ICT investment trends in manufacturing
Summary
Global economic fluctuations and rising competition in the manufacturing sector have compelled manufacturers to slowly shift their focus to revenue growth. Additionally, intense competition in this sector has pushed manufacturers to adopt next generation disruptive technologies in order to improve their operational processes and enhance customer satisfaction
Key Findings
The global economy has appreciated despite the lingering challenges including the recent exit of Britain from the European Union. Moreover, the improving world economy has allowed global manufacturing activities to expand. However, manufacturers are also striving to reduce costs and maintain their profitability in order to remain in this competitive environment
Manufacturers are focusing their investment priorities on core technology areas such as enterprise applications, security products, internet of things (IoT), and cloud computing
The survey also reveals that procurement and product lifecycle management are the technology areas that attract significant investment from manufacturers, whereas customer service automation tops the list of technology areas that garner the largest investment from the majority of manufacturers
Synopsis
This report presents the findings from a survey of 227 manufacturers regarding their Information & Communications Technology (ICT) investment trends. The survey investigates how manufacturers currently allocate their ICT budgets across the core areas of enterprise ICT expenditure: hardware, software, IT services, communications, and consulting.
The report illustrates the core technologies that manufacturers are investing in, including enterprise application, security products, IoT, and cloud computing. The survey also highlights the approach to purchasing technology adopted by manufacturers. Through Kable’s survey, the report aims to provide a better insight to ICT vendors and service providers when pitching their solutions to manufacturers. The report focuses on manufacturers’ ICT expenditure trends for specific business areas and technologies, identifying the top three IT projects, and understanding the business challenges faced by organizations.
Reasons To Buy
Understand how manufacturing enterprises' ICT landscape is set to change in 2016 to prioritize your target market
Comprehend how ICT money are being allocated by the manufacturing enterprises in specific geographies and size bands to improve your market penetration
Make effective business decisions by recognizing the opportunities within each of the core areas of ICT spend (hardware, software, IT services, telecommunications, and consulting)
Realign your sales initiatives by understanding the current strategic objectives of the manufacturing enterprises
Enhance your market segmentation with the included, detailed breakdown of opportunities within selected technology categories (Enterprise application, security products, IoT, and cloud computing)
Prioritize your focus areas by understanding which factors are influencing the manufacturing enterprises’ decisions when selecting an ICT provider
Understand the changes in customers’ priorities and identify the business and IT objectives that the manufacturing enterprises are looking to achieve through their ICT investment strategies
- 1 Trends in ICT budgets
- 1.1 Introduction
- 1.2 Survey demographics
- 1.3 ICT budget changes
- 1.4 ICT budget allocation by core technology area
- 1.4.1 Hardware budget breakdown
- 1.4.2 Software budget breakdowns
- 1.4.3 Third party IT services expenditure
- 1.4.4 Communications expenditure
- 1.4.5 Cloud computing budget
- 1.5 ICT budget allocation by function
- 1.6 Outsourced IT functions
- 2 ICT investment priorities and vendor satisfaction
- 2.1 Introduction
- 2.1.1 Enterprise application
- 2.1.2 Security products
- 2.1.3 Internet of Things (IoT)
- 2.1.4 Cloud computing
- 3 ICT procurement trends
- 3.1 Introduction
- 3.2 Business objectives influencing IT investment strategy
- 3.3 ICT provider selection
- 3.4 Key decision maker for purchasing technology
- 4 Summary
- 4.1 Bullish economy invokes hope among global manufacturers
- 5 Appendix
- 5.1 Definitions
- 5.2 Further reading
- 5.3 Contact the authors
- List of Figures
- Figure 1: Manufacturing ICT survey industry breakdown
- Figure 2: Manufacturing ICT survey breakdown by size band (number of employees)
- Figure 3: Recent and expected ICT budget changes among manufacturers
- Figure 4: Manufacturers’ (external) ICT budget allocation, 2015 and 2016
- Figure 5: Manufacturers’ average hardware budget allocation
- Figure 6: Average allocation of software budgets in manufacturing sector
- Figure 7: Manufacturers’ average IT services budget allocation
- Figure 8: Manufacturers’ average communications expenditure
- Figure 9: Manufacturers’ average cloud computing budget allocation by technology
- Figure 10: Manufacturers’ average cloud computing budget allocation by implementation type
- Figure 11: Manufacturers’ ICT budget allocation by function, 2015 and 2016
- Figure 12: Outsourced IT functions – manufacturers’ current and future outsourcing priorities
- Figure 13: Enterprise application – manufacturers’ current and future investment priorities
- Figure 14: Enterprise application – selected primary provider and vendor satisfaction among manufacturers
- Figure 15: Security products – manufacturers’ current and future investment priorities
- Figure 16: Security products – selected primary provider and vendor satisfaction among manufacturers
- Figure 17: IoT – manufacturers’ current and future investment priorities
- Figure 18: IoT – selected primary provider and vendor satisfaction among manufacturers
- Figure 19: Cloud computing – manufacturers’ current and future investment priorities
- Figure 20: Cloud computing – selected primary provider and vendor satisfaction among manufacturers
- Figure 21: Business objectives which influence manufacturers' IT investment strategy
- Figure 22: Factors influencing manufacturers' decision to choose an ICT provider
- Figure 23: Role of key entities in making ICT purchasing decisions
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