Highlights from Salesforce’s Global Trends in Manufacturing Report – Insights from 750 global manufacturers worldwide.
As one of the world’s leading software companies, Salesforce produces comprehensive research reports with deep insights into various sectors. This blog post takes a quick look at their latest “Trends in Manufacturing” report and draws out some notable highlights from the global manufacturing sector. Salesforce published the on 22nd March 2021.
No-one could have predicted what happened in 2020… Even the top manufacturers could not have forecast and planned for the destabilising force that was the pandemic. It exposed weaknesses along the value chain but also highlighted opportunities to accelerate change.
In response, manufacturers had to quickly evolve their demand planning, whilst gaining a deeper insight into their customer needs whilst simultaneously developing their sales and operations planning processes. It’s not all bad though… The shift has afforded businesses with a step-change to how they conduct their business with over half of the survey respondents saying the changes to customer-facing roles are here to stay.
So, how did they do it?
Salesforce analysed two groups: manufacturers who felt prepared for the decade ahead (Future-Ready) and those who did not (Unprepared). Although Future-Ready manufacturers weren’t immune to COVID-19’s disruptions, they were more resilient.
The study revealed that Future-Ready manufacturers were more prepared for the disruption due to their investment in digital transformation – from establishing more agile and digitised sales and operations to adopting a “service as a revenue centre” mindset.
Key Highlights from the Survey:
- 57% of manufacturers say the changes to sales capabilities are permanent
- 56% of manufacturers say the changes to customer service capabilities are permanent
- 81% say they need both New Approaches & New Tools for accurate forecasting
- 5X as many Future-Ready manufacturers are able to react rapidly to market changes vs. Unprepared manufacturers
- 36% of Future-Ready manufacturers feel very prepared for the next 10 years vs. 9% of Unprepared manufacturers
- 55% of Prepared manufacturers feel adequately prepared for the next 10 years
- COVID-19 becomes the catalyst for change with 95% of manufacturers expecting some changes to be permanent
- 76% agree that “traditional forecasting has gone out of the window”
Read the Executive Summary of the Report here.
Download the Full Report PDF here.
Feel free to talk to us about how BlueSky can assist your business with a digital transformation strategy that provides more accurate demand forecasting, business resilience and competitive advantage.
