Aruba & Forrester study says optimizing operational efficiency is a top business priority

Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, announced the findings of a study it commissioned to evaluate the impact of high-performance networking and security solutions on connected and smart high-tech manufacturing operations.

The study by Forrester Consulting found three in four manufacturers in Asia Pacific prioritizing innovation and automation for greater operational efficiency and resilience over the past 12 months. The study surveyed more than 270 business and IT decision-makers from high-tech manufacturers in Australia, India, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand in the first quarter of 2022.

It found that edge solutions, IoT applications, and networks were essential to driving innovation for 63 percent of respondents, with 61 percent indicating they had optimized manufacturing processes with automation and robots. Meanwhile, 69 percent of respondents said they were either piloting or already using cloud-managed networking and security solutions to benefit from improved flexibility, scalability, and defense capabilities.

The survey indicated 66 percent of respondents seeing a rise in the importance of enabling consistent network operation and remote monitoring, and a similar percentage of respondents saying modern, resilient operations are just as important, followed by 64 percent of respondents indicated their intention to build on previous investments in AI-powered software to optimize operations, implement predictive capabilities, and optimize productivity.

More than half of APAC decision-makers (52 percent) ranked data privacy and security concerns within their top five challenges when implementing networking solutions, while 48 percent said the lack of cybersecurity features in legacy IoT devices is one of their top five challenges. About 18 percent ranked information technology/operational technology (IT/OT) divide as one of their top two networking challenges.

Mark Verbloot, Senior Director, Product, Solutions and Systems Engineering, Asia Pacific Region at Aruba, said, “The turbulence in manufacturing and the supply chain seen in the last two years have underscored the need for manufacturers to accelerate their transition from mass production and economies of scale to prioritizing market and customer responsiveness. We embarked on this study to shed light on the challenges that high-tech manufacturers are facing to better understand their priorities amidst constant unpredictability of market forces.”