TechnologyJanuary 23, 2025
AI in manufacturing: 2024 Industrial Networking Report
The Cisco 2024 State of Industrial Networking Report for Manufacturing reveals how manufacturing firms worldwide are designing and deploying their operational technologies to improve cybersecurity, quality and efficiency. One of the conclusions of the report is that firms are investing in an AI-ready foundation.
The 2024 Cisco State of Industrial Networking report stated that “the manufacturing sector is embracing new technologies to bolster its infrastructure resilience and reliability.” Here are the report’s major conclusions:
- The #1 investment priority for manufacturing firms today is AI-enabled devices
- Adoption of AI is the #2 strategy (after upskilling employees) for mitigating internal obstacles to growth
- Over half (51%) expect AI deployment to improve network management across both IT and OT
AI and cybersecurity top future investment priorities
According to the report, “AI (48%) is the emerging technology that in the future is expected to have most impact on OT, followed by cybersecurity solutions (31%)”. Here is that the report says about AI:
Firms bolster AI and cybersecurity capabilities
The top investment priorities for manufacturing firms today are AI-enabled devices (31%) and cybersecurity solutions (30%).
AI and cybersecurity top investment priorities
Cybersecurity (43%) and AI (41%) top the charts of planned investments for the next one to two years. There is a significant difference of 31 percentage points between the number of LATAM firms who say AI is a top spending priority (65%) and those in North America who say the same (34%).
AI expected to improve network management
Over half (51%) of respondents to the survey are looking forward to AI improving network management across both IT and OT in their organizations. A further 46% anticipate it leading to better collaboration across IT and OT functions within companies.
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