5 Ways to Advance Digital Transformation in Manufacturing

In the digital age, long-standing manufacturing companies must adopt new technologies to streamline their processes and stay competitive in the market. However, it can be overwhelming for leaders to know where to start or what to do next.

Fortunately, digital transformation doesn’t have to happen all at once. Manufacturing leaders can focus on using current technology in a specific business area, division, location, or function before implementing new technology across the entire business. This gradual approach can yield meaningful digital transformation improvements while minimizing unnecessary disruption to the business.

Regardless of where companies are in their digital transformation journey, Microsoft™ solutions can help leaders achieve their goals.

5 ways manufacturing companies can accelerate digital transformation

Unify business systems

While manufacturing merger and acquisition (M&A) activity was stable in 2023, initial results and forecasts for 2024 indicate a growing transaction market. One disruptive result of most M&A activity is the business functioning with multiple systems and various processes across facilities. Regardless of what causes companies to operate with multiple, disparate systems, not having a unified platform can make it difficult for executives to get an accurate view of business performance, which might force them to make strategic decisions with incomplete data.

The Microsoft Dynamics 365™ platform helps unify business processes in one system. A centralized system creates greater visibility and insight into data, which helps leaders make more informed decisions. A single enterprise platform also allows for faster adoption of standardized processes across locations, business lines, and product groups.

Establish supply chain resilience

Volatility in the manufacturing supply chain remains a consistent challenge in the industry. Evolving regulatory requirements, new competitors, and changing customer demands can disrupt a company’s supply chain. Disruptions can negatively affect customer satisfaction and cause leaders to feel a lack of control over operations.

Increasing supply chain visibility and using tools to automate internal processes and facilitate external communication can help mitigate problems. Microsoft Power Platform™ provides the tools and templates manufacturing leaders need to improve efficiency, create more transparency, and reduce the risk of disruption.

Enhance data-driven decision-making

Most manufacturing leaders turn to insights from their company data to make more strategic business decisions. However, executives often look at reports that simply show numbers and facts, which leaves them to interpret the data and determine what it might mean for their next steps.

Leaders seeking to use data to help inform decision-making need analytics that provide more context and actionable insights. Microsoft Azure™ and Microsoft Power BI™ can standardize data and deliver insightful analytics to help executives make confident business decisions.

Increase customer satisfaction

Customer needs and demands are a high priority for manufacturing companies. Meeting and exceeding customer expectations helps businesses gain a competitive advantage. But without the right tools, customer service teams risk losing important information and customer relationships.

Companies can enhance customer engagement and personalized service with platforms and tools such as Dynamics 365 Sales, Dynamics 365 Customer Insights, and Dynamics 365 Customer Service. Sales and customer service teams gain greater visibility into customer information and requests so they can provide an elevated customer experience. For manufacturing companies, streamlining the end-to-end customer experience can be the difference between breaking into a new market or missing out on the next major opportunity.

Optimize financial performance

When it comes to choosing a new technology, many business leaders fail to consider finance as a crucial function of the system they choose. However, optimized financial tools and strategies can pave the way to digital transformation for manufacturers.

Solutions such as Dynamics 365 Finance bring various enterprise financial data into one unified platform and provide robust analytics, insights, and planning features that can help teams improve financial decision-making and resilience. The platform delivers nearly real-time data into everyday financial tools such as Microsoft Excel™ and Power BI for seamless collaboration and fast and accurate reporting. Additionally, Dynamics 365 offers advanced AI, forecasting, and planning capabilities to help manufacturing businesses stay agile and to proactively detect risks and capitalize on market opportunities.

Accelerate your digital transformation in manufacturing with Crowe

Regardless of your manufacturing company's digital transformation stage, solutions are available to meet you where you are and accelerate your transformation. Our team of specialists at Crowe combines deep industry experience with technological knowledge to help companies like yours overcome challenges. We can help you determine which technology is right for your business and tailor it to meet your unique needs. Reach out today with any questions.

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Tony Barnes

Principal, Microsoft Cloud Solutions Leader

+1 317 208 2532

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