Coming back from major industry events, CES2026 in Las Vegas, is often when certain signals become clearer.
Not during keynote presentations or product demos, but in the conversations that happen between them and sometimes in the topics that are no longer debated at all.
One thing stood out clearly: VPNs, IoT connectivity, and cloud integration were rarely questioned. Not because they are irrelevant, but because they are increasingly assumed.
This silence is not a lack of interest but it is a sign that industrial digitalization has entered a more mature phase.
When foundational technologies fade into the background
In the early days of Industry 4.0, connectivity itself was a differentiator. Secure remote access, cloud dashboards, and machine-to-cloud communication represented a clear step forward from isolated automation systems.
Today, most OEMs and manufacturers no longer ask if these capabilities are available. They expect them.
This aligns with broader market observations. According to Gartner, connectivity in industrial environments is rapidly shifting from a strategic differentiator to a baseline requirement, a prerequisite for more advanced capabilities rather than a value proposition on its own.
What has changed is not the importance of connectivity, but its role as it has become infrastructure.
The real shift: from connection to definition
As connectivity becomes invisible, attention naturally moves to what comes next.
The discussion is no longer about connecting machines, but about how machines behave, evolve, and are managed over time. This is where the concept of software-defined automation starts to take shape, not as a finished model, but as a direction.
In this emerging paradigm:
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hardware provides a stable execution foundation,
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software defines behavior, logic, and interaction,
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and value increasingly lies in the ability to update, adapt, and extend functionality over time.
Rather than delivering fixed-function machines, automation systems are gradually becoming evolving platforms.
This shift reflects a broader industrial trend. McKinsey & Company notes that leading industrial players are moving away from isolated digital initiatives toward architectures that support continuous adaptation through software, especially in response to faster innovation cycles and growing uncertainty.
Why experimentation is the dominant mode today
One important observation from recent industry discussions is that very few organizations claim full maturity in this space and for good reason.
Software-defined automation touches core aspects of industrial systems: control, safety, cybersecurity, lifecycle management. These are not areas where change can be rushed.
As a result, much of the industry is currently experimenting:
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testing how control and data processing can coexist at the edge,
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exploring how software updates fit long-lived industrial assets,
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validating how security and governance scale across distributed systems.
This phase of experimentation is not a weakness: it is a necessary step in any structural transformation.
What matters is not declaring arrival but learning how to move forward responsibly.
The European Commission highlights that industrial digitalization is evolving beyond traditional Industry 4.0 concepts toward more resilient and interconnected systems, as described in its Industry 5.0 framework.
Why connectivity is no longer the hard part
If VPNs, IoT, and cloud are now taken for granted, it is because the real challenges have shifted.
Today’s complexity lies in:
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governing access and identities across fleets of machines,
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maintaining cybersecurity consistently over long lifecycles,
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updating systems without disrupting validated behavior,
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and ensuring architectural coherence as systems evolve.
Connectivity enables all of this, but it does not solve it. This is why industrial conversations are increasingly focused on architecture, lifecycle resilience, and security by design, rather than on individual technologies.
A post-hype phase for industrial digitalization
What we are witnessing is not the end of Industry 4.0, but its evolution.
When technologies stop being highlighted, it means the industry has moved beyond experimentation toward responsibility. Digitalization becomes less about adding new layers and more about making systems sustainable, adaptable, and governable over time.
In this sense, software-defined automation is not a buzzword replacing Industry 4.0.
It is what Industry 4.0 looks like once connectivity is no longer the headline.
Final thought
When foundational technologies become invisible, the industry is ready to ask harder questions.
Not about how to connect machines, but about how to design systems that can evolve without breaking technically, operationally, and securely.
Software-defined automation is not a destination that has already been reached.
It is a direction that many are exploring, step by step and perhaps that is the clearest sign of maturity industrial automation has shown so far.
