Synopsis
This report presents the findings from a survey of 166 manufacturers regarding their approach to Information & Communications Technology (ICT) procurement. The survey investigates the way that manufacturers like to purchase technology, as well as the major IT and business objectives influencing their IT investment strategies.
Scope
Provides insights into manufacturers’ preferred buying approaches.
Comprehend the business objectives that manufacturers are looking to achieve through their IT investment strategy.
Appreciate the IT objectives that manufacturers are looking to achieve through their IT investment strategy.
Understand the factors that are influencing manufacturers’ decision to select an ICT provider.
Understand which organisational roles influence ICT purchasing decisions and signing off budgets.
Summary
Why was the report written?
To highlight the criteria on which manufacturers select their ICT providers as well as the roles which have influence while making ICT purchasing decisions.
What is the current market landscape and what is changing?
Manufacturers favour deploying technologies on-site as opposed to hosting. However, preference towards hosted services is slowly gaining traction.
What are the key drivers behind recent market changes?
Manufacturers are slowly increasing the adoption of hosted model as they look to improve their scalability and reduce costs.
What makes this report unique and essential to read?
Kable Market Research Market Research has invested significant resources in order to interview CIOs and IT managers about their IT Procurement. Very few IT analyst houses will have interviewed 160+ ICT decision makers in the manufacturing industry in H2 2012.
Reasons To Buy
The survey reveals that 56% of manufacturers prefer to procure technologies directly from suppliers, followed by through local resellers and national resellers. Kable Market Research believes that local resellers are preferred more than national resellers in large part due to their ease of availability, ability to provide timely support services, and competitive pricing.
In order to respond to global competitive challenges, manufacturers need to devise effective IT strategies. The survey shows that the IT objectives of ‘better demonstrate the value of IT to the business’ and ‘use IT to support revenue growth’ are the most important factors influencing manufacturers’ IT investment strategies, with average ratings of X on a scale of 1 to 4.
Due to the current economic uncertainty, manufacturers have to deal with constrained budgets, which is forcing the need for an optimum utilisation of resources. As a consequence, raising efficiency is considered to be an important business objective amongst manufacturers.
According to Kable Market Research’s survey, manufacturers consider price to be the most important criteria when choosing an ICT provider.
The survey shows that a large proportion of manufacturers believe that their ICT infrastructure is somewhat complex, with several enterprise applications, hardware manufacturers, operating systems, and communications technologies.
Table of Contents
1 Enterprise ICT investment trends
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Survey demographics
1.3 ICT budget changes
1.4 ICT investment priorities
2 ICT procurement trends
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Purchasing channels
2.3 Business objectives influencing IT investment strategy
2.4 IT objectives influencing IT investment strategy
2.5 ICT provider selection
2.6 Influencers
2.7 ICT infrastructure environment complexity
3 Summary
3.1 Manufacturers’ IT investment strategies are mainly focussed on improving efficiency and aligning IT with their overall business goals
4 Appendix
4.1 Definitions
4.2 Further reading
4.3 Contact the authors
List Of Tables
Table 1: Manufacturing – enterprise ICT survey geographic breakdown 5
Table 2: Manufacturing – enterprise ICT survey breakdown by size band (number of employees) 6
Table 3: Recent and expected ICT budget changes among manufacturers 7
Table 4: Current and future investment priorities of manufacturers across core technologies 10
Table 5: Manufacturers' preferred approach to buying technologies 13
Table 6: Business objectives which influence manufacturers' IT investment strategy 14
Table 7: IT objectives which influence manufacturers' IT investment strategy 16
Table 8: Factors influencing manufacturers' decision to choose an ICT provider 17
Table 9: Influence of organizational roles in making ICT purchasing decisions and signing off budgets 20
Table 10: Complexity of the ICT infrastructure within manufacturers 21
List Of Figures
Figure 1: Manufacturing – enterprise ICT survey geographic breakdown 4
Figure 2: Manufacturing – enterprise ICT survey breakdown by size band (number of employees) 6
Figure 3: Recent and expected ICT budget changes among manufacturers 7
Figure 4: Current and future investment priorities of manufacturers across core technologies 9
Figure 5: Manufacturers' preferred approach to buying technologies 12
Figure 6: Business objectives which influence manufacturers' IT investment strategy 14
Figure 7: IT objectives which influence manufacturers' IT investment strategy 15
Figure 8: Factors influencing manufacturers' decision to choose an ICT provider 17
Figure 9: Influence of organizational roles in making ICT purchasing decisions and signing off budgets 19
Figure 10: Complexity of the ICT infrastructure within manufacturers 21
