Building a strong digital communications platform and digital transformation strategy in manufacturing

The landscape for manufacturers is changing; supply chain disruptions and staff shortages make it increasingly challenging to deliver on both operational excellence and customer expectations.

Long-term digital transformation planning helps build the correct foundation for the future—a future where an increase in IoT and AI initiatives will allow for more business process automation to improve operational efficiencies, drive better decision-making and new business models. It is expected that half of manufacturing organizations will deploy AI and machine learning (ML) technology to assist field sales teams with next-best-action recommendations and guided analytics processes to help deliver valuable insights.

Bridging the top floor, shop floor communications gap

The disconnect between technologies used on the top floor and shop floor is not conducive to achieving customer success in the modern world. It is reported that a third of manufacturers will require a Center of Excellence to apply the digital technology required to streamline demand and supply chains and execute innovation into product and operational processes.

As organizations look to manage the challenges presented to them, the University of Cambridge reported that the growth of R&D expenditure in UK manufacturing has been slower than in other nations, impacting the sector’s contribution to employment and exportation.

In manufacturing, communication that is clear, timely, and meaningful, especially between top floor and hourly workers can impact:

  • Productivity
  • Safety
  • Teamwork
  • Conflict resolution
  • Collaboration
  • Engagement

However, hourly workers who make up 78% of the manufacturing workforce often do not have a company email address or easy access to a computer at work, making it more difficult to engage in timely, ongoing communication and foster a sense of community.

Staff shortages as older workers retire and younger generations are being enticed into more dynamic digital environments also provides a continual challenge. Creating an inclusive environment for shop floor and top floor workers with a digital-first approach will go a long way towards easing this challenge.

With more than 90% of the public now owning a smart device, organizations that do not invest in technology to harness the power of these mobile solutions will lose out on a means of connecting with their employees in an easy, meaningful, work-from-anywhere way to help everyone feel empowered and connected.

Delivering a seamless customer experience

According to Ventana Research, by 2025, one-third of manufacturers will have adopted cloud-based integrated suites for service, sales and marketing, reducing total cost of ownership (TCO) and making it easier to deliver more satisfying customer experiences.

Replacement of legacy on-premise systems with cloud-based technology improves intelligence throughout the entire organization and delivers sustainability advantages, contributing to environmental objectives with savings on CO2 emissions through a reduction in energy usage, hardware needs (build, repair and parts delivery), and travel through remote working.

Imagine if you could streamline demand and supply interactions across the entire organization, connect employees with suppliers, customers, and distribution units to track interactions from order quoting to delivery for a seamless customer experience.

A cloud-based solution from 8x8 connects top floor and shop floor employees on a single platform with tailored user experiences, effortlessly connecting conference rooms, alarm systems, DECT, and Microsoft Teams users to improve overall productivity and enable business leaders to get messages in front of employees, customers and suppliers quickly.

Advanced planning and scheduling

Repetitive tasks can be automated using advanced analytics and AI-powered insights, and team leaders can create and manage workflows in minutes to accommodate unexpected changes, supply chain threats, and staff shortages.

Company-wide cross-platform reporting provides both a holistic and granular view of customer and internal communications that can be used to monitor and improve operational efficiency. Shop floor workers are able to connect with experts across the globe to quickly troubleshoot and solve problems, reduce downtime and increase productivity.

Customers want a consistent experience from all touchpoints of an organization across sales, logistics, payments and more. To deliver this staff need to be trained and receive continual coaching:

  • Call recording and playback has often been used to provide training and conversation clarity
  • Speech analytics with sentiment analysis takes that to a new level, boosting knowledge and efficiency by quickly identifying changes in employee/customer behaviors to deliver timely relevant feedback that can be followed to provide the best customer outcome and improve customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores
  • Automated customer surveys after call completion show your customers you care and provides all important feedback on products and services

Improving operational efficiency with digital transformation

A cloud-based platform offers a safe migration path that ensures business continuity and delivers a level of flexibility not available with on-premise systems. The 8x8 platform integrates unified communications and contact center with intuitive interfaces for users, system administrators, and IT teams. Built-in security and resilience delivers 99.999% uptime, 35+ global data centers, SLAs, and simplifies administration with one governance security and data privacy policy.

8x8 is transforming the future of business communications by integrating voice, video, chat, contact center, and enterprise-class API solutions into one global, secure, reliable cloud communications platform that connects employees, customers and suppliers, to improve operational efficiency wherever they are.

A 12-time Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), 8x8 consolidates UCaaS, Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS), and Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) into a single platform that delivers security and resilience for peace of mind and ease of use to improve employee and customer experiences.

Download our eBook for tips on how manufacturers are connecting their workforces.