IDC: Manufacturing sector prime target for IT vendors
As competition mounts in the manufacturing sector, many manufacturers in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan) are looking to improve their business processes. According to IDC-subsidiary Manufacturing Insights, this translates into opportunities for IT solutions providers.
The research firm polled 1,616 companies, with more than 100 employees, in different manufacturing vertical markets across eight countries: Australia, China, India, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.
These organizations will be aiming to improve the quality of products and processes, managing their inventory more effectively, and enhancing labor productivity, according to Manufacturing Insights.
To help them achieve their goals, one-third of the companies surveyed will be increasing their IT budgets from 2005 to 2006 in spite of the ongoing tough economic and business environments, said Ng Buck-Seng, the research firm's Asia-Pacific associate director of manufacturing research.
Manufacturers will be looking to invest in the areas of supply chain, customer chain and product development chain management to optimize their business processes, representing "good opportunities" for systems integrators and IT solutions providers, Ng noted.
"Top IT investment projects for the coming year will be those that help companies to manage inventory more effectively, improve demand forecasting, and reduce manufacturing and total supply chain costs," he said.
The survey also found that 93 percent of respondents considered quality and reliability as key attributes of IT vendors when purchasing IT products or services. "By tying their value propositions with strategic business objectives of Asia-Pacific manufacturers, IT vendors have the chance to really add value where it matters," Ng said.
Looking forward, Manufacturing Insights anticipates growth in manufacturers' external IT spending to come from investments in the areas of disaster recovery, Web services, application consolidation and standardization, and server consolidation and standardization.