“Manufacturers are in the midst of a digital transformation, in which 3rd platform technologies are absolutely essential to the way they do business and in the products and services they provide to their customers, "said Kimberly Knickle, research director, IDC Manufacturing Insights.
“Consequently, a strategic approach to adopting cloud is absolutely essential," Knickle added. "Because of cloud's tremendous value in making IT resources available to the business based on business terms –speed, cost, and accessibility- manufacturers must ensure that the line of business and IT management work together in defining their requirements.”
According to the report, one of the ways in which cloud will bring significant value to the business is in allowing manufacturers to more easily make use of the data that will be connected from sensors throughout the manufacturing operations with IP-based connectivity and the Internet of Things. Essentially, data from sensors on connected products, on equipment in use in the plant, and on assets and inventory in the supply chain, is most valuable if that data can easily be accessed and analyzed by various organizations within the enterprise or even by partners in the value chain.