Our expectations of products and services have changed. It is no longer enough to simply manufacture and sell a product – digital experience, corporate ethics and sustainability are now key factors in purchasing decisions. Today’s consumer expects a seamless online connection between buying (and using) a product and receiving related services. And they want this to be done in a sustainable way, by a business that aligns with their values and (ideally) ethically sourced materials and recycled products or parts of it at the end of the life-cycle.

It’s a scenario that is re-writing what it means to be a manufacturer. Because of the size and scale of operations and global movement of goods, manufacturers are held to a higher account than other sectors when it comes to delivering against these evolved expectations. Keeping up requires considerable changes to how they do business, which is the focus of this two-part blog series. The first part of which can be found here.

Read on about how we see the world of software impacting and changing the traditionally hardware defined world of manufacturing.