Manufacturing intelligent services

We highlight a trend toward value-added services as a means for medium-sized manufacturers to drive innovation.

When you're a manufacturer on a slim budget, it's not easy to muster up the courage to innovate. When product demand begins to decline, however, innovation becomes a necessity. In an effort to survive organisations are seeking ways to commercialise successful innovations quickly. In some cases, the challenge has led medium-sized manufacturers to pursue a strategy called 'servitisation'. It is no quick journey to success, but research insight lends credence to the idea.

To 'servitise' means to combine value-added services with products that deliver additional capabilities to customers on an ongoing, 'pay as you go' basis. If, like other manufacturing companies, you're eager to pump all your innovative forces into generating income and saving money, then you might want to take note of the term, 'servitisation'. Even if you're not interested in the jargon, it's worth considering its essence: the shift from a focus on product to service.

Fighting failure with transparency

A review of how transparency in 2014 may help address some of the causes of significant failure and incidents of fraud in 2013.

In the Anticipate Change community we dig around in emerging issues relevant to those adopting business intelligence. This post is a summary of some of the lessons learned in 2013, which we hope leads to better decision making in 2014. The focus is on failures and fraud that we noticed around the world, emphasising the need for transparency about those individuals and organisations holding power over the public.

Buy locally, my dear Watson

Investigating the potential of an artificial intelligence that could assist midsized organisations in making smarter purchases locally.

In the pursuit to save money, some of those responsible for procurement and purchasing have hopped on the bandwagon of offshoring and taken advantage of the globalisation of suppliers, neglecting their local economies. Consumers have been making similar choices, turning away from local purchasing toward buying online. What some may deem progress, others experience as draining the life out of their local High Street.

To achieve a mix of local and global, a clearer understanding of product/service's supply chain must be available, both for consumers, and those involved in business. Imagine the day when Watson, the cognitive computer that defeated humans at the quiz show 'Jeopardy' in 2011, develops a heart. Who knows, with IBM's recently announced business unit, The Watson Group, along with its $1 billion initial investment, anything may be possible in the years ahead.