We met with 177 manufacturing executives to understand their top priorities and how they are preparing for and adapting to key trends shaping their organisations. This year, executives are prioritising:
- Advancing AI and data strategies to build more sustainable, efficient and resilient value chains
- Addressing talent shortages by building stronger employer brands, upskilling and fostering better IT-business alignment
- Rethinking operations to focus on supply chain sovereignty through nearshoring and reshoring
- Pushing forward with modernisation efforts to increase efficiency and streamline operations
- Turning ESG performance into a competitive advantage while complying with regulations
Rising economic pressures accelerate AI adoption, identified as the top investment area
+27ppyear-over-year increase in executives citing a high impact of the shift in the world economic order67%indicate difficulty hiring IT talent81%say digitisation has a high impact on business models
- 66%
cite shift in world economic order- 66%
cite climate change- 58%
cite changing political, fiscal and regulatory environments- 52%
cite technology and digital acceleration- 40%
cite changing social demographics
42% of organisations generating expected results from their digitisation strategies—the digital leaders—share common traits that help them deliver superior performance. In manufacturing, digital leaders:
Have an AI strategy for either the entire enterprise or for parts of it
+27pp
vs. others*
Have highly agile business models to adapt to digitisation
+26pp
vs. others*
Have a holistic data strategy extending to the ecosystem
+28pp
vs. others*
* "Digital leaders” are those producing expected results, and “others” are those building or launching their digital strategies.
pp = percentage points
At CGI, we help manufacturing leaders accelerate ROI-led transformation by modernising core platforms, scaling AI, navigating regulations, and embedding sustainability to unlock smart, secure and resilient operations. Learn more about:
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