Today's digit-driven economy has inspired corporations to re-imagine their business models. We expect the products they produce to integrate into our lives, to work in a more personal way, and to adapt to our individual needs.

Product companies are accelerating innovation in embedded software control. When software is fused with micro-electronic, sensor, and mechanical technologies, products become increasingly intelligent, real-time instrumented, and interconnected. They can:

• Respond to changes more accurately by predicting and optimizing for future events
• Measure, sense, and see the exact condition of everything
• Interact with other products, people, and IT systems in entirely new ways
• Smart products adapt to the unique needs of businesses and people

Manufacturing company or software company?

Software becomes the ‘invisible thread’ critical to sustaining product innovation and competitiveness. This means every company is transforming into a software and systems integration company. 66% of products delivered last year rely on software as a key differentiator. On a smarter planet, success is tied to how well businesses can harness instrumentation, interconnectedness, analytics, software, and system intelligence to deliver differentiating value.

The perils of not getting it right

This transformation is sparking unprecedented leaps in product value. However, designing sophisticated products can engineer new opportunities to fail. For the world’s manufacturers, software plays a significant role in customer satisfaction, safety ratings, product reliability, profitable cost and risk models, and their overall image as an innovator.

• Develop a software capability that is equal to and fully integrated with the other elements involved in the product delivery
• Build and manage "value chains" across multiple industries, stakeholders, and segments
• Shift to a more dynamic design process for building and testing products
• Create the flexibility to more frequently update products