Software is soft; your industrial product is hard
Fifty years ago, if someone had said that every company on this Earth will eventually become a software company or perish, it would have been dismissed as nonsense. Today, many agree that statement has some merit. The rapid digitalization of society has transformed business models, markets, entire sectors, and, not least, the behaviors that fuel it all.
Many companies in industrial manufacturing have realized this and successfully digitalized their products, processes, and business models. Nowadays, there’s an app for everything, and everything seems to have a screen, a chip or an Internet connection. And software is what makes it all work. It might feel excessive or even comical. But the truth is that software and digitalization can be leveraged by any business for exponential growth. While physical products scale linearly, constrained by supply chains and physical limitations, software is practically limitless!
Tackling complexity and unpredictability
Despite these advantages, most industrial companies still hesitate to embrace this transformation fully. Perhaps you’re one of them? We understand that taking any product to market, especially in industrial manufacturing, is inherently complex and unpredictable. Markets, customers, stakeholders, and staff are all humans, and humans bring the unpredictability of behavior, preferences, and expectations.
But here's the good news: software is soft.
Unlike your hard industrial products, which must adhere to strict physical constraints, software can adapt, evolve, and be reshaped to meet changing needs and opportunities. This is a great opportunity with software. However, you must refrain from applying the same production logic to software as you've done to your industrial products.
Software is soft: what does that mean?
- Software is adaptable: It's flexible enough to respond quickly to market demands, customer preferences, and evolving industry requirements. With agile development and continuous improvement, you can stay ahead and deliver value early and often.
- Software is continuous: Unlike physical products that may be developed once and then get periodic upgrades ever so rarely, software is never complete! Done right, software is updated continuously to increase market fit and maximize the value created.
- Software is limitless: Hardware is constrained by physical limitations—factory space, materials, and supply chains. Software doesn't have these limits. Once developed, you can make it accessible globally, supporting new customers, geographies, and business models with close-to-zero marginal cost.
Sounds hard? You already possess what's most important!
You already have the essential resources to succeed: your domain expertise and a deep understanding of your customer's problems.
The softness of software allows you to leverage those resources. Experiment and challenge your assumptions. Move fast by delivering early and often. Keep tight feedback loops to customers. Build for adaptivity and longevity. Develop insight from successes and failures. And keep an open mind to the serendipitous possibilities of software.
Embrace the softness. Or lag behind.
Industrial manufacturing is changing, and digitalization has already impacted your business. So stop hesitating! With a good partnership, the right approach to software development, and your customers’ success in focus, you can use software as leverage for exponential growth.