Business operations change daily, if not more frequently. While some businesses are content working inside a structure that hasn’t been updated for 20 years, others are looking to optimize their digital transformation strategies to match the digitalization of the twenty-first century.
“The biggest brake on speed and innovation is the cost of failure.”
Risk is inevitable, but there are ways to minimize that risk level while prioritizing the customer experience by developing continuous upgrades, subscription packages that offer flexibility, and quick solutions that hit the market for a minimal up-front cost. The answer is Software as a Service (SaaS). But first, why should you subscribe (pun intended) to digital transformation initiatives? What even is digital transformation?
What is Digital Transformation?
Digital Transformation is taking a leap forward in adopting empowering technology. This leap forward may be implementing more digital systems, such as ERP, MES, PLM systems, or other digital tools you haven’t used before. It could be artificial intelligence (AI), cloud services, data analytics, or some combination of all three.
Embracing digital transformation enhances your efficiency and accelerates decision-making, resulting in a competitive edge and a profitable business venture. Similar to the concepts central to Industry 4.0, the core ideals behind digital transformation can be traced back to the late 1700s, first recognized during the industrial revolution and the invention of the steam engine. Throughout the years, with the telegraph, electricity, and later computers and electronics, the transformation went from clouds of soot to an invisible cloud platform in the sky. Now, in the “age of data,” digital transformation offers a journey that all manufacturers can participate in.
What is SaaS?
While you’re developing your IT infrastructure around the cloud, you may notice your customer needs and the technology you were so reliant on have already morphed into something different! How do you stay ahead of technology, or at least match its pace? Adopting a Software as a Service (SaaS) network provides flexibility in the budget, easier training services, built-in customer service, and accessibility to anyone worldwide.
BConnect: The SaaS Platform for Surface Intelligence That Saves You Money
SaaS technology that provides a one-of-a-kind network for your data is generally more affordable. Compared to our previous offering at Brighton Science, our new SaaS platform, BConnect, helps customers save 37% on average. By digitally transforming our business model, we were able to cut costs so that not only can more companies enjoy effective adhesion bonds in their products, but more companies can enjoy the extra cash flow as well.
Eliminates the Need for Training
In addition to the integrated step-by-step guides within the software, no further training is required for users of the BConnect SaaS platform. If there happens to be confusion on where to take a contact angle measurement using our device, you simply have our experts or your managers upload a photo of your part to BConnect with locations of all the places to test for contact angle.
If there happens to be confusion on where to take a contact angle measurement using the device, simply request our specialists or your supervisors to upload an image of the component being tested to BConnect. BConnect will then guide you through the precise spots where contact angle testing is required. It’s like a point-and-shoot camera but for surface cleanliness!
As for the data, there’s no longer a need to use a flash drive to export the data and learn how to use Excel to make the data visually appealing and digestible for everyone. BConnect does it for you. It automates the data into box-and-whisker plots and bar graphs or tables so you can easily compare and contrast the data from one part to another.
As for data handling, the cumbersome process of utilizing a flash drive to transfer data and mastering Excel to create visually engaging and comprehensible information for all is now a thing of the past. BConnect automates and streamlines this process for you by automatically generating box-and-whisker plots, bar charts, or tables, enabling effortless comparison and analysis of data between different components.
Built-In Customer Service
You can forget about having to manually reach out to Brighton Science’s customer success team via your work email account. Using the BConnect network, data is uploaded and available to your manager or executives. This real-time data feedback can quickly and efficiently find out where failure is routinely occurring. Maybe a part your supply chain distributor sent you came in with a film of dust that needs to be pre-cleaned, maybe your parts washer isn’t cleaning your surfaces sufficiently, or perhaps you just want to share the success of your newly cleaned surfaces. Either way, it’s easy to share that data and further optimize your procedures.
Networks are completely customized, and each unique user has a special set of permissions that grants them access to data, information, and actions that are relevant to their position. For example, your surface intelligence network can be configured for the lab to create and conduct experiments designed specifically for quality monitoring on production lines or include shared visibility across all teams for end-to-end solutions.
In every case, you own your data and control who is part of the network.
Access to Any Device, Anywhere in the World
With regularly scheduled updates that eliminate the need for downtime, your plant will never need to shut down because of BConnect. The network will keep your processes running smoothly and effectively across state lines, the country, and the Atlantic.
SaaS and Digital Transformation: The Cloud is the Great Equalizer
But why now? In the last few years, with the inception of the COVID pandemic, businesses and manufacturers were forced to adopt a more robust digital infrastructure. Apps and cloud-based data networks became vital to real-time data collection during a time when people had to be 6-feet away from one another. That pushed companies--including Brighton Science--to start developing networks that would transcend those boundaries. But Brighton Science didn’t just stop at 6 feet, we went all the way to, But Brighton Science didn’t just stop at 6 feet; we went all the way to 6,000 feet or more with BConnect.
Service Scalability
As an added bonus to the recent cloud migration, your data is now secure anywhere you can find an internet connection, eliminating the need for costly, on-premises infrastructure. Cloud-based software not only provides a much cheaper upfront cost, but that cheaper price tag helps organizations start small and scale quickly. Utilizing SaaS to transform your digital networks means you can frequently innovate, increasing cost savings. Instead of fronting millions of dollars for a network that may/may not work for your company, you can start small, see where the network gets you, track it in a way only SaaS can be tracked, and then either adapt if it fails or invest more overhead if it succeeds. Using SaaS software is a quick, cost-effective, and easily adaptable method to ensure innovation is cost-effective in digital organizations.
Applying Digital Transformation to Surface Analytics
Many of our customer relationships originated when we were brought in to investigate a failure that had resulted in expensive production shutdowns. Working closely with hundreds of customers to resolve thousands of problems, we realized that complex environmental circumstances and human choices regularly compromise the optimal design and manufacturing of products that involve chemical bonding, coating, and sealing throughout the product lifecycle. Using the power of networking and data collection to identify the hidden connections, we were able to diagnose and treat the failures we so often saw.
Through Industry 4.0 and the COVID pandemic, Brighton Science developed BConnect, the world’s first Surface Intelligence platform. With BConnect and our team of experts in surface intelligence (what makes stuff stick), you can have unprecedented control over surface readiness for bonding, coating, or sealing by measuring the water contact angle. BConnect gathers and distributes vital data and metrics to teams throughout the enterprise and around the world. The subscription-based and customized platform will give your processes a leg up over competitors to prevent bonding and adhesion issues at all stages of the product life cycle.
Digital transformation has undergone a myriad of changes over the years: from the printing press to social media or from hand-written ledgers to online financial services databases. Read more about the transformation and how our networked solution can create a whole new level of operational efficiency for your teams in our eBook, “Digital Transformation: Why it’s real. Why it matters. And why you need it now.”
