Manufacturers are flocking to cloud services to reap operational benefits

About half of all large manufacturers globally are using or plan to use IT services based on public cloud platform in a bid to driver operational efficiency, an IDC research survey reveals.

A recently published IDC survey which polled 437 IT decision makers at large manufacturing firms globally suggests manufacturers are looking to cloud services primarily to simplify their operations.

A majority of manufacturers worldwide are currently using public (66 per cent) or private cloud (68 per cent) for more than two applications, and nearly 50 per send of European manufacturers have adopted or intend to adopt ERP in the public cloud.

But only 30 to 35 per cent of respondents said operations, supply chain and logistics, sales, or engineering were likely to benefit through adoption.

“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.  Consequently, a strategic approach to adopting cloud is absolutely essential,” said Kimberly Knickle, research director, IDC Manufacturing Insights.

“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,” Knickle said.

The firm said manufacturers are likely to opt for private cloud platforms in the near term in a bid to expand their IT estates to the cloud, but that capacity requirements will likely eventually shift those platforms onto larger public cloud platforms. A big driver for this will be the Internet of Things, with a cloud a key component in allowing manufacturers to more easily make use of the data that will be connected from sensors throughout manufacturing operations.