This year’s Annual Manufacturing Report has shone a light on what the top three areas of planned expenditure in information communications technology (ICT) are for businesses over the next 12 months.
When it comes to manufacturers’ ICT priorities, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems unsurprisingly dominates. More than a third of businesses (38%) named it as their top investment priority.
Other specialist software came next, identified by 29%, including: CRM, CAD and unspecified niche application upgrades.
Hardware was cited by some 13% of manufacturers expecting to make strategic investments over the coming year.
The figures correlate with where expenditure had been placed over the previous 12 months. For 42% of respondents, ERP had been their most significant investment, with both hardware and CRM some way behind – 16% and 13% respectively.
Notably, business intelligence (BI) systems didn’t feature as a primary area of investment, but was included when manufacturers were asked to name secondary priorities. More than one-in-10 (13%) placed BI within that category.
ICT would appear to be an area of ever-greater investment importance. With the majority (71%) of businesses spending more in the past 12 months than the previous year. Only 13% said that they had spent less and 17% said the same amount.
You can download the full Annual Manufacturing Report 2017 here.
De-risk your IT investment
From fact finding to the final selection, The Manufacturer Connect is specifically designed for manufacturing businesses at any stage of an IT project; be it ERP, FSM, BI or CRM.
Free to attend for all project leaders, this unique one-day event offers you unrivalled insight and in-depth knowledge on the latest IT in manufacturing needs.
- Save time and effort with a tailored one-to-one meeting schedule of leading vendors.
- Hear keynote presentations from experienced manufacturers.
- Collaborate and knowledge share in workshops led by Optimum PPS.
- See the software in action, compare the of the benefits and advantages, in our vendor demonstrations.
You don’t have to be a project leader to attend The Manufacturer Connect. Our conference programme is designed to cater to the needs of all manufacturers.
One day at this event will save you six months’ of research work.
