Manufacturers Focus on Laying the Data Foundation: 2025 Insights from Deloitte
The right data strategies can transform manufacturing operations for real ROI—it’s something I’ve witnessed firsthand after many years of interviewing customers about their Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) deployments. It’s also something that Deloitte’s 2025 Manufacturing Industry Outlook highlights.
The report discusses how manufacturers are building strong data foundations with Unified Namespace (UNS) strategies and evolving toward a software-driven approach that extends from factory operations to connected products in the field. These modern strategies are critical for manufacturers looking to future-proof and prepare for rapidly maturing use cases. Let’s dive into some of the industry trends identified in the report.
Laying the Groundwork for AI
Manufacturers are eager to adopt AI. A 2024 survey of manufacturers by the Manufacturing Leadership Council found that 78% of respondents indicate that their AI initiatives are part of the company’s overall digital transformation strategy, according to Deloitte’s report. However, scaling AI remains a challenge due to poor data quality, weak governance, and fragmented systems.
As Deloitte notes, "A prerequisite for AI adoption is access to quality data, and companies seem to be shifting their focus in this direction. However, challenges still exist—in another survey, nearly 70% of manufacturers indicated that problems with data, including data quality, contextualization, and validation, are the most significant obstacles to AI implementation." This is a challenge we’ve written about here.
To overcome these hurdles, companies should focus on:
Data Quality and Integration: Addressing silos and modernizing architectures to unify data repositories.
Good Governance: Implementing robust frameworks for data validation and compliance to ensure AI-ready data streams.
Incremental AI Deployment: Starting small with clear, impactful projects can help manufacturers overcome initial barriers. As highlighted in HiveMQ’s webinar, No Data, No AI: Bridging the Gap in Smart Manufacturing, successful implementations often begin with robust data preparation—ensuring quality, contextualization, and accessibility—before scaling to more advanced AI use cases.
The technologies and requirements of building a strong data foundation are covered in this HiveMQ article.
Unified Namespace: The Backbone of Modern Manufacturing
As Deloitte points out, "The Unified Namespace data architecture strategy can provide a central source of real-time standardized data that can be utilized by a variety of systems across the business. Unified Namespace can eliminate the need for complicated direct connections between disparate systems that often create significant interoperability challenges."
The Unified Namespace (UNS) has been gaining traction as a critical piece of the puzzle for smart manufacturing—and I was excited to see Deloitte recognizing the approach. By creating a centralized, real-time data architecture, UNS eliminates complex connections between disparate systems, streamlining interoperability. This is critical as manufacturers work to collect OT data and send it to IT to streamline operations and inform business decisions.
Key benefits of UNS include:
Standardization: Establishing a single source of truth for data across operations.
Scalability: Providing reusable data structures to simplify integration and accelerate AI projects.
Enhanced Collaboration: Bridging IT and OT systems to ensure seamless communication and decision-making.
For more on IT-OT convergence, see Predictions for 2025: The Convergence of AI, IT, and OT. And for an in-depth overview of UNS, read HiveMQ’s UNS Essentials.
Connecting Products in a Software-Driven Industry
Another trend highlighted in Deloitte’s report is the continued evolution of manufacturing into a software-driven industry—not only within the factory but also for connecting to products in the field. According to Deloitte’s 2024 Future of the Digital Customer Experience in Industrial Manufacturing and Construction study, industrial manufacturers are increasingly enhancing the digital connection to their products to gather usage and operational performance data. This data helps improve performance, serviceability, and customer satisfaction. For instance, customers can now access portals to monitor fleet performance, schedule maintenance, and resolve issues through chat features.
HiveMQ’s expertise in facilitating seamless data flow makes it a valuable enabler of this trend. By overcoming interoperability challenges between legacy and modern systems, HiveMQ helps manufacturers establish secure and reliable connections to their products in the field. Unified Namespace (UNS) tools simplify the integration of data from diverse sources, ensuring that insights can be contextualized and acted upon in real-time. This foundation supports smarter, more efficient operations, aligning with the broader move toward software-defined and smart manufacturing.
Seizing the Opportunity
As manufacturers look to future-proof their operations, laying the right data foundation and adopting a UNS approach provides them with a strong base for adding advanced use cases like AI. By prioritizing data quality, adopting modern architectures, and leveraging software-driven strategies to connect factory operations with products in the field, companies can unlock the full potential of AI and IIoT, driving efficiency, innovation, and competitive advantage. It’s a digital transformation journey that HiveMQ’s platform and resources are designed to support.
Allison Yrungaray
Allison Yrungaray is Director of Communications at HiveMQ. She has 20 years of experience in high-tech marketing and public relations, much of it focused on the Internet of Things. She has written hundreds of technical articles and achieved media placements in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Forbes and other leading publications.
