Industrial Transformation In 2025: Five Key Buyer Priorities And Tech Preferences

Industrial Transformation In 2025: Five Key Buyer Priorities And Tech Preferences

The Verdantix 2025 industrial transformation global corporate survey of 304 senior executives in operations, maintenance, engineering, process safety and IT/data roles – across 19 industries and 14 economic regions – shows where firms are directing their tech budgets and what their key priorities are over the next 12 months. Our survey reveals that:

• Production optimization and quality management, along with safer operations, will witness the highest spend increases amongst all operational excellence initiatives.
• While planned and preventative maintenance still dominate, firms are steadily shifting to predictive and reliability-centred approaches, leveraging analytics and sensors to foresee issues.
• The availability of new technologies is a major driver of digital transformation. Some 86% of our survey respondents believe that AI-based analytics will have a ‘very significant’ or ‘significant’ impact in transforming their firm’s operations.
• Despite enthusiasm for AI, fully integrated data ecosystems are rare. Most firms have yet to harmonize operational, information and engineering technology (OT, IT and ET) data, limiting the potential of advanced analytics.
• Businesses are rapidly adopting plant simulation tools, asset performance management (APM) software, and maintenance software such as enterprise asset management (EAM) solutions and computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS). Generative AI and connected worker technologies, such as augmented reality (AR) glasses and wearables, are helping to fill skills gaps and improve efficiency.

Moving into 2025, firms are investing more in digital tools for asset maintenance and performance and data integration. Those that blend strong digital foundations with strategic tech adoption will enjoy greater efficiency, safety and resilience.

For more information, read the full report: Verdantix Global Corporate Survey 2025: Industrial Transformation Budgets, Priorities And Tech Preferences.