As the pages of the calendar flipped on January 1, you were likely inundated with suggestions for how 2025 could bring with it a better you. Whether you are being encouraged to lose weight, read more books or eat a green vegetable once in a while, the new year is often viewed through the lens of everything you’re doing wrong.
In a vacuum, this idea alone would obviously spur positive change to set a brand new course.
But in reality, clean slates are ambitious … and tough to achieve.
Likewise, in your business, moving to 2025 doesn’t magically erase the challenges of the year prior – some of which have been quite stubborn, like labor gaps, higher inflation and slower growth. Because of this, turning the page isn’t quite as easy as we’d like it to be.
In early January, we ran an article on our sister site, Manufacturing.net, that was authored by Bob Buechel, a solution architect and enterprise sales executive at technology-oriented business services firm Sikich. What struck me first was the title: “What’s Holding Manufacturers Back from Investing in Technology?” – a timely topic and difficult to distill into a few points.
Buechel addresses this question in an insightful way. While there are clear advantages for manufacturers who incorporate leading-edge technology solutions, notable barriers exist. He details a few of the major challenges:
- Cybersecurity: According to a survey issued jointly by Sikich and ManufacturingDive, more than a third of executives see cyber threats as “significant” barriers, despite their heavy reliance on legacy systems that are rife with vulnerabilities.
- Lack of a cohesive IT strategy: “For digital transformation to succeed, manufacturers must develop a comprehensive strategy so that all systems align and work toward the same goals,” wrote Buechel, though the survey revealed that nearly half lack this type of framework.
- Interoperability: 47% of survey respondents said they struggle to integrate new systems with existing technologies, which serves as an impediment to progress.
The author goes on to describe ways in which manufacturers can look beyond what’s in their way and bridge the gap in order to make use of the advancing technologies that are waiting in the wings, ready to help better these businesses. In closing, his statement is a clear directive to the industry: “It’s time to move forward.”
Buechel’s points are well made, but I think they also warrant a larger conversation around macro issues that portend further potential sluggishness – at least in the near term.
In an article published just before Christmas, Market Watch reporter Jeffry Bartash bluntly stated his opinion that the two-year slump for the U.S. manufacturing industry showed “little sign of ending” and that businesses were, generally, taking a “wait-and-see attitude.”
Notably, the Manufacturing ISM Report On Business, issued by the Institute for Supply Management, contends that the manufacturing sector contracted in December for the ninth consecutive month and the 25th time in the last 26 months.
So manufacturers are certainly being held back by tech-specific fears, but there’s more to this scenario – surely, they’re being held back in general, in ways that impact technology investments but many other potential growth objectives, as well. And there’s likely more to come as the new administration brings questions as to whether relevant campaign promises (changes to taxation or tariffs, for example) are immediate priorities, or even priorities at all.
It certainly doesn’t feel like we’re getting a clean slate … but do we ever?
In the same way Buechel closed his article, so will I close mine: it’s time to move forward. How exactly that takes shape is up to each individual business, but even a wait-and-see approach shouldn’t stop us from making progress.
One opportunity for a little low stakes exploration is to get out in the market. For some, that means onsite client calls in order to assess how you can nurture and grow customer relationships or enhance problem-solving efforts. For others, it could be as simple as attending an industry trade show to take a peek at new technology in action, pose questions and talk to your peers. And as the year goes on, perhaps you gain the confidence to try to tackle some of the low-hanging fruit on your technology to-do list.
No matter how little you risk as you start the year, it need not be a silent – or solo – effort. Wait-and-see should be a stage of information-gathering; of collaboration with your suppliers, customers and solutions providers that could impact the way you move forward once the waiting is done.