The Need for Manufacturing Digitization

The failure of manufacturers to digitize and modernize has a big impact on many areas of their operations. In a recent article for Forbes, author Russ Banham discusses how lack of a digitized infrastructure has detrimental effects both internally and externally.

“Without a modern IT infrastructure, industrial manufacturers struggle to deploy advanced technologies like predictive data analytics, robotic process automation, and machine learning—all tools that would help their finance and accounting teams better assess the impact of those forces confronting their business,” writes Banham. What, exactly, does he mean by the “forces confronting their business?” Banham describes the following manufacturing industry disruptors:

• Geopolitical tensions, especially between the U.S. and China,
• Threats from cybercriminals,
• Rapidly developing new technologies that make more efficient and less labor-intensive operations possible, and
• A variety of constantly developing environmental, social, and governance responsibilities.

Banham explains that digitized systems would allow manufacturing CFOs to make faster and better-informed decisions regarding allocating capital and resources within. Additionally, digitization is a big aid to external auditors, who are integral in assessing the health of an organization. Unintegrated data is difficult to interpret accurately and the lack of digitization makes audit work much more labor-intensive.

Modernizing and digitizing will have a number of benefits for manufacturers, concludes Banham, including improving their operations by allowing them to leverage analytics and helping them make better decisions by enabling audit professionals to better evaluate their health.

For more details, click here to read Banham’s article in full at Forbes.