The democratisation of technology and the transformation of society that it facilitated are impacting virtually every major industry. In high tech manufacturing, the trends are causing an upheaval. No matter how innovative, flashy, or anticipated a product might be, high tech companies can also get punished in the marketplace if those products don’t measure up to quality. 

The right technology can help high tech manufacturers

Fortunately, advances in information technology (IT) have kept pace with these changes and can help leaders at high tech companies better understand how major trends are impacting their companies and what they can do about it.

For instance, a new generation of collaboration capabilities embedded in traditional enterprise solutions allow a manufacturer’s employees and (when appropriate) a partners’ employees to share information, streamline workflows, and better understand the business context and implications of their actions.

Big Data analytics and cognitive computing (such as data mining, pattern recognition, and natural language simulation that mimic the way the human brain works) are some of the other tools available that can help manufacturers develop effective responses to these external changes.

Adopting a cloud computing strategy can help high tech manufacturers significantly reduce IT capital investment requirements to free up resources to invest in other initiatives that help facilitate business transformation. With a cloud strategy, manufacturers can scale IT infrastructures faster to respond to new business opportunities. These advanced capabilities can be deployed to support a new “as a service” business model. 

To successfully address prevailing industry trends, high tech manufacturing executives need to understand the significant role technology can play in to building synergy between their companies and companies of other industries.

This will likely take a multi-step approach. First, high tech manufacturers need to gain insight into the root causes of the changes taking place in their markets. Manufacturers then need to use this insight to help uncover where there are new opportunities. Only then can manufacturers seek out new partnerships in new industries to better position their companies for the industry’s changing dynamics.

The situation calls for bold actions. High tech manufacturers will likely see increasing opportunities to partner with non-high tech product companies that are attempting to meet their customers’ demands for enhanced technological capabilities. Of course, these high tech companies’ competitors will also be presented with the same opportunities. By investing the time to truly understand the market forces requiring partnerships between the high tech industry and other non-high tech industries, and then using this knowledge to develop a strategic response, manufacturers will be able to turn a challenge into an opportunity.