Industry 4.0 and Business Intelligence - Business Plan development for a new software launch in the market

Sep 22, 2026

This thesis develops a business plan for a business intelligence SaaS aimed at improving manufacturing companies’ efficiency within the Industry 4.0 context. The proposed platform leverages a cloud-based architecture to transform industrial data into decision-ready insights, enabling predictive analytics through a data-driven approach. After an Industry 4.0 literature review, the work analyzes the project company, industry and market conditions, competition, and strategic positioning, then validates assumptions using interview results. It defines the product and marketing mix, presents an MVP and testing outcomes, builds market segmentation, and concludes with an organizational, operational, and financial plan supported by a project roadmap and a lean business model canvas.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPaper Templates

FormatPDF

Pages111

Reading Time39 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Industry 4.0

Distinctive characteristics

Enabling technologies

The company profile: Guanxi s.r.l

The project rationale: the idea for a new product

Market analysis

Industry 4.0 business trends and the Italian scenario

External analysis

Competitors analysis

Internal Analysis: SWOT

The problem/need and market validation

Market Validation

Survey script and Interviews results

POLITECNICO DI TORINO Master’s Degree in Engineering and Management Master of Science Thesis Industry 4.0 and Business Intelligence: Business Plan development for a new software launch in the market Academic Supervisor: Candidate: Prof. Paolo Landoni Marco Marcelli Company Supervisor: Ing. Alberto Giusti Academic Year 2018/2019 Abstract This thesis work concerns the development of the business plan ofa business intelligence software for manufacturing companies’ efficiency in a context of Industry 4.0. The idea on which the whole planning activity is based consists in a SaaS platform powered by a Cloud-based architecture aimed at turning industrial data into insightful decision making for companies, enabling predictive analytics with a consistent data driven approach. After a brief literature review aimed at introducing the Industry 4.0 paradigm the discussion dives into the topics more characteristics ofa business plan. In fact, after the presentation of the company which powered the project (Guanxi s.r.l) the work deeply analyze: the market of reference in all its peculiarity from both an internal and external point of view, the current competition level and the strategic positioning options. After the market analysis the hypothesis made are validated with the results of a set of interviews conducted. It then follows the definition of the product with its marketing mix and detailed features, and after the presentation of an MVP and its testing phase results which led to a consistent market segmentation, the discussion dives into the redaction of an organizational, operational and financial plan, which results are then schedule and presented in a comprehensive project roadmap. The thesis is finally concluded by a lean business model canvas, which aims at being a final summary and overview of all the tasks performed along the discussion. Acknowledgments Before diving into the thesis’ content there are some acknowledgments that needs to be done. Starting from the academic world, I would like to immensely thank Professor Paolo Landoni, my entrepreneurship professor and thesis supervisor, and Alberto Giusti, the founder of Guanxi s.r.l. and commissioner of this project, for giving me the opportunity of challenging myself with such an amazing topic and project. After them I must spend some words to thank all my life long friends, for always supporting my life choices even when they brought me away from our amazing group, and the new ones I had the honor and the pleasure to meet here at Politecnico, without whom this journey would have not been the same. Finally, the last and most important acknowledgement goes to my family, it is hard to find the words to properly thank them for all the opportunities they gave to me through all their sacrifices, I just hope that this final step in my academic journey will be a reason for them to be proud. This work is for them. Summary 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 9 2 Industry 4.0 ......................................................................................................................... 13 2.1 Distinctive characteristics ........................................................................................... 14 2.2 Enabling technologies ................................................................................................. 17 2.2.1 Internet of things ................................................................................................. 17 2.2.2 Big data analytics ................................................................................................ 18 2.2.3 Cloud computing ................................................................................................. 18 2.2.4 Cybersecurity ...................................................................................................... 19 2.

FAQs

What is the main goal of the thesis?

To develop a business plan for a business intelligence SaaS that targets manufacturing efficiency in an Industry 4.0 environment.

How does the proposed solution use Industry 4.0 data?

It relies on a SaaS platform with a cloud-based architecture to turn industrial data into decision-making insights, including predictive analytics.

How were market assumptions validated?

Through results from a set of interviews, including a survey script and corresponding interview outcomes.

Sep 22, 2026

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