88 VIEWPOINT Slower growth, technological shifts, business uncertainty and ongoing labour shortages are setting up a difficult year for industry, but organisations can use existing digital solutions to tackle these mega-challenges KIM CUSTEAU: AVEVA Tackling disruptive megatrends The global economy will expand by just 2.6 per cent in 2026, down from 2.9 per cent in 2024, according to UN Trade and Development. As we step into a year of slowing economic growth, industrial leaders face greater pressure to cut costs and streamline operations because even small gains can enhance margins. Efficiency is quickly becoming the new standard as businesses look to increase productivity gains, foster innovation and enhance resilience. Continued success will likely depend on redesigning operations through digital transformation, better operational visibility, rethinking business processes and radical collaboration across the value chain. That’s true for each of this year’s megatrends, but how can industry use existing solutions to raise its game in the months ahead? Climate events are now an operational reality Research from McKinsey shows that more frequent extreme weather led to climate-related losses reaching $165 billion in the first half of 2025. It also indicates that organisations’ earnings releases increasingly refer to climate resilience, and many have adopted the adaptive technologies essential to staying competitive. A particularly sensitive flashpoint is water insecurity, something the City of Salem in Oregon, USA, is experiencing with climate-linked algae blooms and cyanotoxins flourishing in its waterways. In response, the Oregonian capital has implemented a system that aggregates and analyses diverse water data, from depth and turgidity to satellite imagery, so authorities are alerted to harmful water events and can act to protect supplies. Electricity grids become the energy transition bottleneck The global energy access gap has worsened on the back of population and industrial growth – today 730 million people live without electricity, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Yet, IEA’s data shows demand is increasing, with data centres in particular set to double current consumption by 2030. While renewables are entering the system at speed, the IEA estimates that permitting delays still hold back at least 3,000 gigawatts of clean energy projects. According to the Carbon Collective, this is enough energy to power two billion households for one year. To tackle increasing grid pressures, existing energy players are turning to industrial intelligence. For example, UK-based renewable electricity, nuclear and bioenergy leader Drax uses CONNECT, AVEVA’s data-driven insights industrial intelligence platform, to reduce outages, re-risked assets and unlock millions of pounds in projected savings. CONNECT is built on Microsoft Azure. Fractured supply chains are upending established business flows Across industry, geopolitical issues are altering trade pathways. Figures from Deloitte indicate that Mexico already accounts for 15.4 per cent of US trade, overtaking China at 13.9 per cent. Meanwhile, McKinsey reports that 33 per cent of companies are developing nearshoring or onshoring plans, with a survey from the US National Association of Manufacturers indicating that 78 per cent of manufacturers are doing so because of trade uncertainty. As producers rebuild decades-old ingredients supply chains, they increasingly depend on end-to-end data visibility to deliver industrial intelligence such as tariff scenarios, risk planning and logistics costs. The result is a new kind of human and technology partnership that enables companies to quickly rebalance
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzQ1NTk=