Your Primer for Understanding the Fourth Industrial Revolution

While we have yet to understand the implications of what’s to come from it, we’re already living in a new era. Think of virtual assistants like Alexa from Amazon or Siri from Apple, the personalized recommendations you get on Netflix, the GPS systems that suggest the fastest routes to a destination, and the advanced marketing automation techniques we can use to segment our audiences. As Salesforce states, “[a]s a result of this perfect storm of technologies, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is paving the way for transformative changes in the way we live and radically disrupting almost every business sector.”

Now that we’ve given you a preview into this period’s transformative ability (and how it’s already transformed our lives and behavior), there’s a critical question we need to answer: 
 

What is the Fourth Industrial Revolution?

Klaus Schwab, the Founder and Executive of the World Economic Forum, as well as the author of The Fourth Industrial Revolution, coined the term “Fourth Industrial Revolution” to describe the industrial revolution “…characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres.” How did we get to the fourth? Let’s go through history and walk through the significant industrial revolutions to understand the progress we’ve made in business and industry.

As we previously mentioned, the First Industrial Revolution used steam power to mechanize production through the steam engine’s invention. The Second created mass production using electric power, and in the Third, we automated production through electronics and information technology. As Schwab describes, the Fourth Industrial Revolution builds off the Third. This diagram from Salesforce depicts some of the inventions that came out of each of these revolutions, as well as the periods:
 

Source: Salesforce

While Klaus Schwab came up with the Fourth Industrial Revolution concept in the 2016 book as mentioned above, we can argue that the beginning of the Fourth Industrial Revolution was around 2014 with the arrival of smart fabrics and online production management. The technological solutions that serve as the building blocks of industry 4.0 or the Industrial Revolution are the Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, connected devices, Cyber-Physical Systems (CS), and the factory 4.0 (smart industries). 

What are the characteristics of the Fourth Industrial Revolution? 

What are the defining characteristics of this new era? Schwab notes they are: “velocity, scope, and systems impact.” There’s been no precedent for the breakthroughs we’re experiencing. It’s evolving exponentially rather than the linear pace seen in prior industrial revolutions and disrupting nearly every industry in every country worldwide. Not only that, “…the breadth and depth of these changes herald the transformation of entire systems of production, management, and governance.”

What technology is the most characteristic of the Fourth Industrial Revolution? 

According to Salesforce, the Fourth Industrial Revolution’s most reliable summary is examining the technology working to propel it forward. These include Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain, quantum computing, nanotechnology, robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), 3-D printing, self-driving cars, and materials storage. The technological breakthroughs stemming from these disciplines as a consequence of the Fourth Industrial Revolution are accentuating the unlimited possibilities, as Schwab puts it, of “…billions of people connected by mobile devices, with unprecedented processing power, storage capacity, and access to knowledge.”

Salesforce research also highlights the potential these technologies have to change the expectations consumers have of these corporations. The third edition of the Salesforce State of the Connected Consumer Report found that 75% of consumers expect new technologies to provide a better customer experience. 

Source: Salesforce

How should we prepare for the impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution on business and society? 

With the movement in full-swing, the impact the Fourth Industrial Revolution will have on business will center on four areas, all flowing through the Digital Transformation:

• Customer Expectations

• Product Enhancement

• Collaborative Innovation

• Organizational Forms 

How can we adapt to these principles in our day-to-day activities, especially when it comes to customer expectations? Here are some pointers:

Focus on the Customer Experience

We’ve consistently been talking about how consumers are becoming increasingly conspicuous, and with that in mind, they’re expecting a customer experience that meets their increasingly-high expectations. The 3rd edition of the Salesforce State of the Connected Consumer Report found that 65% of consumers expect businesses’ innovation to accelerate, and 59% state it’s harder to surprise them with new products or services, especially when compared to prior times. 

How can we tackle this challenge? We need to have digitized information about our current and potential customers at our disposal, segmentation about their interests (that we can detect through their behavior with IoT devices, their browsing and purchase history, and more). This information should be accessible and actionable. Vast amounts of data are only useful if we can treat them in an automated and segmented way. Therefore, we also need to invest in optimal tools that are part of our 360° Marketing strategy, that will give us everything we need to offer a consistent experience across all touchpoints.

Foster trust

With an increasing demand for personalization, consumers are demanding more trust in their data. In fact, “Salesforce Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer Marc Benioff believes a “trust revolution” is needed if businesses are to fully embrace the potential of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.” 41% of consumers don’t think companies genuinely care about their data, and 46% of them recognize they think they lost control over the information about themselves out there on the internet. We have to make concerted efforts to build trust with our consumers, especially when it comes to how we use their data.

Give your marketing tools an upgrade

As we mentioned above, when talking about the customer experience, it’s critical you take stock of your current processes, pinpoint the ones that may be holding you back, and update them with the tools that can help you do just that. At We Are Marketing, we work with a full suite of tools for Marketing Automation, content creation, web development, and more across all business areas to ensure we’re getting the most out of everything we do.

Keep your messaging consistent

Make sure your communications focus on your customers’ pain points, and you master telling your story because the messaging will focus on business strategies more often than not. In contrast, it should focus on the end consumer. Find out what consumers, and investors, are looking for and adapt your copy to match.  

Future-proof the workforce

While it’s true the potential for significant advances are there, Schwab notes that there are some consequences we will need to be aware of that could leave people behind. Potential inequality could lead to greater inequality, especially in terms of dividing the labor market between “high-skill/high-pay” and “low-skill/low-pay” roles that could exacerbate social tensions.

With that in mind, workers will need to update their skills continuously. It’s no wonder Salesforce cited a figure from a study that “…59% of hiring managers believe that AI will impact the types of skills their companies need.” This issue will require, as Salesforce.org Executive Vice President and Chief Philanthropy Office Ebony Frelix noted in a panel at Dreamforce ’18, businesses and governments to share responsibility for giving workers the skills they’ll need to succeed in the future workforce. It will be critical as jobs will disappear, and even more, will emerge with the rise of new technologies.  

Our final question is, what is your plan for adapting to the Fourth Industrial Revolution?