OREANDA-NEWS. January 12, 2016. “2015 has been a year where embedded technologies enabled manufactured products to be more “informed”; new stakeholders with innovative products and services entered the ecosystem; traditional supply chains have been disrupted through new channel options; and, above all, customers demanded an ever-increasing level of customization, not just in products and services, but also across the entire procurement and product usage experience,” writes Prasad Satyavolu. “It’s time to look at what 2016 holds in store for us around consumerization, connected cars and infotainment, and robotics and automation.” Excerpts:

“Consumers’ buying behavior is changing and today, it’s not just items such as clothes and electronics that are purchased online; often, the process of buying a car starts with online research.

Buyers used to speak to dealers and then make their decision, whereas now, a lot of the background work is happening online before ever reaching the dealership.

For many, the car is now turning into an extension of the home, with drivers’ digital, social and mobile habits?underpinned by technology advances?being integrated into the vehicle.

This trend is set to continue next year with car manufacturers keen to take advantage of monetization opportunities around the connected car, not least by taking demographic tastes and needs into consideration, and applying these to the vehicles.

Automotive and vehicle manufacturers too have increasingly begun to make use of automation and automated processes. As a result, automotive and vehicle manufacturers too have increasingly begun to make use of automation and automated process in a number of situations.

Manufacturers must fully embrace social, mobile, analytics and cloud (SMAC) and sensor technologies to achieve operational excellence, agility, innovation and customer centricity required to remain relevant with customers, business partners and the entire manufacturing ecosystem.”