Although the manufacturing sector has recently embraced Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things, it is a bit late to the cloud computing game. Established software vendors and their clients may be so vested in their legacy on-premise applications that they fail to make the switch to the cloud, even as other industries like banking, retail, and insurance advance quickly.
Writing for Forbes Magazine, Forbes Councils Member Dave Opsahl believes that manufacturers’ concerns regarding data security and latency are merely an attempt to avoid change.
Today’s manufacturing is widely dispersed, reliant on a constantly shifting global supply chain, and characterized by consumer-driven, transient products. Opsahl’s observation is that many software users today are mobile or do their jobs from home; users make up a sizable portion of the workforce, but they may also be suppliers or customers.
The cloud computing model, by all accounts, is better suited to this dynamic environment than large, complex on-premise systems that are expensive, expensive to implement, and incapable of adapting to changes in the market, organizations, or processes. The amount of time and money manufacturers have invested in technology that may have increased productivity but slowed down their ability to move quickly is excessive, Opsahl writes. These antiquated engineering, production, and commercial systems, along with all of the administrative processes and staff training that keep them in operation, have, in his opinion, become a roadblock to progress.
Moving the applications and the massive amounts of data they control is enlightening. The company can focus on the initiatives that truly add value and distinguish it. They can arrange the data and prepare it for complex analytics regardless of the application. They can promote innovation in their business model and operational processes by their ability to virtualize their IT portfolio. They could alter their marketing strategy, the products and services they provide, and the internal vs. external activities they carry out.
Over the past few years, major disruptions like the pandemic, geopolitical unrest, and climate change have all shown how devastating they can be for the economy. Manufacturers cannot carry on as they currently do and expect to survive. To be able to respond quickly to threats and opportunities, they must establish a culture and an IT environment that supports it. They’ll need a diverse range of cloud-based applications because doing so might entail acquiring or disposing of businesses, releasing new goods, or entering new markets.
Even though the cloud computing era is well underway, too many manufacturing companies have yet to accept or embrace it. They are making an effort to preserve antiquated systems that are hurting their businesses and making it harder for them to compete. It’s time for manufacturing businesses to adopt the innovative, native cloud applications that are quickly expanding in the market.