Every year, Epicor surveys thousands of global leaders in the manufacturing industry about the key factors that contribute to their business growth, the potential barriers they face and the future technology in which they plan to invest.
This year’s Epicor Global Growth Index revealed that the overall manufacturing growth rate has continued to rise over the previous 12-month period, but at a much slower rate; actually from a 3.7% growth rate, to a marginal 1% rise, mostly due to political and economic uncertainty.
As Epicor’s CEO, Steve Murphy explains “the manufacturing industry plays an integral role in our global economy and people forget that it is responsible for delivering important products we use every day. As such, the health of the manufacturing industry is something we should all be concerned about. While it’s good news to see that growth in this industry is still taking place, we need to keep a close eye on what factors are contributing to this growth and what factors are causing a lag. The information in the Global Growth Index empowers businesses so they can make strategic plans that will best position them for the future.”
The 2019 edition surveyed 2.390 participants and the key insights are:
- Organizations that saw recent improvements to their activities due to IT investment considered it a very high priority for the future (16%) than the ones who did not report any changes to their activities (5%). In specific, Cloud technology (17%), Artificial intelligence and machine learning (17%) and Digital transformation (16%) were placed among the top technologies that are most likely to be strategic investment priorities.
- Cloud infrastructure is considered a significant component in the overall growth strategy by the vast majority (84%) of stakeholders responded. The most popular applications running in the cloud include: warehouse management (31%), finance (28%), big data/analytics (27%), mobile technology (27%) and supply chain management (25%).
- 21% of the respondents stated that not clearly comprehend IT functions, actually prevents them from adopting new technologies in a faster pace. AI/machine learning (29%) and big data (28%) are the 2 functions are identified as the most difficult for people to deal with. In fact, one out of five responders, admitted they felt they did not know enough about the possibilities offered by the cloud.
Additionally, when companies were asked on the key technology trends that are most likely to positive impact their future growth over the next 12-18 months, the top 5 identified were cloud (31%), Big data and analytics (29,5%), AI and machine learning (29%), digital transformation (28%) and IoT (28%). In the table below you can see the differences between businesses who have reported improvements in their activities and those who have not.
Based on these valuable insights, Epicor presents the key technologies that can help businesses stay ahead in a fast-changing world.
By linking technological trends like cloud, Big Data and analytics, Mobility and IoT to a next-generation enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, Epicor delivers a comprehensive set of global functionality— enabling businesses to improve their operational efficiency with real-time access, insights and collaboration, from any remote location, and gain a full 360-degree view of their entire customer, supplier or partner relationships.
For almost 20 years, Athens Technology Center (ATC) has been helping Greek and International manufacturers to increase efficiency and gain competitive advantage providing innovative enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions. In fact, Athens Technology Center (ATC) is Epicor’s Certified Partner and the Exclusive Distributor of Epicor ERP in Greece and Cyprus. Within this framework, ATC has been awarded with 15 certifications for successful deliverables in the areas of supply chain, industrial production, shipping, health, SMEs, insurance and the wider financial sector.
Contact us to learn more about how Epicor ERP, a visionary blend of agile technology and global functionality, can help you optimize your performance, whether you operate on a local, regional, or global scale.
It is not just another ERP – it is ERP done your way.
