The high-tech industry is among the most dynamic of all business sectors. It includes semiconductors, consumer electronics, computer manufacturers, medical devices, instrumentation device manufacturers, software companies, and others. Fast innovation and increasing levels of globalization continue to characterize this sector. High-tech manufacturers also enable innovation in other industries such as aerospace, automotive, healthcare, and retail.

There are, however, signs of an industry that is maturing in the sense that successful startups, fast growth, and high profits can no longer be taken for granted. Instead, consolidation—from semiconductor to software companies—has increased. Sustaining high-revenue growth, profit margins, and returns on invested capital are becoming increasingly difficult. It is important that companies quicken their product-development cycles, create agile supply chains, increase business resilience, and improve operational efficiency to differentiate themselves and gain a competitive advantage. Industry executives realize that by improving communication and collaboration across the global ecosystem of suppliers, customers and partners, they can build a foundation for enabling capabilities that promote financial growth and results.

Leading high-tech manufacturers have embarked on strategies for sustaining financial growth and increased profitability, including:

• Differentiated, unique product and service offerings based on understanding the characteristics of customer segments in all geographies, including both developed and developing countries
• Optimized operations to balance the benefits that come from the economies of scale of a globally integrated company with the need to meet local requirements, especially in emerging markets
• Improved employee productivity and efficiency in all business areas, with an emphasis on managing talent, and improving communication and collaboration across organizational and geographic boundaries
• Enhanced ability to manage risk through better visibility and availability of information across the supply chain

The High-Tech Manufacturing Group within the Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG)—a strategic, global consulting arm of Cisco—works with industry executives on transformation initiatives that improve innovation, customer intimacy, workforce management, and global supply-chain management. Initiatives include:

• The Expert Organization: Harnessing collective, experiential knowledge of the enterprise ecosystem for competitive advantage
• Connected Lifecycle Services: Improving customer intimacy through new service-delivery business models
• Innovation Advantage: Developing a holistic set of capabilities across the innovation chain to commercialize ideas quickly
• Operational Excellence: Improving capabilities in supply-chain management
• Enterprise Globalization and Transformation: An approach to developing an enterprise architecture that supports globalization

High-tech manufacturers will continue to respond to the changing dynamics of this industry sector. Globalization, increased dependency on industry partners, and the fast pace of changes in customer demands present a unique set of challenges and opportunities for high-tech companies. Cisco IBSG is here to work with leading manufacturers to develop new capabilities, enabled by advanced internetworking technology to meet both long- and short-term business objectives.