Overview
The Situation
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted industries across the globe. Without any notice, many sectors, including manufacturing, are thrown in deep waters due to the unforeseen changes currently sweeping our lives. The unexpected challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a significant toll on people all across the world. Many industries have taken stringent actions to slow down the spread, which includes plant closures, reducing the onsite workforce from 100% to 25%, or even complete lockdown.
The topmost priority, right now, is to ensure business continuity and workforce security. To achieve this, the need is to have the tools, processes, and platforms in place to shift, maintain, and grow the business as required.
The Impact
In the list of industries, manufacturing stands severely impacted as it employs more than 12.8 million men and women, and contributes $2.37 trillion to the US economy annually. Industrial manufacturers, especially, are feeling the heat as they depend on workers, who need to be onsite and cannot work from home. A National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) survey highlights the impending financial impact on business for 80% of manufacturers due to the current situation.
This state of inevitable emergency will continue for a period, and intelligence becomes more critical than ever. THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW.
The Action
Due to COVID-19, Supply chain, which is the core of the manufacturing industry, is facing the most severe disruption of our lifetime. Safeguarding workers whose jobs cannot be carried out remotely is of utmost priority, which otherwise results in plant closures. For manufacturers, there is a clear focus on enabling an undisrupted supply chain with a seamless ability to stay connected across organizations, including suppliers, partners, and customers.
With social distancing being the ‘new normal,’ remote working is the only option for millions of workforce around the world. The next 18 months are crucial, and only a pragmatic framework like remote working, using AR-enabled remote assistance, and Digital commerce platforms, can override the challenges toward survival and growth. This should balance short-term priorities with a long-term goal.
Solution Offerings
Digital fluid workplace services
At HCLTech Digital Workplace Services, it is our responsibility to make sure that we constantly help our customers overcome the challenges posed, irrespective of their magnitude. We are assisting organizations in establishing business continuity and assessing and scaling their existing remote working capabilities at pace. This includes remote work-readiness assessment and implementing solutions, such as virtual workplace, remote UX monitoring, device enablement, etc., and establishing a well-devised, software-defined infrastructure. The COVID-19 pandemic has acted as a catalyst for organizations that were transitioning toward a Fluid Digital Workplace.
IoT WoRKSTM
Amid the COVID-19 crisis, manufacturers are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain business as usual, particularly the business that depends on workers whose jobs cannot be carried out remotely.
Many of the challenges facing manufacturers can be addressed with an IoT enabled business-centric ecosystem. By connecting People, Process, Data, and Things, a manufacturer gains improved operational insight and creates the opportunity to effectively mitigate operational challenges.
SAP
HCLTech and SAP share a great history as innovation partners.
HCLTech is well experienced in SAP landscape transformation, system conversion, and new implementations of on-premises and cloud platform solutions.
With the unpredictable and fluid situation around COVID-19, the world is navigating through an uncertain period with few precedents. Our topmost priority is to make sure manufacturers run their mission-critical business processes, which calls for rapid and well thought of offerings to ensure the same.
Microsoft
The goal of the HCLTech-Microsoft partnership, which began in 1986, is to increase employee productivity and generate enterprise value.
With the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, enterprises can shorten app development cycles, reduce operational costs, and accelerate digital transformation, so they can achieve business agility and efficiency, enabling faster time to market and launch new products and offerings.
HCLTech brings deep expertise from its Microsoft gold-level competencies in Azure cloud platform and data analytics, its extensive use of various Azure services, and its Azure IoT Certified Consultants.