to customers.

451 Research, a technology research group within S&P Global Market Intelligence
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For inquiries regarding the use of data, charts or information contained in this infographic, email research@eaton.com

The Digital Toolbox Gets a New Wrench: Artificial Intelligence

The technologies and tools to implement digital transformation are evolving and expanding quickly as well.  Cloud and cybersecurity deployment grew the most over the past two years, cementing those two critical technologies as lynchpins of digital transformation. Cloud changes the economic and operational underpinnings of information technologies. Cybersecurity sits at the crossroads of digital opportunity and risk, assuring that even as enterprises open up digitally, they protect themselves from theft and disruption.

AI/ML Predictive is most in-use, in deployment or planned use by 29% of respondents. The manufacturing sector, which has deployed machine learning to automate assembly lines and improve maintenance programs, was on top with 43% of respondents deploying the technology

Generative AI is in deployment or planned by 26% of respondents, deployed in relatively equal measures across the four sectors surveyed. Generative AI is helpful in its own right, but has the potential to be an even bigger change-agent when coupled with AI/ML, building agents that can act on their own with intelligence and autonomy

Finally, computer vision is planned or deployed by 21% of respondents, again largely equally across sectors. It is perhaps most pertinent in manufacturing, where computer vision can help in sorting or quality control operations but has a place in other industries as well.

Key segment insights

Manufacturers see promise in leveraging digital technologies – and increasingly AI – to optimize operations and improve maintenance processes.

The manufacturing sector is on a digital journey, driven by increased production volumes on the one hand, and better and more voluminous instrumentation of factory machinery and systems on the other. Those twin trends provide manufacturers with increasing amounts of digital data they can use to gain greater understanding and control of physical processes.

Utilities are coming to depend on digital technology to address growing load capacity demand, viewing it as a significant short-term aid to long-term grid expansion and renewables adoption.

Digital transformation is proving to be a critical enabler for the utility sector, which must balance the transition to more renewable energy resources against growing service demand. While utilities will build out the grid and add new energy resources over the course of the coming decades, data-driven insights delivered today can squeeze more performance out of the grid while helping to better bullet-proof operations.

Building operators are focused on sustainability, even as changes in demographics, demand and working arrangements change how they operate.

In 2024, building owners and operators are at the confluence of major societal factors, from the emergence of flexible hybrid work environments to the requirement to facilitate energy efficiency upgrades. To flourish in this rapidly changing environment, facility managers are taking stock of their building inventory, including downsizing in favor of more connected, energy efficient buildings.

Data centers sit at the center of a maelstrom, with rapid AI adoption driving demand for more powerful, plentiful compute power, even outstripping their need to address energy and power requirements.

Data center operators today – be they commercial providers or enterprises running their own data centers – sit at a tipping point of great change. Just two years ago, terms like ‘ChatGPT’ and ‘GenAI’ rang out only in data scientist circles; today they resonate with every end user, driving massive new data volumes from the edge to the cloud. That data tsunami comes on top of a decade of Internet of Things (IoT) growth, particularly at industrial firms, where equally large amounts of machine and sensor data have been set free from operational environments to be stored and analyzed in data centers small and large.

  • Brightlayer: Bringing the future into focus

    No matter how you want to drive digital enablement, Brightlayer lets you access data, insights and digital solutions to best meet your business needs. It all starts with your assets and the data they can provide you. We're focused on helping you capitalize on the data and insights from those assets to drive operational value.
Eaton is an intelligent power management company dedicated to improving the quality of life and protecting the environment for people everywhere. We are guided by our commitment to do business right, to operate sustainably and to help our customers manage power ─ today and well into the future. By capitalizing on the global growth trends of electrification and digitalization, we’re accelerating the planet’s transition to renewable energy and helping to solve the world’s most urgent power management challenges.
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