Many believe that unlocking real-data insights are critical and indispensable for future industrial facilities and businesses. Though such developments are rapidly accelerating the use of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, the increased prevalence of cybersecurity threats is acting as a challenge for both the SCADA solutions providers and end-user firms.
The SCADA market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.01% during the forecast period to reach US$34.519 billion by 2027, from US$22.946 billion in 2020. Industrial IoT (IIoT) and Industry 4.0 technologies are anticipated to add impetus to the growth of the market in the projected period.
Although IIoT and SCADA differ in multiple aspects, they share a common goal. The integration of IIoT and SCADA enables a holistic understanding of the entire operational processes in a much more simplified manner. Traditionally, SCADA requires the manual generation of the analytic reports, but this process can be efficiently automated in less time and get quality insights when integrated with IIoT solutions. With the advent of IIoT, modern SCADA was updated with several appealing parameters such as scalability and data analytics, thus improving the market landscape of SCADA.
With the growing stringent compliance requirements, demand for effective production processes and supply chain, product quality, and the need for constant process optimization are adding impetus to the market’s growth. Similarly, the growing trend of digitalization is also another factor aiding the market’s growth. For instance, according to the survey conducted by SAP SE in 2020, of the total 400 worldwide C-level healthcare executives, about 70 percent showed a willingness to digitize their operational processes.
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition consist of multiple computers, user interfaces, and networked data communications for monitoring machines and the operation processes. This control system integrates hardware and software elements, enabling the firms to monitor and regulate the operational processes locally or remotely while monitoring, collating, and analyzing the data in real-time. Furthermore, it also directly interacts with devices like pumps, sensors, motors, valves, and human-machine interface software. The demand for SCADA in industrial enterprises is high, as it not only processes data rapidly, aiding in smart decision-making but also communicates the issues among systems to decrease downtime, all while maintaining high efficiency.
SCADA offers many appealing advantages, including interoperability, scalability, communications, and support, attracting diverse firm owners, including oil and gas, energy, food and beverage, transportation, recycling, and many more, and enabling them to adapt these control systems as their backbone. The global landscape of the SCADA market is segmented based on component types, end-user industry, architecture, and geographical regions.