{"id":4251146,"date":"2020-11-13T13:06:48","date_gmt":"2020-11-13T11:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deptagency.com\/insight\/accelerating-the-future-of-manufacturing-tnw-panel\/"},"modified":"2020-11-13T13:06:48","modified_gmt":"2020-11-13T11:06:48","slug":"accelerating-the-future-of-manufacturing-tnw-panel","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.deptagency.com\/en-uki\/insight\/accelerating-the-future-of-manufacturing-tnw-panel\/","title":{"rendered":"Accelerating the future of manufacturing: TNW panel"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\n\t<\/svg>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tBack to all articles\t\t<\/span>\n\t\n<\/a>\n\t\tAccelerating the future of manufacturing: TNW panel\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/picture>\n\t\n\t<\/div>
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\n\t\tJonathan Whiteside\t\t
\n\t\tGlobal EVP Technology\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t13 November 2020\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\tDEPT\u00ae recently hosted a Manufacturing panel discussion at\u00a0The Next Web<\/a>, Europe\u2019s largest technology event.\u00a0 Moderator Jonathan Whiteside, DEPT\u00ae\u2019s Principal Consultant, was joined by Kim Walowsky, Hilti Group\u2019s Head of Digital & Brand in Northern Europe, Rachel Hughes, Marketing Director at Wienerberger UK, and Guy Magrath, Former CDO of Electrocomponents. Each panelist offered viewpoints, experiences and opinions on how manufacturing businesses can adapt for recovery and growth in the market\u2019s current climate.\t<\/h2>\n\n\n\t\tWhat are the big trends happening in the manufacturing sector at the moment in regards to the digital impact on the customer experience. Do you think they are temporary or here to stay?\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tGuy Magrath set the scene with stats around the B2B buying journey: \u201c61% of B2B buyers are predominantly doing research and finding products online, this is a 50% increase from three years ago. This has been driven by the millennial audience, which accounts for 30% of the workforce, and buyers being highly aligned to this audience. By 2030, millennials will account for 70% of the workforce. COVID has further accelerated the shift to digital.\u201d\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tMagrath offered his take on aspects to consider when companies shift focus to digital markets: \u201cThe first and most important is ease of use. People are short on time, so the easier it is to use, the more convenient customer loyalty becomes. Make it incredibly friendly and make the journey relevant. Lastly, make it quick. This isn\u2019t just a reference to site spee; offer same day delivery, not next day delivery.\u201d\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tRachel Hughes believes less face-to-face selling and an increased reliance on virtual forums is here to stay. \u201cTime spent visiting customers is almost like a currency; when it\u2019s limited, it\u2019s better spent doing something the customer values, such as helping to understand their issues and solve a problem, rather than arriving with a catalogue of products.\u201d\u00a0 She went on to explain, \u201cin many manufacturing businesses, B2B is playing catch up to B2C and, for us, COVID has seen the welcome acceleration of projects such as customer portals, online account management, and sales enablement tools like ShowPad.\u201d\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tKim Walowsky expanded on Rachel\u2019s comments by adding the details of her own personal experience, \u201cfundamentally, there is no difference between a good customer experience in B2B and B2C, it is just a lot more complex. A good experience is one that is either frictionless or positively memorable.\u201d\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tWalowsky summed up the levels of complexity in B2B in three main points: serving multiple, often interdependent contacts within a business; creating touch-points across various channels within the organisation (online, customer services,\u00a0 direct sales, resellers); keeping up with consumer expectations and providing them with the types of experiences they expect.\u00a0\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tWalowsky advises fellow manufacturers to focus on: understanding the needs of the different stakeholders within your customer origination; creating a way to gain transparency on all the customer touchpoints, and to start working on \u2018hero journeys\u2019 important to your customer contact that would benefit the most from improvements.\u00a0\u00a0\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tHow can Manufacturers explain complex physical products and services remotely?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tWalowsky highlighted that this is a big challenge for the manufacturing sector, especially when selling solutions and non-tangible items. She shared an approach Hilti has taken to tackle this challenge: \u201c We have recently launched #HiltiLive where we use the live streaming functionality on social media to demonstrate our solutions and interact with our customers and prospects.\u201d\u00a0\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tHilti\u2019s solution produced results two-fold, as it both attracted new talent and a new generation of consumers to business. Walowsky cited examples of how this has been achieved, \u201cwe have started using VR to show managers some of the challenges that are being faced on their job sites involving manual record keeping, and what an optimal solution could look like.\u00a0 Many digital natives within our organisations loved using the tool to open conversations, and it also evoked customers\u2019 curiosity.\u201d\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tThe obstacles created by COVID have eliminated the ability for companies to rely on trade shows and face-to-face events which, up until six months ago, were the \u2018go to\u2019 solutions for companies to announce product launches. \u201cVirtual training, product launches, webinars and CPDs over Zoom have forced us to be more creative and entertaining in our delivery. It also needs to be carefully targeted \u2013 customers don\u2019t generally wander by when it\u2019s a virtual event,\u201c said Hughes.\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tFortunately for Wienerberger UK, the use of \u2018fly throughs\u2019 showing 3D architectural building design for its services to housing developers, was not a new concept. When there is a need to show a physical product, Hughes explained, \u201cwe use texture generators and high definition panel imagery to show architects and specifiers the product in a virtual setting. It has its place, and has worked well in the past six months because there was no alternative. However, people still like to touch and feel a product when they\u2019re at the \u2018selection\u2019 stage, but they\u2019re a lot more accepting of a purely virtual experience when fact finding and exploring.\u201d\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tThough this has not been an easy feat, this fast switch to digital has forced many companies to re-examine their processes and quality control of data. \u201cIt\u2019s more critical than ever to have a deeper understanding of the customer\u2019s issues and to remain relevant in that picture. You must be able to sell the benefits of the solution you offer, not just features,\u201d emphasised Hughes. She also added, \u201cthose who are ready with a digital first approach will be the winners.\u201d\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tWhat are your thoughts on Direct-to-Consumer models, and the long term impact this could have on your relationships with your resellers and distribution channel?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tIt\u2019s not hard to imagine that lockdown for Wienerberger UK yielded a tremendous influx of homeowner enquiries and an increase in demand for product samples. Instead of bi-passing their reseller network, Hughes explained, they invested in this area: \u201cWe have a strong reseller network in place through our builder and roofing merchants. They are crucial in the supply chain in that they have strong relationships, trust, have deep expertise in their field, and are good at what they do. Our online \u2018find a stockist\u2019 feature has been enhanced, we are improving our branch incentive model, and where we can no longer rely on PoS and merchandising, we are supporting them through virtual training and technical support \u2013 giving them things they value \u2013 as well as a good quality product range.\u201d\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\t\u201cWhen you have increasingly digital savvy consumers, we recognise that our role is to act as an influencer and there is a lot we can do to raise our profile and deliver engaging and informative content \u2013 warming up the end customer for our distribution network so they know what to look for,\u201d said Hughes in closing.\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tHow can organisations do more with less?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tWith constant pressure from the \u2018top\u2019 to find new ways for digital to enable doing more with less, Rachel Hughes sheds light on how manufacturers can improve efficiencies and reduce costs. With the increase in digital demands and interactions, it only makes sense that automation, machine learning and AI will follow suit, \u201cautomation augments what humans do \u2013 it does not replace them,\u201d said Hughes. \u201cBy using process automation, such as increasing the proportion of digital order entry by removing the manual processing of delivery notes, we allow customer agents to focus on advising and guiding customers, imparting expertise and upselling.\u201d\u00a0 Implementing these concepts means less \u2018grunt work\u2019 for employees, freeing their attention to focus on what really matters: the customer.\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tHughes further put forth, \u201cwe switched hauliers to non-touch collection processes in yards and did bookings and collections digitally rather than paper in triplicate.\u201d These measures equate to much more than monetary savings. Transferring to paperless, forgoes the hassle of not just completing but storing mounds of endless paperwork, with the effortless fluidity of click, swipe, send. It saves both customer and employee time adding to the convenience of the experience. Additionally, going paperless saves natural resources, a bonus for the environmentally conscious company. And what once required countless square footage of file cabinet storage, can now easily fit in a small box in the shape of server storage.\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tWith the forced move to remote working, how can you keep your people motivated?<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tThe current impossibility of gatherings has proven to be a hurdle for employee engagement. Guy Magrath explained that purpose reigns supreme, \u201cnot having the ability to physically bring people together means the company\u2019s purpose plays a key role in engaging employees. If businesses cannot find a way to connect employees with company purpose then there is no reason for the employee to stay. So it would seem the employee experience is just as important as the customer journey.\u201d\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tKim Walowsky commented on Hilti\u2019s approach to retaining staff: \u201cinitially, our focus was on the health and safety of our own teams and supporting and servicing our customers. We then established a solid IT infrastructure, extended online collaboration platforms, trained the team heads on leading teams remotely, and placed an increased focus on mental health. Teams were quite creative, delivering virtual Health & Safety training, online Engineering Consultations and virtual formats to exchange and support each other.\u201d\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tWalowsky further explained how the company focussed on its customers: \u201cfrom a customer service perspective, the focus was on securing our supply chain and finding ways to support our customers through the crisis. We have learned the \u2018art of the possible\u2019 and will definitely look at creating an even more flexible working environment post-COVID and optimise how we deliver our services.\u201d\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tWatch the full panel discussion\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t