Beyond the shop floor – IDC report on manufacturing and the cloud

The transition to ‘cloud also’ or ‘cloud first’ is well under way for manufacturers around the globe. The advantages of ERP systems in the cloud are significant as line-of-business (LOB) leaders and their IT organizations increasingly rely on cloud to flexibly deliver IT resources at the cost and speed the business requires. Traditional IT spend is clearly on the decline, and manufacturers must update their cloud road maps to ensure their investments benefit the business. The questions in the interview were posed by Microsoft’s manufacturing team to Robert Parker, group vice president at IDC Manufacturing Insights, and Kimberly Knickle, research vice president at IDC Manufacturing Insights, on behalf of Microsoft’s customers.