Optimising infrastructure – the way forward

Technological change is driving new business models. At the same time, global businesses had to radically rethink to stay ahead in 2020. While technology leaders are digitising collaboration and building new network infrastructures, business leaders are targeting new territories and new markets, looking to deliver customer products and services in entirely new ways. Better access to applications and data layer of the infrastructure is key to this.

Avery Dennison is a materials science and manufacturing company specialising in the design and manufacture of labelling and functional materials. Its strategy is to develop beyond its core business of labelling and use the data it can now access to create new services. “Our driver is to go from not just being a materials based company, but to leverage what we've done in the material space, creating data platforms and new use cases for our customers,” says Jeremy Smith.

He explains: “We have traditionally been a label manufacturer – producing labels on clothing for many of the major apparel brands and retail brands. We can leverage those relationships and add a data component – everything from being able to add things like, was this sustainably made and where was each component of it manufactured. Consumers can easily see that product information, leveraging the label and the traceability that we’re adding to it. We have a whole intelligent labels, business unit emerging.”

Change, review, and change some more is now a continuous cycle. More flexible, cloud-based and software-defined networks put businesses in a better position to only spend what they need when they innovate.

Globally, businesses innovate and grow by acquisition as well as organically. Fergal Power, VP-Sourcing, Aptiv, says: “For companies with a high level of M&A activity, the challenge of integrating acquired platforms and disposing of integrated systems from divested businesses can be difficult so the ability to be agile and flexible to pause, speed up, slow down and reconfigure the technology investment (commercially and technically) helps to reduce risks, retain early benefits and flatten the change management curve which allows the business to pivot and reposition in response to emerging market conditions.”