The world moves pretty fast these days with all the constant change from every direction. To stay ahead of all the crazy it's important to consider all your options and then move quickly to implement your strategy into action.

It wasn't all that long ago many companies were faced with difficult decisions, and few of those difficult decisions are harder than layoffs. It's never an easy decision. But in a downturn, it’s a necessary evil to save the company as a whole—with great hope you can welcome those same talented people back when the inevitable upturn happens.

The hard truth is that before that upturn actually happens many of those talented people will have retired, switched career paths, started their own business or even traded their safety glasses in for sunglasses in a tropical paradise.

More and more companies are looking to implement a cloud platform strategy and they are either starting at zero or extending what they already have in place. In both cases, they're looking for answers to many questions when we begin most conversations, including:

How fast can I install cloud software?

Do I have to use a set system, or can I choose what I need?

Can you integrate with my existing SCADA systems or must we start over with your SCADA system?

These are among the top questions for companies looking to become more efficient and boost profits while reducing their bottom line. Many cloud platforms have a wide variety of options and abilities to customize a system to a Customer's needs.

So you’ve installed sensors, edge devices and numerous other hardware devices all through your operations and your facilities; both near the office and far, far away from anything and anyone.

Great start! But, you may be asking yourself; now what?

Let us show you what you've really got - It's a bit like buying a new sporty convertible car and then taking it out for a drive for the first time. The new car smell is still fresh and you aren't totally sure how it handles, how to put the top down, what it can do for acceleration or (more importantly) how fast it can stop; but you really, really want to find out!

You’re ready to see what it can really do, and it’s the same for digital technology. With those remote hardware devices installed, now it can give you a lot of actionable data that can reduce downtime, boost profits and enable your employees to be more efficient. Let's show you want this engine's really got in it!

Emerson’s DeltaV™ SaaS SCADA Solutions has delivered another year full of impactful updates and here are your favorites from 2021 [Infographic]

Sometimes there are fears that sustainability has to be counterproductive to the bottom line. You read about some organizations promising to blanket the globe with millions of carbon-capturing trees and realize that those trees are also absorbing a lot of capital. Investors may like the leaves in programs like that, but when those programs are fertilized with barrels of red ink, it’s suddenly not so appealing.

Fortunately, there are ways to achieve both—and Emerson's DeltaV™ SaaS SCADA can be a black-ink-producing, carbon-reducing and safety-enabling option for companies trying to achieve both. The road to digital transformation for increased sustainability that present fiscal responsibility, and growth to hit targets may be much smoother than you think.

While the benefits of digitally transforming your operations are well known—improved assets, reduced overhead, better data flow and greater safety—deciding whether or not, and how to get started can be daunting, to say the least. To jump from totally manual operations to a digital transformation journey could indeed be over the top, especially for a small to medium-sized company that often have people wearing many hats and already a plate that is overflowing with responsibilities, and extreme stress.

Your digital transformation journey is just that; it's your journey! You can take that trip any way, on any timeframe and budget that makes sense to your operations. It can be made in baby steps, or giant leaps and bounds. You can take it a bit at a time and at your own pace, or if you're ready to put the pedal to the metal we can handle that too. But we know every operation is at a different step on their journey, and what might feel right sized to one operation may feel like wearing your pants on backwards to others.

Most people have become app-dependent in both their personal and professional lives. Mobile apps now allow people to do pretty much do anything from where they are, such as book a hotel last minute, transfer money, shop online or order food.

For operations, we built the Emerson's DeltaV™ SaaS SCADA Mobile app, so field and office personnel will have access to operational data from anywhere, at any time. The app allows you to view current performance data easily, analyze and trend graphs, input operational data, change settings, issue commands, create customized mobile forms, filter and sort through your sites and data, and update control systems from the convenience of your phone.

The next wave of technological advancements is emerging. New technologies are expected to reduce the number of workers required to perform specific tasks while increasing demand for other skills.

A digital workforce is a workforce with personnel focused on high-value tasks and empowered with actionable data from digital technologies and services that lead to improved decision-making in daily operations. Similarly, a digital worker is considered an individual that applies actionable data from digital technologies and services to make improved decisions, automate manual functions, increase productivity, or convert information into revenue. 

More talent will be retiring in the next couple of years, making it more crucial than ever for you to strategize your workforce by upskilling your people to continue running operations effectively.

There's a new sense of confidence that companies can remain operational with improved efficiencies by employing digital tools, reducing costs, and acquiring the best assets. For a long time, companies kept operations going during challenging times by decreasing operating costs, deferring maintenance expenses, divesting properties with higher costs, cutting production, and laying off personnel. Instead of relying on these traditional methods, focus on creating digital operations by deploying and utilizing the right IIoT (industrial Internet of Things) strategy for your organization.

Taking advantage of IIoT technologies and strategizing your digital journey to improve work processes, add security, increase production, free your workforce, and begin the path to operational excellence that delivers stronger, more sustainable returns that can easily be layered on to your current SCADA system to bring it to the next level of insights, mobility and actionable analytics.

To ecstatic employees everywhere, more and more companies are moving from dreaded, time wasting daily site trips, stacks of paper records and mind-numbing manual processes to technology to provide answers that are supported by factual data, automating tasks that are driven by analytics, data trends and in some cases even autonomous actions.

Downturns, and all the crazy in our world today have made it clear that the “change or die” mantra is far too real.

You probably already knew this—but you may be hesitant to act. That's totally understandable since there are several questions about transition, affordability, training, the return on investment and so many others. Then there's the sustainability questions that come into play. Tech changes really fast these days and everyone is searching for the next best thing. While tech continues to quickly develop some people decide they should wait it out until the next hottest and newest change is available.

You may ask yourself; where exactly do you get the best possible return on investment when it comes to industrial tech that will help support your operations profitability and sustainability at the same time without it being out of date in just a few months only to have to start all over again?