We’ve seen a major change in attitudes towards the cloud in the manufacturing industry over recent years. When the world went into lockdown in 2020, urgent and unanticipated pressures around social distancing, factory closures and supply-chain bottlenecks caught everyone by surprise. Customers using Plex, which is 100% cloud-native, had a huge advantage in maintaining IT operations.
Now, more than two years later, the value and necessity of a cloud-first approach is more broadly accepted among manufacturing decision makers. Plex’s recent State of Smart Manufacturing Report (SSMR) showed that smart manufacturing adoption has grown by 50% over the past year, and more than 83% of respondents believe smart manufacturing is key to their organization’s future success. Of the executives surveyed, 39% said the adoption of cloud technology was the biggest target for their smart manufacturing investment.
As leaders seek the flexibility that can help them navigate an uncertain economic environment and pursue the innovation that will differentiate their business in the new economy, the pace of adoption in cloud technology will only continue to accelerate.