A recent analysis by Accenture found that manufacturing companies are not investing enough in new technologies, risking losing market share as a result because they are not yet able to integrate digital into their business models. In particular, Accenture opens the new year with the study “Technology Vision 2017” in which 102 executives from the Automotive market and 562 from the Industrial Equipment (IE) sector were interviewed: the data processed shows a contrast in both sectors taken into consideration… of the series “they preach well but they do not do well”. Some 75% of respondents said they are aware of the importance of digital to their industry, but at the same time, only 50% of automotive companies and 60% of Industrial Equipment manufacturers admit to not having a defined business strategy related to digital technology adoption.
Not only are these companies not yet investing adequately in digital, but they also said they lack the capabilities and resources to integrate it into areas such as product-as-a-service and product lifecycle management. In fact, only 10% of Automotive companies and 18% of companies in IE said they are ready for this change.
Accenture’s own Innovation-Driven Growth study found that market-leading companies that focus on innovation and the integration of digital technologies to deliver differentiating customer experiences are experiencing annual revenue growth of 3% to 7%. It seems that these growth results are not sufficient to adequately stimulate the integration of technology in the various businesses, although the need for this change is also recognized in the future, where, according to Accenture, we will move from a “mobile-first” approach to an “AI first” approach, i.e. focused on artificial intelligence. Again, among the companies surveyed in Technology Vision 2017, 54% of automotive companies and 37% of EI companies expect artificial intelligence to drive significant change, although managers themselves see a number of challenges that could slow adoption. Automotive industry respondents highlight concerns that customers prefer interactions with humans and are concerned that AI will not best meet their needs. For EI companies, the biggest perceived challenge is the integration or compatibility between AI and IT infrastructure.