SAP SE has introduced SAP Asset Intelligence Network and SAP Predictive Maintenance and Service.

In the shadow of Greenwich's 02 Arena - the futuristic dome originally built as London’s showpiece for the Millennium - what looks like a picnic cooler on wheels zips among groups of gawking children. This little delivery robot, designed to autonomously navigate sidewalks, not roads, later this year will begin making deliveries from local businesses direct to customers. In doing so, it may just conquer e-commerce's final frontier: the Last Mile, the least efficient and most problematic step in the delivery process.

Robotics has played a significant role in shaping the manufacturing environment for decades. Yet the impact of robotics in manufacturing has traditionally been directed at industrial manufacturing (think automotive manufacturing). This is all about to change as the new wave of robotics are equipped with intelligence systems, designed for flexibility and mobility, armed with sensors to enable human and robot collaboration, and are priced more attractively for a broader base of buyers.

This is an age of techno-utopianism. Topics like big data, advanced analytics, and artificial intelligence are at the forefront of the CEO agenda, a sign that companies see technology as a potential answer to many or even most of their challenges.

Of the all the burning issues discussed at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, earlier this year, one that got top billing was the promise and peril of the "Fourth Industrial Revolution."