Good morning and welcome. I'm Brent Donaldson, Editor-in-Chief for Modern Machine Shop. Today's webinar, brought to you by SYSPRO, will explore key trends driving digital transformation in 2025. As the digital landscape evolves at lightning speed, SYSPRO Americas and Sam Gupta of Elevate IQ put together today's presentation for business leaders, IT professionals, and decision makers across industries looking to prepare for the future. Whether you're modernizing operations or staying ahead of industry disruptions, these trends will help shape your strategy for 2025 and beyond. In today's webinar, we'll dive into AI and automation, geopolitical shifts in cybersecurity risks, collaboration and data integration, as well as sustainability and energy efficiency. Today's presenters are Sam Gupta, a principal consultant at Elevate IQ, who brings more than 20 years to the world. 20 years of experience in enterprise software and ERP implementations, as well as Leah Evangelista, Director of Demand Generation and Marketing Technologies at SYSPRO and an expert in generating high-quality leads and positioning B2B organizations for fast growth and success. Please note that if you have questions at any time during the presentation, you can type them into the Q&A at the top right of your screen, and we'll do our best to answer them at the end. Also note that this webinar is being recorded, and you will receive a link to that recording via email after we're finished. With that, Leah, take it away. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Welcome, everyone, to our webinar on the future of manufacturing, top digital transformation trends for 2025. Like was mentioned, I'm Leah Evangelista. I'm Director of Demand Genet Sys Pro Americas, and I'm excited to be your host today. This session will be an interactive interview -style discussion with our industry expert, Sam Gupta here, who will share his insights on the trends shaping the future of manufacturing. We'll do this interactive interview-style discussion. We'll also have polls to get a pause on your 2025 manufacturing priorities and challenges. So stay engaged with us and let us know your thoughts. So today, we'll explore our key trends for 2025 strategies to prepare for these challenges. So let's dive right in. So here's what we'll cover today, right? We'll go through top digital transformation trends, some strategies to prepare for these changes with the right systems in place, and some actionable takeaways to help your business thrive in 2025. So Sam, great to have you here. Good to be with you, Leah. Thank you so much for having me. Of course. So let's kick things off with a big-picture question here. So again, for those of you who may not know, Sam has worked with countless manufacturers, and he's got some expertise there in turning technology into real results and solving some of the toughest challenges in the industry. So my question for you, Sam, is what excites you the most about where digital transformation is heading in 2025? Yeah. So this is a very interesting time, Leah, and I'll give you a slightly broader view, I guess. You know, heading into 2025, especially since last three, four years, have been slightly on a slower side in my mind. I don't know if the manufacturers are going to share this feeling or not, but still, we had the after effects of pandemic. So now going into 2025, because of the new administration changes, overall, this is probably going to be slightly friendlier for the businesses as well as for the economy. So those two trends that are building a lot of excitement, I would say, getting into 2025 from the business perspective. And then second is probably going to be artificial intelligence. That's always a big topic, at least in the last couple of months. So we have a lot to share there. So I think that's what excites right now. Awesome. This is a really great way to kind of start it off with, right? So, you know, before we dive into these specific trends, really like that point, Sam, would actually love to hear from our audience as well. So what we'll do right now is we'll actually kick things off with a quick poll to also understand the priorities for manufacturers. So let's go start that poll right now. But basically, let's see where this goes. Perfect. So the question is, what stop of mind for you as a manufacturer navigating digital transformation in 2025? Is it like what Sam mentioned, AI and automation? Is it managing costs? Or is it achieving sustainability goals? Or real time insights or even regulatory compliance? So let's go through that poll. Want to get everyone's thoughts as well to see if that resonates in terms of what your priorities are for 2025. Yeah, and type in close to batch Hey, Akron, level of view extreme. Oh, let's get your engineering benefits from your customers. Okay, so let's see. The top of the list here is enhancing data integration and real-time insight. That's really interesting. AI is still, you know, top of the pack there. I would say second, but I would say those two are top of mind for manufacturers. Awesome. So it's really great to kind of get your thoughts there. Oh, never mind. Looks like AI is coming in their HUD as number one there, right? That actually kind of very much in line with what you're talking about as well, Sam. Of course. Awesome. So with that said, right, since we're talking about AI, and I appreciate everyone's responses there as well. The first trend we're actually going to be talking about is AI and specifically AI augmented agents and AI governance platforms there. As we all know, AI is clearly paving the way for smarter manufacturing, but it's not only the shift that's shaping the industry there as well. So Sam, maybe talk a little bit about why you think AI is becoming such a critical factor for manufacturers and how can SMBs leverage it to stay competitive in 2025? Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, happy to touch on that. And I would like to touch a little bit on the pole as well, you know, and I can see why there would be a little bit of resistance, I guess, you know, for AI. And the reason for that is because the phase where we are in overall from the artificial intelligence perspective, it's going to take some time, especially for SMBs. And I don't know how many SMB manufacturers we have in the room versus the enterprise. So overall in the SMB sector, it's going to take some time, maybe, you know, six months, eight months before we really understand the value of AI and what AI is going to bring to the table. Right now, if you look at more from the lenses of AI agents, you know, some of the use cases, and I would love to talk about those. So the major use cases that we are going to see, and I don't think a lot of companies have really seen a tangible use case right now. And that's why we are going to have a little bit of skepticism overall, you know, from the AI perspective. But the use cases are going to be number one, the customer service, okay. And again, we, I don't think a lot of companies have rolled out. And maybe Leah, you can share where SysPro is, I guess, you know, how much R&D investment you guys are doing in any of the AI agents, and if any of the use cases you are working on. But for the most part, where we are going to see these agents, number one is going to be the customer experience, customer service use cases, for manufacturers, one of the highest priority right now. And I don't know if that changed or not, but at least in 2023, it was all about recruiting. And we are going to see, we are seeing tangible use cases in recruiting. Recruiting is no longer boring, at least in the enterprise space. They have deployed some of these agents and candidates themselves, generally they complain that, you know what, recruiting is boring, okay, I don't like to interact with any of the recruiting models. And now they are the ones who are claiming that, no, no, no, no, no, this is fun, because these agents are smart, and they are able to interact, you know. So that's where I guess the AI agent adoption is going to be. The third use case for manufacturers is going to be more from the edge perspective. And we don't know at this point of time whether these use cases are going to be deployed more from the MES perspective or from the ERP perspective. But now the industry 4.0, the whole use cases of edge devices is going to be far more prominent, where these agents can gather the data, maybe update in the ERP system. So there's a lot more automation that is going to be possible. But obviously, for that, what we need to do is, you need to have your integrated data, you need to have your integrated processes, you need to have infrastructure in place. Otherwise, this might not be as effective as, you know, what you would like. So I'll stop there, Leah, I'm pretty sure you're going to have some follow ups there. Yeah, it's great, right? It's preparation, which we'll touch on a little bit more later on. Those are really key in getting these deployments, AI deployments within the organization. And as we all know, AI is clearly paving the way for the customer manufacturing there. But also a really interesting topic here. And AI is not only the shift that's shaping the industry as well. So we're actually going to get into another trend for 2025. We're seeing is consolidation and growth through mergers and acquisitions. So we'll talk a little bit about that. And we're seeing some M&A activity surging, signaling both some strategic growth and consolidation within manufacturing sector. And, you know, see that it creates both an opportunity for business to scale. But it also comes with some challenges, especially with integrating systems and aligning operations there. So Sam, you know, talk a little bit more more about this as manufacturers navigate this wave of M&A activity, what should they prioritize to stay ahead in 2025? Yeah, so this is going to be a very interesting trend as well. And there are many layers to it. And they are going to have different impact on what manufacturers need to be thinking about. So overall, if you look at, you know, 2023, previous administration, they were not as friendly for the large size deals. So they are probably going to get through get through with the new administration. So that is going to be sort of the macro changes overall in the market. Now this can impact in two or three different ways. Number one, for manufacturers, let's say they might be doing any sort of value chain integration. So because of that, their processes are going to change, they might be thinking about, okay, if they're going to have the existing ERP, how that is going to work with the new sort of business model or new sort of business processes that they are going to have. The other layer that you have related to this trend is going to be more of the enterprise software consolidation. So we are going to see a lot more there as well. Let's say if you have been using a SaaS app, obviously they were cool to begin with, right? Or maybe you were working with a very small ERP provider, but then they might get merged with a private equity. And sometimes there are challenges because of that as well. You know, overall in terms of the kind of support that you are going to be receiving, or if they have been merged more as a feature, so some of that could be decommissioned. So you need to be thinking about all of that. So this is all going to impact, number one, your processes, number two, any sort of software that you might be using at this point of time, you might have impact because of that as well. Yeah. It's very interesting point there. So maybe talk a little bit more about how can, you know, these enterprise systems play a role in making these transitions, I would say a bit smoother. Yeah. So obviously, if you look at the larger systems, Leah, and, you know, you have been in this space for a long time as well, and you know how they grew. And sometimes there is a little misunderstanding overall of what an ERP is. In general, I mean, they all started with very tiny feature, but then they obviously grew as the large consolidated system in handling the enterprise-wide business processes. So today, you might feel that you have a very tiny system, or, you know, a feature that you might be using as a SaaS app, which might feel easier, but they all are going to be merged with the larger providers, larger systems. So, you know, if you bought a consolidated system, obviously, that's going to be much, you know, easier overall from the transition perspective, at least when these transitions are going to have a lot of different things. happen in the market, you don't have to worry about that. So that is just something to keep in mind. If you're using a lot of different apps, you need to look at their financial stability, whichever provider that you are using at this point of time, you know, where they stand in the market, what is going to be their journey, you know, overall from the company lifecycle perspective. So these are all of the technical financial risks that you should be assessing when you look at your own enterprise architecture, as well as enterprise processes. Yeah, that's great. You know, as much as kind of going back to the M&A, right? As much as M&A activity often brings operational complexity. It's, it's really getting these organizations to really take a look at their operations and really take a look at, you know, what are some of the things that are some of the gaps and what needs to be operationalized and optimized as a whole to be, you know, more successful in 2025. So we're going to shift gears a little bit, right? So we talked about M&A activity as a, as a trend. You know, often brings operational complexity like what I mentioned, but it actually makes supply chain or sales even more critical in 2025. So the next trend we'll be talking about is one of the biggest pain points, I would say for manufacturers today, which is supply chain and cybersecurity disruptions. talks a little bit about talks a little bit about the fragility of the supply chains and the increasing impact of cybersecurity threats, which have seen some, some instances this year on that end, right? It could be, you know, also from delayed shipments to compromised data. These challenges really highlight the need for resilience and proactive planning for organizations. So, so maybe, you know, can you share maybe a real world example of how manufacturers have been impacted by these disruptions? And really, in that case, you know, what steps they can take to safeguard their operations? Yeah, happy to. And I guess, you know, let's look at the geopolitical situation first in terms of where we are and how manufacturers are thinking at this point of time. And that's probably going to be a kind of example, you know, that everybody needs to be thinking about. Because if you look at the geopolitics at this point of time, there's a possibility that all of the active wars that we have right now, they might stop. But they might also continue, right? So there is a little bit of uncertainty heading into 2025. And there are developing tensions. For example, yesterday's news, I don't know whether you guys have heard or not in Korean Peninsula. And, you know, that's a developing situation at this point of time, we don't know how that is going to go. And there are going to be further developing situation across the geopolitical spectrum. Now, that drives your supply chain, because whatever sources of supply you are going to have, you know, not only because of this, but also because of any of the tariff threats that you are going to have in the market, okay, how are you going to plan for that? So each of the manufacturer right now, whether you are going to be this side of the border, it doesn't matter, right? You know, you still need to worry about, okay, where you are going to get all of that supply, and how you are going to be planning. And now, if you are going to be on any of the disconnected data sets, then it's going to be much harder for you to be able to view all of these risks and plan accordingly. So that's number one. Number two is going back to the whole AI, you know, trend, and how that is going to impact the cybersecurity. So traditionally speaking, you know, as the small manufacturer, you probably didn't have to worry about cybersecurity as much. And the reason for that is the majority of the, let's say, if you look at hackers, the way they operated is, you know, they always wanted to target the bigger houses, they didn't have enough incentive to be able to target the smaller houses. And the reason for that is because there is not enough money for them. But now with AI, you have access to AI, but these hackers also have access to AI. So they are going to be as capable as you are going to be. So now for them, targeting these smaller organizations is going to become much easier. So the threats that you did not have, let's say yesterday, they are probably going to become real, you know, tomorrow. And we have seen, for example, instances such as, you know, CrowdStrike was one of the examples where we have seen that software supply chain caused the real world risks that were not known to us before. But now we are realizing that the software supply chains could be equally well-enabled as well. So you need to be thinking about that as well. So I don't know. Leah, that answers your question. Yeah, it does. Lots to think about there, right? And preparation is key. And in that sense, right? So when talking about safeguarding their operations with all of these disruptions, having the right systems in place and having the right folks to work with, to actually give you some guidance on how to make sure that these systems in place are being managed properly is really a key thing, right? Yep. Yeah. So lots to talk about there. So we'll pause a little bit. You know, again, it's a really, you know, really great example there in terms of just some of the fragility that's happening within the space. And I'm curious, since we're talking about systems, systems. So we'll get to do another poll there as well. So wanted to get everyone's thoughts in terms of challenges with their systems. So we can actually get the next poll up as well. And basically, the next question that we have in our poll is, as a manufacturer, what do you think is the biggest challenges, the challenge your organization is facing with your current system, right? What all the disruptions that we talked about, cybersecurity, supply chain disruptions, et cetera. Is, you know, are you outgrowing it? Are you struggling with some inefficiencies? Are you finding it difficult to scale? Or maybe ultimately, you're happy with your current setup? So Sam and I would like to know your thoughts on that and kind of see where you stand there in terms of prioritization in 2025. Just because their systems are not going to be able to do the kind of job that they would like. So it's always mixed response in my personal experience. Interesting. Yeah, we're seeing some of the responses come in as well. And number one on the list is kind of very much in the same wavelength as the previous poll. So the challenge is still having a hard time getting real-time data to make quick decisions. That's quite interesting, right? Yep. Looks like that is top of mind there. So appreciate everyone's input. So we'll obviously take those notes as well. And again, in both polls that we've done, it seems like there's some kind of a trend there, right? Not having visibility in terms of making quick decisions and making sure that you have the data in place to do that. Awesome. So with that said, we'll actually get to the next trend here. So what's interesting here is, you know, we talked about some of the changes, fragility and supply chain markets. And as we see from the responses here, challenges with systems are still recurring themes now and in 2025. Which also brings us to our next trend, which is digital transformation failures and what's causing them. As you know, Sam, digital transformation isn't always a smooth journey. We've heard that many, many times. And many manufacturers do face those hurdles that highlight the importance of having robust systems and clear strategies. So Sam, you know, question here, why do you think digital transformation failures still persist? Why is it still happening? Yeah. And it's always interesting to be completely honest. And for the most part, I guess it's going to be just because of the maturity of the processes. You know, I always talk about this, that, you know, the software that you're using, it's a kind of model. It relies on your inputs and outputs. And the inputs are going to be your processes as well as data. If your processes and data, they are not going to be streamlined. For the most part, you are going to have challenges. Yes, you might feel that you are probably happy with systems, but you will have challenges. So I'm actually going to steal. I know that you like stories and examples, you know, Leah. I'm going to steal example right from here, because if you analyze this poll, you know, right here that people are saying, you know what, systems are fine. There is no problem at all. But we have challenges integrating. So now I'm going to tell you that if your systems were fine, you should not have any problems integrating. Why do you have problems integrating newer technologies? If the state was defined of every single system, So the reality is that the process state is going to be all over the place. The data state is going to be all over the place. And because of that, you generally have challenges in integrating or getting the consistent view or consistent insight from the systems. And now with this trend, the trend that we are talking about here, with the overarching consolidation that we were talking about, all of the categories that we are going to have in the market, whether you talk about ERP, MES, any of the, you know, engineering suites, they are going to be your CAD, PLM, you know, all of these are going to become bloated, meaning they are acquiring a lot more capabilities from their perspective. Obviously, they are struggling for revenue as well. So they are going to bloat these suites as much as possible. So for you, when you are going into the cloud, in on-prem, it was much easier because the only thing you were buying was code. You were not necessarily buying other things, right? But now the control is sort of shifted back to the vendor. So you are not going to have as much control, you know, with these workloads. So now you need to tailor your processes as well as data to these systems. And now as we get more consolidation, either from the business process perspective, from the value chain perspective, or from the enterprise software perspective, these failures are going to be more common because the system or the state of the system has become far more constrained. And it requires a lot more expertise to be able to do this. So you are going to have challenges in getting data, more challenges. And that's where you are going to require a lot more process clarity, a lot more system clarity, and alignment of, you know, everything inside the organization. Yeah, it's all about clarity all across the board, right? Yep. Yeah, it's really interesting. So with that said, you know, as we want to avoid failure as much as we can, right? So that's one thing. But another trend here, I'm going to kind of move to a different one as well. But, you know, managing costs effectively is also another key aspect of a successful digital transformation, right? So transitioning from that to another trend, which is cloud and SaaS expense reduction 2025. So this trend specifically focuses on managing SaaS expenses and leveraging cloud solutions. And you've talked about this, you know, throughout this webinar. decentralized software procurement often leads to some hidden costs there, right? That you may not be seeing. And it's really imperative to have some visibility on this and obviously optimizing our processes more than ever. So Sam, can you maybe talk a little bit more about this trend and why this should be top of mind for manufacturers in 2025? Yeah, so this is a very interesting trend as well. And overall, this is going to be a kind of financial risk that you might be sitting on that you might not know at this point of time. In general, as you know, you know, when you talk to anybody, I guess, in the market, they are probably going to have slightly reserved, you know, feelings about ERP, that ERPs might be slightly harder to use or whatever, right? Generally, that's the feeling that they have. And in general, the counter for that is going to be that, hey, we have a lot of modern applications, let's buy them. Okay, some of the examples could be, I have seen crazy scenarios. For example, you know, usage of a smart sheet, monday.com, you know, all of these platforms are relatively easier. Obviously, we have seen scenarios such as, you know, modeling your processes, you talk about estimation, etc. You know, sometimes people are simply creating all of the ERP processes inside these systems. So it's just overstretching their boundaries, they were not meant for that. Now, let's say if you are, could be doing that, just because, you know, ERP was sort of the back end system, you never sort of implemented right, and you sort of hijacked the processes, and you are using, all of these SaaS systems. The trend that we are monitoring in the market at this point of time is all of these SaaS applications, they are trying to figure out, okay, how they can maximize their revenue, how they can maximize the price. For example, let's say if you look at a smart sheet, okay, they changed their pricing overnight, and initially, the collaboration was free, meaning any of the external users that you are going to have, they were sort of free, but now they have become paid. So for a lot of companies, if you are on those applications, your pricing might increase, I don't know, maybe 2x, 3x, and initially you bought because, you know, it was probably $10 per month per user. But now you have received a really, you know, huge bill that you did not forecast. So this is what you need to be thinking about, okay, how the state of the enterprise software may change. Sometimes you might buy an application, but you don't know how intertwined that is going to be, how disruptive that is going to be, how easy it is going to be for you to be able to remove from your enterprise architecture once you implement that. And if they change the pricing, then you would have no choice but to face that bill. And it might be harder, I guess. So that's the trend. Yeah, great stuff there, Sam. Again, the trend, annual audits, not just nice to have, it's a must have. It's something that needs to be done there, right? Yep. You know, in order to obviously make sure that you're seeing where all of these expenses are going and make sure you're optimizing your process as well. So we're going to switch gears here in a little bit and actually kind of going back to some of the things that you had talked about previously, right? We talked about cybersecurity and we're going to switch back to the geopolitical impact on some of the business processes there. So this is a topic that's been on everyone's radar. So we're just going to put it there, right? Things like, you know, we talked about some trade agreements, tariffs and new regulations. They're really shaken up how manufacturers do business now and in 2025. So, you know, as you've talked about, these changes mean that companies have to rethink the way they move money, right? They manage their supply chains and really stay compliant there. So I know you touched on this a little bit, but I kind of want to focus on this a little bit more. So how are these global changes really affecting manufacturers and more so what can, these businesses do to keep up really, and stay flexible and nimble in 2025? Yeah, so definitely I'll give some more colors here. You know, there are many, many, many layers to these trends, right? So one of the layers that are going to be around the geopolitical shift overall is going to be the control of the monetary flow, currency flow, you know, tariffs are sort of part of that. And then finally, you are also going to get some more layers because of AI. And we have already seen that, you know, because of AI, because obviously this has become more of the national security issue at this point of time for most governments. So they need to implement the processes, they need to make regulatory changes in terms of how that is going to be impacted. And one of the key trends that you are going to see is overall reporting, overall, you know, how AI technologies are going to be used and consumed. Right now, governments are really flexible at this point of time. They have not announced if companies need to report that. And we don't know how the consumers are going to be impacted. So one of the changes that you should be expecting is, let's say if you're utilizing any sort of software, and if they utilize any AI agents, okay, there is a possibility that the government might mandate to report any touches that your AI agents might be doing, because again, you know, they need to monitor how the data is being consumed at any of the external agencies are going to be accessing your data, you know, and the country related data, I guess, so there is a possibility that these changes might be in effect, and you need to prepare for that. Now, if you are going to be on old systems, you know, sometimes it might be easier, but let's say if you are mandated these requirements overnight, then you don't know how you are going to be able to do that, you know, and that might be harder for you guys. So that is something to keep in mind, I guess, you know, in terms of how that is going to be impacted, sometimes you are going to buy the software, you probably need to look at, okay, how they're AI strategies structured. And if any of the announcements that are going to be in the market, if you might have any impact because of that. That's a really great point, right? A lot of this has to do as well with the partnerships that you have, and in terms of, you know, vendors that you work with, and, you know, really overall, they're dealing with these global changes, often means leaning on strong partnerships, right? And a smart use of data, which we know, we've talked about, that was one of the top of, you know, top of mind, when we're doing our polls, right. So, you know, that then brings us to our next trend, which is collaboration, and, and collaborating with others and using shared data to make better decisions. So more and more manufacturers we're seeing are teaming up with other companies, other vendors, partners, to share data and resources in these partnership, partnerships, as you mentioned, Sam, can help businesses solve problems. You know, you know, all together, you know, all together, faster, you know, all together, faster and stay ahead of the competition. So, so with that said, right, cybersecurity issues, geopolitical shifts, can you maybe give a little bit of an example of how partnerships like these can help manufacturers and why building collaborative ecosystems as a whole is so important in 2025? Yeah, so this is a very interesting trend as well. And now, you know, because of the shift in how the enterprise software landings, landscape is sort of, you know, shaping up. So some of the trend overall from the collaboration perspective, if you look at, you know, did we sort of collaborate overall from the customers and vendors perspective, you know, back in the days, yes, sure, there were some portals, there were some technologies, but we did not have real tight collaboration, where we can jointly plan our supply chain, where we can jointly forecast our risks. And that's what is sort of changing overall from the collaborative perspective, there are new categories of software in the market, you know, that are sort of driving this experience. And some of those are going to be the Monday.coms of the world, the smart sheets of the world, you know, they are driving this experience. Now, you know, this is sort of going to drive the customer experience for everybody in the market. So now, based on that, now your customers are going to be expecting that I'm getting this customer experiences from this particular vendor I'm working with, why are you not able to provide me the same experience? So now they are probably going to mandate that. And now if you're going to be on the older legacy technologies, obviously, you might not be able to provide that. So that's number point, one point. Number two point is the whole data game, I guess, right? And the acquisition and some of the trends that we have seen in the market, overall, from the joint supply chain planning perspective is that if you look at the industry wide supply chain, and I don't know, Leah, the manufacturers that we have in the room, whether they are going to be part of the automotive ecosystem, they are going to be part of the aerospace ecosystem, generally, those are probably some of the most common ones, there might be some of the medical device, maybe, you know, depending upon where they are working on. So some of these ecosystems relied on industry wide data sets for their supply chain planning, you know, they would go to some of these industry outlets, and they will forecast that, okay, you probably need to produce these many devices in this particular year, or I'm going to produce these many cars. So that is sort of changing. Now, you know what the larger companies are doing, they are sort of creating these industry wide supply chain. And because of that, the supply chain accuracy is going to be be there. So for you, as the manufacturer, the impact might be that you might be required to share very specific data sets. How are you going to share that? Do you have processes? Do you have systems to be able to support those reporting, you know, compliance for the joint planning and compliance, etc. So these are some of the things that are going to be probably relevant from the manufacturer perspective. So that's this trend, Leah. That's great. And collaboration is key there, right? All across the board, working with folks that you trust and working with folks that have shown historically that they can, they can get results that right and obviously working with these manufacturers is a huge thing. But it's all let's also not forget about sustainability. And with so much focus on cutting costs and going green there, Sam, energy efficient technology is becoming a must. So we'll dive in into how that's shaping manufacturer which leads us to our next trend here, which is energy efficient algorithms and computing. So touch a little bit more about this. We all know that saving energy is good for the planet. It's good for the bottom line too, right? And manufacturers are starting to use smarter software and technology to reduce waste and save money. So Sam, how can manufacturers use these technologies in their early operations? And how do systems like an ERP help them track progress on some sustainability goals in 2025 there? Yeah, so great question. And there are many layers to this as well. You know, one of the things that, you know, again, going back to sort of AI, and you mentioned that energy is good for pretty much everything, but what it is really good for is AI. You know, if you really want the capabilities from the AI perspective, so AI is very energy hungry at this point of time. And because of that, there are going to be many changes in the market. Number one, if you are going to be in the battery market, right? Or any of the data center market, that's where you are going to see a lot of, you know, pull from the demand perspective, you know, there's going to be a real demand in the data center market. Now, coming back to the sustainability aspect, Leah, you are going to have a lot of reporting requirements that you had, let's say, in the previous administration, I don't think they are going to be as common with the new administration, just because there's going to be a little changes overall from the policy perspective. But they might still be there. So overall, from the sustainability perspective, depending upon whether you are looking at more from the regulatory compliance perspective or consumer behavior, you know, depending upon how government is going to be incentivizing, especially US government, you know, so, so the reporting might not be as as common, but your consumer behavior is still going to be driving this. So in 2025, that is definitely going to be there. Now, from your ERP perspective, how that this is going to be impacted. So any sort of policy changes that are going to be there, now you need to report. So how are you going to report that? That's where you need to have infrastructure, you know, your ERP vendor must be capable enough to be able to support these changes. If you are going to be working with an ERP vendor that probably has 10 people in their shop, and all of a sudden, overnight, there are going to be these changes, how are they going to support, you know, the roadmap, and that's where, you know, you need to work with a vendor such as your Cisco, you know, who can support these changes when they are going to be able to become overnight. So overall, I guess, I mean, you need to be looking for what kind of changes you are going to be expecting and can you support or your ERP vendor can support the reporting and compliance from this sustainability perspective. Yeah, that's a really great point. You know, one thing is clear here, right? Being prepared is really the best way to handle all the changes coming in 2025. So let's talk about, you know, what manufacturers can do right now to get ahead. You talked about adopting AI, reshoring supply chain, right? Managing SaaS costs or even having the right tools in place is key. And really, the right systems are the heart of making all of this possible to help you organize, adapt to change and plan for the future, really. So, you know, you talked about how manufacturers can leverage systems like ERP. I want to get your thoughts as well. If they are currently using these systems, what would your guide for them or advice for them, right? When they're, you know, kind of taking a look at this and I'm like, you know, is this really the right partner for us to really get us to 2025 and beyond? So they might be using, you know, current systems already, but what would be your advice for these manufacturers as they kind of tackle these changes and then also relook at their current enterprise systems? Yeah. So very interesting point. And I'm probably going to give you a story because you like examples and stories, right? And this is going to be aligned with the poll as well that, you know, when we ask these guys, okay, are you happy with your system? Obviously, you are going to be happy. It's probably working. You are probably getting the support. You probably feel that you have the right partner. Okay. But the way market works is, you know, changes could be overnight. For example, in one case with our customer, you know, when we were talking to them and we were like, okay, why are you coming to us right now? Okay. Please tell us what we need. And they were like, you know what, we were using the system. They were great. I mean, they, whenever we call them, we were getting support. It was great. You know, no pressure as such. You know, we never felt that we were working with a, with a vendor. And now this company got acquired by private equity and overnight they changed the pricing completely. Okay. Initially, I think they were on sort of the monthly plan for whatever reason. I mean, this vendor allowed that, you know, and now this company is not willing to pay monthly. So there was some challenges because of that. They were not getting any support whatsoever. Okay. They did some feature requests. They were not, you know, getting implemented. And because of that, the, the, the, there were disruptions in the business because they were just not able to manage the their processes because of the system constraints. So this is just one of the example where you might be happier today. Okay. You might feel that you have great system, great partner as of today, but you need to look at, okay, what is the financial stability of your vendor at this point of time? You know, can they be there for long term and what is going to be their overarching strategy? Have they been in the market for a long time? So these are some of the questions that you should be asking just because something is working today, just because your partner is working today, does not mean that the situation will be the same tomorrow. And to your point, right? The right systems and the right partner can make or break your 2025 goals. 2025, you know, goals there. So, so with that said, you know, we are going to do one final poll because, you know, love to get your, you know, thoughts as well from our audience here. And our final poll is about systems. And system integration in particular, right? So again, we talked about having the right systems, having the right partner in place. So see if we could have here. The next question we have, not sure if we're seeing that. Okay. Okay. Oh, looks like we've actually already opened that. We've already gotten some responses. So basically, I'll touch on that a little bit. But basically, the question is, what's the biggest roadblock your organization faces when trying to connect the systems? A couple of the options here is, is it data silos, lack of centralization, or any other things? centralization, or integration costs? Or are we, you know, already integrated? And it looks like, again, it seems like the biggest thing really is, is still having a hard time getting real time data to make quick decisions. So it's so interesting to get thoughts, you know, all across the board there. It's still the biggest, the biggest, you know, question and the biggest kind of question mark in 2020. 2025 is, and how is how to get there and how to have more visibility. So with that said, right, well, lots of thoughts here, lots of really great, you know, insights, not just from Sam, obviously, from the audience as well. So we'll talk, take a, talk a little bit about some of the key takeaways here, obviously, with some of the things that you talked about. So before we wrapped up, I'd love to hear your thoughts again. Sam, Sam, on, on, on, there's three key things, right? Three most important kind of key takeaways for manufacturers as they prepare for 2025. You have this here on the slide, can you walk us through what manufacturers should prioritize to say ahead next year? Yeah, so great question again. And, you know, in my mind, I think what you should be doing, if you're a manufacturer, you should definitely be assessing your risk, and any of the changes that are going to be from the macroeconomic perspective, from the policy perspective, you need to assess, okay, what kind of risks are you sitting at this point of time? And are you going to be expecting any sort of surprise bills? That should be your number one priority to be able to understand if you need to make any sort of system changes. And that is sort of aligned with the second advice that we are going to have is that, that, okay, look at your system, okay, how good they are. And that's where I guess, if you look at the polls, people are saying that systems are okay, but I'm not getting real time insights. The question is going to be, are they really okay? I don't think they are. So you just feel that way. So that's where you need to be assessing, okay, where is the real problem? Right now, you are, you sort of have the blind spot, you don't know what challenges you have, you know, from the system perspective, and why you are not getting the real time data. And obviously, the right partner, you have been talking about this, how much, you know, partner can make a difference overnight, things could change, you might be happy as of today, but you know, it might be a very surprising tomorrow. So you really need to make sure you have the right partner on the side. And going back to this, I'm looking at this quote that we have on the slide, be prepared, because preparation is the key to thriving in a world of constant change. And it's that time of the year for us to kind of relook at processes or relook at everything, take a look at all these gaps and see, you know, what are some of these things that we could maybe trim a little bit more, right, and really make us take it, take it into 2025 and make sure we optimize everything all across the board. So with that said, again, thank you Sam for sharing those insights. It's, we've got a lot of really good, you know, information here. So we'll open the floor for some questions. All right. Thank you so much. And to our live audience, this is a reminder that now is your opportunity to ask any questions. Please just type them into the Q&A section at the top right of your screen and we'll do our best to get to them. We do have a few questions ready to go. Let's start with an audience question from Ahmed, who is asking, how can I precisely calculate the ROI? for increasing automation and AI? So, Leah, do you want me to go? Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead, Sam. Yeah. So it's a very interesting question. And I guess ROI is always going to be a question in terms of how you are measuring the ROI. Okay. And again, going back to, you know, how we were measuring the system efficiency, you are going to feel that systems are working fine, but you still don't have data. If you don't have data, how are you going to measure the ROI is going to be my question. So to be able to measure the ROI, you need to get the data. And if the amount of effort is going to be higher than what you are going to get out of, you know, that, then there is not much of an ROI in measuring that. So that's where I guess the system needs to be aligned to be able to measure the ROI. I don't know, Leah, if you're going to have any follow-up thoughts. No, that's, I totally agree with you on that. Okay. Next question we have, this one regards smaller businesses who are trying to keep up with new technologies and have tighter budgets. How can those smaller manufacturers keep up with new technologies while managing the costs? Yeah. So that's a very interesting question as well. And overall, I guess one of the things that you need to understand is that technology is going to be an investment. Yes, it might feel that there's going to be a little bit of a cost because of technology, but if you are not sort of assessing what you are going to get out of it, it might be a harder question, I guess, you know, in assessing whether you can invest or spend that or not. So again, what you need to look at is, you know, assess what kind of business problems you are facing at this point of time and how technology can solve and then assess, okay, how much you need to invest. If you are going to be very premeditated, hey, this is my implementation. I need to implement in that. What might happen is you might not get anything out of it, meaning you might end up wasting all of that money. So what's the point of all of that? So that's where I guess you need to take slightly bigger picture and look at this more as the investment. Very good. Okay. Next question. We do have, I think, two or three more here. All right. With so many trends popping up, AI, sustainability, cybersecurity, how does a manufacturer figure out where to invest first without stretching themselves too thin? Yeah. So I guess, I mean, you need to look at the near-term, you know, fruit and look at the business problems that you are facing at this point of time. You know, some of the near-term opportunities could be the AI agents, but for that, you need to have the infrastructure ready. So how are you going to get that infrastructure ready? So that's where you need to do a little assessment of your processes, how connected those processes, are at this point of time. And if you implement a new technology, whether they are going to work or not. So again, I think you need to go back to your business problems. What kind of business problems you are facing at this point of time? Are your processes connected? Are you ready to be able to deploy those new technologies? Otherwise, you are not going to get much of the benefit. Very good. And it looks like this is our last question here. And it is, what's the best way to get our teams ready to use and adapt to new technologies without causing too much damage? And that's going to be able to get any more damage to new technologies without stopping us. So that's where we are. And that's not going to go to the core that Leah was talking about. And it's all about preparation, preparation and preparation. Okay. And again, you know, that does require a little bit of subject matter expertise. So make sure you have the right subject matter expertise internally, as well as externally. These two are not optional, you know, doing this, somebody needs to be doing this for a very long time. And once they have that, then there's going to be much higher chances of success. So again, preparation, do planning, don't make any sort of assumptions, don't have any sort of blind spots. If you are going to have those, then you are probably going to find a lot of surprises, and then you'll get better experiences with technology. Excellent. All right. I think Leah, you wanted to share your contact in case people had questions and give some parting thoughts here. Yeah, sure. Thank you, everyone, again, for joining us on the call today. We've had an incredible session diving into top digital transformation, transfer 2025, and really exploring how you as manufacturers can prepare to tackle these challenges head on. Big, big thank you to Sam Gupta for sharing his invaluable insights and expertise. As a token of appreciation, we'll be sending out hot off the press 2025 digital transformation report from Elevate IQ, which Sam's team has been working on straight to your inbox in addition to a copy of the webinar recording. This report is packed with actionable strategies. I mean, we just went through a couple of them, but there's still a couple more trends there. So it's really a great guide to help your planning for the year ahead. If you have any additional questions, or would like to continue the conversation, whether it's for CISPRO or Elevate IQ, please feel free to reach out to us. Our contact information is here on screen. We're here to help you level up and achieve any of your goals for 2025. Thanks again, everyone. And we look forward to seeing you at our next webinar. Take care and have a great day. All right. Thank you so much. I also want to thank Leah, Sam, and the teams at CISPRO and Elevate IQ for making this webinar possible. I also want to thank our audience for listening in. You should receive an email with a link to the recording soon. And that does conclude today's presentation. On behalf of Modern Machine Shop, I'm Brent Donaldson. Thanks so much for your time and enjoy the rest of your day.