Surfing the software wave into 2024: Industries are transforming, and software is at the center

Does anyone else feel like modern life resembles a sci-fi movie??

Cars can park themselves. Smart fridges can give you recipes based on what’s inside them. Headphones can purify the air you breathe. And smartphones, well they seem to be able to do just about everything. From smartphones to electric vehicles, pacemakers to office computers, the automated factory production line and beyond, software now forms a crucial part of the fabric of modern life.

And it’s no wonder why. Technology is transforming customer expectations. As a result, digital technologies, which were once viewed as an add-on or a tool to get things done, have become a strategic asset that can unlock new levels of value for businesses. The work horse underpinning and making these digital technologies possible? Software.

Our recent research found that software will make an outsized contribution to revenues by 2030: expected, on average, to quadruple revenues. Increasingly becoming top-of-mind for businesses, leaders recognize its capability to deliver competitive advantage. So, what are the benefits of a software-driven transformation? And what exactly does that look like in different industries??

Unlocking value in the automotive industry

The automotive industry is being recalibrated and re-defined by software. It's no longer simply about empowering consumers to get from A to B; it's about delivering end-to-end intelligent, connected, and sustainable mobility solutions.

Software is helping automakers deliver these expanded offerings, unlocking value along the way. In fact, our research indicates the majority (90%) of automotive companies are using software-defined products and services to generate new revenue streams.

Take for example, Over-The-Air (OTA) updates.

Remember the days when you’d need to book a mechanic to make your car better, safer, or maybe even faster? Thanks to OTAs, car makers are fast making this tiresome task obsolete (at least for the digital side of vehicles).

Similar to those you might receive on your smartphone: OTAs are able to remotely roll out updates, new features or patches to your car via its software or firmware. Not only does this eliminate the need to recall products with defects but it’s a crucial way for automotive organizations to unlock new (and future) revenue streams from increasingly digital business models.

A prime example of how software is helping to unlock value for organizations, is the work we’ve done with Plastic Omnium to help expand and accelerate its digitalization offerings. Created as a strategic activity, Plastic Omnium established Op’n Soft a brand-new entity designed to accelerate and industrialize the development of embedded software and connected services for vehicles to respond to new customer expectations, and improve its ability to drive innovation.

While the initial focus of our partnership was on innovations related to radar, hydrogen fuel cells, battery management systems, and electric power, heavy emphasis was later placed on strengthening Op’n Soft’s cybersecurity and functional safety concepts. By industrializing and professionalizing the team’s software offerings, together we expanded Plastic Omnium’s ability to develop new solutions, more quickly for software-defined vehicles.

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Breaking down barriers in Life Sciences

The time it takes to identify, create, and take a product to market can be a major decision for boardroom objectives, but for an industry like Life Sciences, it holds significant implications to save lives too.?

The potential of BioMedicine or BioDrugs, where the active ingredient is produced from living organisms, holds a treasure trove of possible treatments in multiple therapeutic areas. The impact? Improved health for millions of people across the world.

Software should be seen as a key asset here: it can build advanced data platforms that speed up the time taken to discover new bio-innovations through an accelerated Research and Development (R&D) process. In turn, Life Sciences organizations can create automated solutions to simplify legal and compliance submissions, which can often be lengthy and time-consuming.

Yes, the future of pharmaceuticals is in bio-production but if we’re to ensure those who need biomedicines can access them, we need to speed up and scale the manufacturing and distribution processes too.

This thinking sits firmly at the center of one of our recent collaborations with Sanofi and other partners where we worked together to develop CALIPSO, a project aiming to transform the management of bioproduction processes to accelerate the time to market of these medicines. A joint approach to digital technology is crucial and this project epitomizes the tactic coupling expertise in digitalization, bioinformatics, digital twins and more.

Manage complexity and empower control

With the number of connected, intelligent devices on the rise, the complexity of the technology that underpins them continues to evolve. Software holds the power to enable businesses to not only cope with this increased complexity but to also drive future value.?

For instance, in the telecom sector, Software Defined Networking (SDN) enables management of entire networks of devices, regardless of the complexity of the underlying systems. Working in a manner more akin to cloud computing rather than traditional network management: SDN is able to centralize the control and intelligence of various (separate) networks.

The result? Improved flexibility, visibility, and control.

It is clear software holds immense potential. It’s changing what businesses make, produce, and sell, it’s augmenting how they operate, and it’s significantly altering the value they can deliver. Looking to the future, every company, irrespective of industry, should transform its DNA to become a software company – not only to adapt and meet evolving customer expectations, but to unlock innovation and lead the way to new business models and thrive.

And the first step? A software-driven transformation.