COVID-19: An inflection point for Industry 4.0
Many organizations used Industry 4.0 technologies to respond to the epidemic, but the crisis is placing the future of digital operations under additional strain. In 2020, industrial digitization will be put to the ultimate test. Faced with the worst health and economic crises in recent history, businesses of all kinds were forced to take extreme measures to protect their employees and keep their operations running. While some battled to keep operations running in the face of labor or raw material shortages, others fought to keep up with the unexpected surge in demand. Did the ongoing Fourth Industrial Revolution (or Industry 4.0) technologies assist those businesses in their efforts? According to the findings of a new McKinsey poll, there are three possible outcomes: a win for organizations that have already scaled digital technologies, a real...