New research has shown the potential cost of enterprise resource planning (ERP) downtime, with the average UK midmarket manufacturer expecting to lose £41,888.30 in a single day of ERP outage.
The study from European software provider Forterro also revealed that more than half (53%) of respondents foresee staff downtime if their ERP system goes down for the day, while 38% anticipate reputational damage.
The strategic importance of ERP was illustrated by almost three-quarters (72%) of UK manufacturers preferring cloud-based or hybrid ERP systems for the future, driven by the growing demand for scalability, high availability, and robust data security.
ERP has become a much-valued technology for midmarket manufacturers, with many benefits cited. 58% of UK respondents reported increased efficiency as the major benefit, while half highlighted real-time data. The same percentage cited standardised, consistent data across the company as a key advantage.
68% of manufacturers see cloud as an untapped opportunity, while more than half (54%) acknowledge that their lack of cloud usage is hindering the benefits of advanced technologies like AI and IoT, which have the potential to be transformative in the midmarket sector. 48% of UK midmarket manufacturers said that AI functions, such as predictive maintenance and predictive logistics, were the most desired add-on to the current system.
The main challenges in UK midmarket manufacturing overall were the ongoing global economic and political uncertainty (42%), talent retention and acquisition (36%), and protecting the supply chain (34%). With the manufacturing sector one of the most targeted industries for cyberattacks, 40% of respondents identified security as their top priority for the future.
The research is available in the UK Midmarket Manufacturing Report: Key Tech Trends, Best Practice and Future-Proofing.
