Part 1: Perfect Storm Reaches Manufacturing Shores

Combined forces of ubiquitous high-speed internet, staggering leaps in personal computing, mounting consumer expectations, mobile apps, globalization of e-commerce, and end-of-life of old legacy enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems set the stage for the perfect storm and long overdue digital transformation of traditional manufacturing businesses.

Forward-looking manufacturers recognize the inevitable need to digitize and, at the same time, see a unique opportunity to measure and optimize all aspects of their business processes. The key to success is to choose the right and cost-effective TechStack and develop new digital capabilities supported by highly effective teams.

Part 2: Effective Digital Transformation Couples ERP and Martech

According to Netsuit, one of the leading ERP system providers for manufacturing, the ERP software market is expected to double its value from pre-COVID 2019’s $39B range to $78B by 2026, and will continue to expand.

Given the fact that an effective ERP solution is the central foundational piece of any successful digital transformation, the ongoing ERP market expansion forecast makes perfect sense and may even be a bit conservative.

The cost of an ERP implementation, or upgrade, typically represents the largest line on any digital transformation project. However, the right fit and coupling of all the other MarTech stack components like data lake (DL), customer relationship management (CRM), e-commerce platform, customer data platform, personalization platform, and marketing automation platform will ultimately determine the economic success or failure of that large investment.

Part 3: Right Fit Martech is Not Generic Martech

External market pressure and internal temptations to accelerate the digital transformation from ineffective and inflexible legacy systems to optimized Martech solutions represent usually a dangerous combination. The sophisticated sales team from large software vendors are fully aware of these dynamics and can be dazzling, persuasive, and seemingly offer obvious allencompassing solutions.

"Given the fact that an effective ERP solution is the central foundational piece of any successful digital transformation, the ongoing ERP market expansion forecast makes perfect sense and may even be a bit conservative"

Sales teams will typically promise that “their unique generic platform” that combines multiple “complex digital solutions” will streamline your specific digital transformation case. Beware; this is an obvious complexity paradox trap. Selling a combination of complex tools makes the resulting solution more complex, not less.

Part 4: Digital Marketing, Transformation Strategy & Commercial Excellence

Digital Marketing, when founded on a well-defined digital transformation strategy and closely integrated into a commercial excellence organization can deliver and support critical connectivity between outside sales (OS), customer service & support (CSS), customer experience (CX), product marketing (PM), product information management (PIM), brand marketing (BM) and information technology (IT) departments.

As Vickie Callahan, SVP of Revenue Generation at Peachtree Hospitality Management, points out in her article about the position and fit of the digital marketing department in the hospitality management industry, the scope of digital marketing is evolving and can vary in different industries and organizations.

Business growth acceleration is the ultimate success of any digital transformation, and growth acceleration always depends on an effective integration between ERP and an optimized Martech stack. Therefore digital marketing is uniquely positioned to facilitate this integration, to construct digital data bridges between various departments, and become a catalyst of cross-departmental collaboration and data flows.