Introduction
 
With signs of an upturn in the global economy and hopes for an increase in IT spending, Datamonitor has completed a major end-user survey examining business outlook, and future IT uptake amongst the world's leading 150 manufacturers.
 

 
Scope
 
This report involved a major end-user survey comprised of 150 of the top 300 global manufacturers.
 
The interviewees were typically C-Level execs, CIOs, IT managers and LOB managers.
 
It covered 10 geographies: Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, UK, Canada and the USA.
 
It covered 3 manufacturing sub-sectors: Batch, Process and Discrete.
 
Highlights
 
Batch, discrete and process manufacturers were all confident regarding the business climate over the next 12 months. A relatively large proportion in each of the sub-sectors expected no change, though only a small proportion expected the current situation to worsen. Discrete manufacturers are the most optimistic.
 

 
Throughout 2005, the manufacturing sector at large is intending to focus heavily on ERP and CRM, as well as fulfilment & capacity planning. Optimizing existing investments is also an aim. This suggests that 2005 is an upgrade and consolidation year for a number of manufacturers.
 

 
Reasons to Purchase
 
IT vendors can learn what projects and initiatives end-users are planning over the next 18 months, and which vendors they are planning to approach.
 
The study provides feedback & analysis of end-user sentiment, enabling vendors to keep pace with the market & focus on sub-sectors that matter.
 
The survey results allow vendors to discover and understand the burning issues currently facing manufacturers and enables them to plan accordingly.