At the heart of every industrial company lies its physical products. The ability to innovate in engineering, to manufacture efficiently, and to deliver top-notch customer service can spell the difference between success and failure for these companies. The adoption of digital technologies across the physical product lifecycle is a strategy being used by forward-thinking companies to create competitive advantage – and is a real threat to those who are laggards.
A recent PTC survey reveals that most companies have invested at least 5% of their annual revenue on Digital Transformation (DX) projects in 2021. Each of the 500 companies surveyed also reported increased DX spend over the past three years. With the tremendous amount of money being invested, the DX strategies that companies are developing today will impact their ability to compete over the next decade.
But success is far from guaranteed. Of the 1,500 DX projects represented in this study nearly half have failed to show positive ROI. However, that is an improvement over a few years ago, a 2018 McKinsey study suggested less than 30% of digital transformation projects ultimately succeed.
Much has been learned in the years since that study and our research pinpoints some of the broader best practices that help to ensure a successful DX program. Our data represents a myriad of DX pursuits across manufacturing, engineering, and service functions. Despite the differences in goals and challenges across these initiatives, analysis points to three key pillars that are fundamental to success. The pillars are: