From Water Pumps to Brewing Beer, Digital Transformation Touches Everything

The wave of digital transformation is not stopping anytime soon. Every day, there are new stories about how technology is transforming companies and entire industries. There is so much space for smart companies to envision their business in a completely new way. Opportunity is here, so let’s take a look at some companies taking advantage of it.

Cloud-connected water pumps prevent waste

First up is Grundfos, a venerable Danish manufacturer of water systems. They are focusing on using technology to make water safer and to prevent losses of this precious resource. Their water pumps now connect to Microsoft Azure and the Azure IoT suite providing data for a tracking and maintenance solution. This maintenance solution provides real-time communication between the pumps and customers’ monitoring consoles which makes it possible to implement proactive maintenance and prevent spills that cause plenty of damage.

So, what are these cloud-connected pumps used for? Among other things, they make it possible to identify leaking pipes and the locations of leaks. The company’s goal is to reduce the amount of water lost during transport through pipes. Each day, around 45 billion liters of water are lost across the world, making it harder for clean water to reach the people who need it the most.

How to survive the retail apocalypse

You might have heard about the retail apocalypse. In 2016, thousands of retail stores shuttered their windows and some analysts forecast that by 2023, 50% of shopping malls in the US will close down. But this is also a great time to be in retail if you know what you’re doing.

Fabletics is a sportswear company that went from digital to brick-and-mortar. Their wish was to use data about customers’ choices in the stores to better understand and better serve all Fabletics shoppers – from those buying digitally to those browsing the displays.

The issue the company was facing was the lack of understanding decisions behind customer online actions. When a sale fails online, there is no feedback why it happened. Traditional retail stores make it possible to measure some of these factors. Each product is monitored through a small, external screen connected to Microsoft Azure placed outside each fitting room.

Employees then enter information about clothing and customers trying them on. This way the company can see whether a display engaged visitors or the conversion rate between trying a product and purchasing it. Also, when a physical product is tried on, it is placed in the customer’s online shopping cart, so they can buy it at a later time. This is truly a physical experience transformed with digital technology.

Brew a better beer with AI

Not even beermaking is immune to the allure of digital efficiency. Deschutes brewery makes craft beer using a healthy dose of data science. The company uses a special manufacturing solution that collects data on temperature, pressure, flow rate, fermentation and other information in the brewery. This information is then delivered to Microsoft Cortana Intelligence Suite for predictive analytics that saves time and increases fermentation capacity.

This makes it possible to create quality beer consistently. Employees used to write information about brewing conditions on paper and now they can focus on other things. When asked about losing artistry of their profession, employees say that now they can focus more of their energy on creating the best beer and that coming up with a new recipe will always need the human element. But crafting high quality beer is a process that benefits from technology.

These are just three of the most recent examples of companies turning to technology to rethink and redesign their business. This is what digital transformation is all about – empowering companies and people to do their jobs better.