Nowadays, Industry 4.0 is becoming a strategic issue for software companies. Because of fast digital conversion, they should review their visions and strategies. In this study, a project management framework is proposed for software companies considering Industry 4.0 as a future strategy. Global ERP firms try to find a good integration of ERP and Industry 4.0 applications. A global ERP firm's solution partner is used as a case study in this chapter. The study includes: the development of an internet-based portal application that integrates all their business partners (customers, suppliers); a collaborative project management software; and an industry 4.0 portal. The benefits of this study after applying in the software house are explained.
TopBackground
There is no scientific research regarding a software house’s industry 4.0 strategy.
IT solution providers are developing internet-based applications to enable integration with their external counterparts. With the development of cloud technology, the solutions offered in the internet environment become unlimited. When examining existing solutions, there are some specialized applications such as CRM, B2B.
Oztemel and Gursev (2018) reviewed the industry 4.0 related technologies in literature. They explain some leading countries’ investments and activities. For example, China spent approximately $200 billion on research and development, the second-largest investment by any country. (McKinsey, 2017). France, the second biggest economy of European Union, started “New Industrial France” initiative in 2013 to be an innovation leader country and to push the technological frontier to create the products and the uses of tomorrow (DEF., 2016). United States, Japan, Germany, (the origin of Industry 4.0 concept, Kagermann 2013), South Korea are aware of Industry 4.0 and start similar projects. In Turkey, TUBITAK (Turkish Science and Technology Research Council) funds the original and value-added industry 4.0 projects.
Moghaddam and Nof (2017) stated a collaborative control theory to provide a framework of the collaborative factory of the future. Wollschlaeger et al. (2017) studied the impact of IoT (Internet of Things) and CPSs (Cyber-Physical System) on industrial automation from an industry 4.0 perspective, used a survey of the current state of work on Ethernet time-sensitive networking (TSN), and shed light on the role of fifth-generation (5G) telecom networks in automation. Preuveneers and Ilie-Zudor prepared a survey and had an analysis of emerging trends, research challenges and opportunities in Industry 4.0.
Ellialtioglu and Bolat (2009) proposed a conceptual framework for building supply chain strategies to meet marketplace requirements and to give an insight into the managers of supply chains.
The Agile methodology was explained with Agile Manifesto in 2001. (Larson & Chang, 2016)
Kaur and Singh (2016) reviewed critical success factors in agile software development projects in India. Whitney & Daniels (2013) study the primary causes of IT project management failure and complexity. Khalid analyzed the application issues of SME’ cloud computing.