Manufacturing Industry Misses Out On Profit By Not Digitizing Enough

Manufacturers are dealing with recurring problems that are preventing them from achieving growth and profit, according to research conducted by IDC InfoBrief, sponsored by IFS. The research was conducted among companies in Europe, Asia and North and South America, and surveyed 160 decision makers in the manufacturing industry. The top three obstacles to growth and profit were identified as rising cost of labor (61 percent), higher prices for raw materials (42 percent) and supply chain problems (also 42 percent).

On Schedule

53 percent of respondents said core digital initiatives are still on the strategic roadmap. IFS believes this is encouraging, and that a successful transition to digital resources leads to an average profit increase of 40 percent. However, 62 percent of those surveyed have doubts about the return on investment, which IFS believes is a major challenge.
IFS recommends manufacturers tap into new ecosystems (28 percent), generate new revenue streams (26 percent) and discover new markets (25 percent) to create a competitive advantage over the competition. Global Industry Director at IFS Maggie Slowik sees opportunities despite the challenges. “The more digital initiatives ROI (return on investment) gen the easier it becomes for organizations to advocate for more digital investments. These must be enabled by scalable, cloud-based IT solutions to ensure revenue growth and profit growth in the future.”