From manual data uploads to full system integration, and from basic reporting to AI-enabled analytics, technologies can meet customer requirements in every step of their journey. Raj Ravuri, Director, Industry Advisor-Manufacturing, Salesforce India, lays out the trends and how to negotiate the curves in an exclusvie interview with Manufacturing Today.
Here are the excerpts.
Is the manufacturing industry trailing behind in terms of digital transformation? What would be the best approach for companies looking to achieve digital transformation?
While it goes without saying that the pandemic has forever changed the way we work across sectors, the manufacturing industry in particular has undergone a significant shift to digital after years of relying on manual processes and a productive labour force. However, adapting to changing conditions can be especially challenging without the right digital tools or processes. Conventional methods such as referring to historical data for forecasting and collaborating on spreadsheets, are overly manual processes which are contributing to reduced efficiency and overall productivity.
Forward-thinking manufacturers who understand the impact of technology on their business are defining, developing, and rapidly accelerating digitisation to compete on the most important market differentiator – their ability to understand, engage, and earn the trust of their ecosystem. These companies put their partners and customers first.
How is digital transformation changing the face of manufacturing?
Customers today expect the ability to conduct meaningful business transactions online — making purchases on their own time, without having to interact with a sales rep, in conjunction with other, more traditional sales channels – manufacturers need to live up to these expectations.
As buyers demand convenient, self-service buying experiences, manufacturers know they must adapt. In fact, companies are estimated to spend over $2.4 billion on B2B e-commerce platforms over the next four years. The ability to respond quickly to new product applications, demand fulfilment, optimisation of overall inventory, gathering near real-time feedback, and reduced time to revenue from launch date are just some benefits of digitisation in manufacturing.
Manufacturers who embrace digitization are leading the industry into the future, increasing innovation and efficiency across the board. These companies are creating tremendous new opportunities with tools that ensure that sales, marketing, operations, service, and partner networks are all accessing powerful, shared data and insights, to collaborate, in turn increasing efficiency.
What have been the manufacturing industry’s biggest obstacles in recent years? How can Salesforce support the manufacturing industry in overcoming its challenges?
Manufacturers typically run into a few challenges such as, grappling with a maze of legacy systems, disparate point solutions, and data locked within the ERP. In addition, Sales operations, finance, analytics teams, and business leaders don’t have a single source of data, which hinders collaboration between teams and drastically increases the time for decisions to be made. Conventional methods such as referring to historical data for forecasting and collaborating on spreadsheets, are overly manual processes are further reducing efficiency and overall productivity.Â
Today, COVID-19 is changing everything from how manufacturers manage their operations, bring their workforce back to work to how they conduct business with their partners and customers. Manufacturers need to adopt the mindset of a technology company—moving their operations to the cloud, leveraging automation, creating digital experiences for their customers and apply AI for decision making, ultimately setting themselves up for success over the next decade.
Salesforce provides the technical agility needed to unlock back office data and nurture agility and innovation. We also provide the embedded intelligence organisations need to create actionable insights, leveraging AI to make smarter, faster decisions. For instance, Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud is designed from the ground up with endless optionality and expandability. It delivers simple, click-based configuration out of the box, and evolves as your organization adapts and your needs change. From manual data uploads to full system integration, and from basic reporting to AI-enabled analytics, Salesforce can meet customer requirements in every step of their journey.
With solutions such as Salesforce B2B Commerce Cloud, companies can give buyers the B2C experience they demand, while also generating more revenue. The solution simplifies online buying with capabilities for fast reorders, contract pricing, custom catalogues, and more. It also empowers sales teams with automated processes and 360-degree views of the customer for informed decision-making.
Who are some of the manufacturing customers that Salesforce is working with?
We are currently working as key players in the manufacturing sector. For instance, Penna Cements leverages Salesforce Sales Cloud to digitise its sales processes and Service Cloud to consolidate service all service-related requests, queries, and quality complaints on a single platform for complete visibility. Since the adoption of Salesforce, Sales volumes at Penna have shot up 15%, while the number of customers added year-over-year has increased 11%.
Another great example is Pidilite industries. Pidilite leveraged Salesforce Service Cloud to drive new product customer trials and also streamline their influencer marketing by leveraging the Heroku platform. Pidilite has seen 14% increase in tertiary sales since the adoption of Salesforce. Another key area which has significantly improved through the use of Salesforce is the management of new product trials and launch.
Is the manufacturing industry better prepared to deal with the pandemic now? What are the key considerations for the industry currently?
Manufacturers are preparing themselves for a post-pandemic world and agility will be fundamental to how they do business. According to the Salesforce Trends in Manufacturing Report, March, 2021, future-ready manufacturers are 2.2 times more likely to have moved their sales and operations systems to the cloud; and 2.5 times more likely to have fully migrated specific business critical systems like financial planning or demand planning systems.
The manufacturing industry is in a state of flux, and manufacturers are confronted with competition from technologically savvy new players, such as Amazon and Alibaba. These companies are offering similar products and competing services, all focused on the same customer base, creating significant competition for existing manufacturers.
To address these challenges, manufacturers need to alter many aspects of their operation, including how they sell, how they compensate employees, how they run their day-to-day operation, what billing system they use, and more. They must also shift from a product-centric business to a customer-centric business, allowing the customer’s needs to make more informed and strategic decisions.
What are some of the upcoming manufacturing trends that you anticipate?
While the pandemic affected manufacturers’ entire supply chains, supplier and production capacities bore the brunt of the initial impact. Regional supply chain shut-downs created significant disruptions for manufacturers worldwide. Some of the upcoming trends that I look forward in the Manufacturing industry are:
De-risking global supply chains with local backups: The COVID-19 crisis is revealing the vulnerabilities of relying solely on a global supply chain. When disaster strikes in one part of the world, some companies are left stranded without throughput. The pandemic is highlighting a need for companies to mitigate risk by designing a local supply chain alternative when global supply chains are compromised. We predict a renewed focus on minimizing physical supply chain distance and greater partner cooperation
Rebuilding supply chains to navigate new constraints: Companies are exploring the next shoring and localization of services and manufacturing capabilities for resilience.
Manufacturers are shifting from Product-centric to a Customer-centric business transformation: Before, the focus for many manufacturers was on driving operational efficiencies through standardization. But today, the focus is on driving deeper, more meaningful customer engagement across your distributor/dealer ecosystem and end customers through a customer centric approach to deliver personalized solutions, offerings and services.
Manufacturers are reimagining business in the B2B Ecosystem: Manufacturers are considering the launch of Online Commerce Channels for B2B, B2B2C, Direct to Customer(D2C). Marketplaces are playing a key role in bringing disparate buyers and sellers and extended partner networks, influencers together.
What does India’s manufacturing future hold?
Manufacturers who embrace digitization are leading the industry into the future, increasing innovation and efficiency across the board. These companies are creating tremendous new opportunities with tools that ensure that sales, marketing, operations, service, and partner networks are all accessing powerful, shared data and insights, to collaborate on a new level.
The manufacturing sector contributed 17.4 percent of India’s GDP in fiscal year 2020. According to the International Monetary Fund’s latest World Economic Outlook Update, India is the only major economy in the world to rise by double digits in the face of a global pandemic. Even India’s growth rate is expected to be 11.5 percent in 2021, according to the IMF. This shows the potential in the Indian market.
While more future-ready manufacturers report adjusting their business in response to the pandemic, these changes appear to have made them more resilient. Future-ready manufacturers are nearly three times as likely to react rapidly to market disruption. At the same time, future-ready manufacturers are 2.2 times more likely to have moved most of their sales and operations systems to the cloud. Not a single unprepared manufacturer has fully moved its sales and operations to the cloud.