…this advice is the central theme running through „Enterprise 4.0“, the recently published book written by Prof. Dr. August-Wilhelm Scheer, doyen of European IT. We have immersed ourselves initially in the book’s opening topic, which looks at the drivers of digitization:
Rapid technological developments around the internet have enabled the creation of totally new business models, often destroying traditional business concepts irreversibly in the process. Who would have thought 10 years ago that Kodak, the market leading manufacturer of photographic film operating worldwide, would have to throw in the towel because the process of taking pictures would be turned completely on its head by digitization through the use of modern (smartphone) cameras? A driver for digitization is already manifesting itself in this case; production without marginal costs, in which the infrastructure has to be built and maintained, but where the production itself generates no new costs. Any number of photos created without cost can be sent free of charge via W-Lan to any number of people or posted online for them – immediately or later. In contrast, cameras using photographic film have no chance of remaining a mass-market product; they have been eclipsed and reduced to a niche product for professional photographers and specialists.