Great challenges of the fourth industrial revolution

Lately there is much talk of the last stage of the industrial revolution, the fourth, also known as Industry 4.0. If we refresh the memory, we will remember that the first industrial revolution is the process of economic, social and technological transformation that began between 1760 and 1830 in Great Britain and that helped to transform manual production into mechanized production. The second industrial revolution took place between 1870 and 1914, and helped the growth of industries with the arrival of electricity, telephone and oil. The third industrial revolution (digital revolution) began during the eighties and is underway, with telecommunications, electronics and technology from electronic devices and analog mechanics to the digital technology available today. Recently, the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) has begun, which is based on the previous one, but incorporates new ways in which technology is integrated into society and even into the human body.

It is clear that the fourth is an evolution of the previous one, although it generates doubts among many people who consider it as a single stage. But there are three reasons that differentiate it from the third industrial revolution: the speed at which everything happens, the scope and complexity.

Technology always appears, this point of union between them makes that, from my point of view, nowadays the range between what I have told you (history) and our society (reality) is enormous. We have to be able to innovate and adapt to new global processes of digital transformation. Taking into account the speed at which everything happens, the question would be: are our companies ready for an industry 4.0?

The last global barometer of General Electric collects more than 4,000 opinions from people in 23 countries and concludes that 70% of them have high expectations and are enthusiastic about the challenge.

But the reality is that our companies spend a lot of time making decisions, they think too much before taking a step. And it is logical that this is so, because those decisions require a lot of energy and attention, as does the use of technology. I believe that here one of the biggest problems can arise when it comes to evolve in this fourth industrial revolution.

Where will we focus energy and attention? In the technology? We have an excess of technology; for example, the meaningless use of the mobile phone makes us lose time (money), it drains our energy and distracts us, sometimes, from more important things, but we do not know how to live without it.

We need a process of adaptation, of training. Technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, nanotechnology, virtual reality, drones, 3D printing, Internet of Things (IoT), autonomous vehicles, Big Data, among many other advances have been talked about for a long time. that make your hair stand on end.

What brings the fourth industrial revolution

And some are spending time and money on technology that is already history. Bearing in mind that industrial revolutions are technological, social, political and economic transformations that transform industrial production, great challenges for all are ahead. The first one is to understand the changes that we will have to carry out at great speed, because it will change the way we live, work and relate. No more saying: "We have done all this life like this", or we adapt or we will not continue.

Another great challenge will be knowledge. The new technologies will generate a large volume of data, algorithms that we will store and we will need new knowledge for its correct use. The knowledge "accumulated" to this day no longer serves us, we will have to learn to "eliminate" that knowledge to make way for the new one. Everything is going to change.

Including the new digital professions of the century and adapting to them will not be an easy task, see how 5 million jobs disappear, that professions of always will be replaced by robots and that we stay aside can produce more energy waste. Adaptation will be very important, and there will be no adaptation without training of these new professions that will open up new job opportunities.

It is known by all that human behavior has already changed, we interact and relate in a different way, we communicate and express ourselves in different ways, we buy and sell, consume and publish information in a different way than years ago. This paradigm shift leads to the birth of totally different business models, new disruptive enterprises. Acceptance and adaptation to this new paradigm will be key, we can not accept it or live without it.

The bad practices are a threat to this new industrial revolution and its evolution, and make it necessary and essential for everyone to work in the field of cybersecurity and thus protect the information

As consumers, as entrepreneurs and as workers, we need to adapt quickly and try to close the circle between what is happening and what we are doing. There is no doubt that great benefits await us in this new stage, but we must be quick and aware that all revolutions change everything at great speed.

My conclusion: "We can not lose the vision of the future or the strategic sense, no matter how much we fear the fourth industrial revolution. It will be the disruption that will allow us to overcome the difficulties of the new challenges of the 21st century, and to be able to initiate expansion stages in better conditions that will necessarily involve innovation ".