Based on these foundations, they develop both individual IoT applications and holistic end-to-end solutions together with the respective company experts. "Data, or the information derived from it, has the potential to have a decisive influence on the production and products of tomorrow," explains Marika Lulay, CEO of GFT. Customers can consistently focus on their core competencies, save large investments and at the same time benefit from the wide range of possibilities. "The digital transformation demands a lot from companies that were previously not very IT-driven: above all, new thinking, agile approaches and technological open-mindedness. The first steps in the change process are always the most difficult - but ultimately also the most decisive," continues Lulay.

IoT platforms as the key to transformation
The cloud-based Cumulocity IoT platform makes it possible to connect different devices or machines to each other and to the internet and to manage them centrally. Using standard components, such as device management, devices of any type can be registered and managed holistically. The device data can be used for control and monitoring at any time. Furthermore, new, cloud-based IoT services can be developed based on this data. Integration, business process, analysis and machine learning functions are used. The special feature: As soon as the projects become more complex and the requirements increase, the platform grows with them. "Many companies are still in the early stages of IoT implementations. Cumulocity IoT offers the ideal entry into the networked age, as use can be scaled individually according to the respective pace and ideas," says Dr. Wolfram Jost.

Experienced IT experts are the bottleneck
German SMEs in particular are suffering from a lack of available IT experts. However, these are necessary to successfully set up data analytics or machine learning projects. A platform alone cannot achieve this. "GFT has already achieved very good results with international development centers for many years," says Lulay and adds: "Our consultants are close to the customer and work successfully with the now around 5,000 experts in the nearshore locations in Europe and South America. It definitely doesn't make sense for medium-sized companies to set up and operate complex IT platforms independently - in addition to high investments, excellently trained personnel are the basis."

Rapid market growth expected in the IoT sector
The global market potential for IT solutions in the area of Industry 4.0 is enormous. Gartner forecasts that global industrial companies will invest around 907 billion US dollars per year in IoT applications by 2020. Market researchers also assume that "first movers" in particular will realize above-average digital sales. According to the forecast by market research company MarketsandMarkets, sales of Industry 4.0 solutions will grow by an average of 15% per year from 2017 to 2022 (from USD 76.64 billion in 2017 to an expected USD 152.31 billion in 2022). The greatest potential for networked production is offered by the core technologies of cloud, artificial intelligence, data analytics and virtual and augmented reality.

Blockchain expansion envisaged
In the next step, the cooperation between GFT and Software AG will be expanded to include blockchain use cases. Here, GFT will contribute extensive experience from numerous application scenarios - such as Project Jupiter, supply chain management for the pharmaceutical industry or the interoperable EU banking network based on Corda.