Global cutting tool supplier SECO Tools discusses how partnering with Automation Alley has helped them strengthen relationships with their customers.

Automation Alley added 11 new members September. Click the link below to meet them.

While it's impossible to know where exactly Industry 4.0 will lead us, businesses must prepare for the rapid technology advancements taking place around them in order to stay relevant. This week on the blog, we discuss four steps all businesses need to internalize and organize around to manage changes as they navigate the complexities of Industry 4.0.

Today, there is a significant shift from selling what exists to imagining what’s next. Fifty years ago, the life expectancy of a Fortune 500 firm was around 75 years. Currently, it is less than 15 years and declining rapidly. Dynamic change and a disruptive consumer-oriented market economy are fueling these changes. Today, even the largest companies risk being marginalized, commoditized or disrupted in other ways. As well-funded startups and risk-embracing players seek to challenge prevailing paradigms and alter long-standing models, innovation has become critical, not merely to growth but to survival.

A health savings account (HSA) is a complex and often confusing component of health care coverage, and communicating the details to employees is always a challenge. While employers typically relate the basic eligibility guidelines, there are many aspects of the HSA that are lesser known, yet likely to affect some account holders and their dependents. Employees need a strong knowledge base in order to take full advantage of their HSAs. By bringing certain features of these accounts to employees’ attention, employers encourage increased awareness and engagement with a consumer-driven approach to health care.

We’ve all heard of cloud computing, but is the cloud right for every business? In this blog post, Morris Novello, senior director of marketing at Nebbiolo Technologies Inc., explores the many opportunities and applications of fog computing, from connected vehicles and smart grids to Industry 4.0 manufacturing and smart cities. Learn about how fog technology can be a unifying platform, rich enough to deliver this new breed of emerging services while enabling the development of new applications.