Supply chain resilience increasingly depends on how effectively manufacturers connect the digital systems behind production, service, logistics and support into everyday operational work, writes Simon Hayward, General Manager & VP of Sales, International at Freshworks.
When a retailer’s systems go down, the impact is usually measured through lost sales and reputational pressure, whereas a manufacturer’s outage can move quickly into production schedules, shipment windows, spare parts availability and the ability of customers to keep their own operations moving.
The result is a clear shift in how manufacturers need to think about IT service management, because the systems used to manage incidents, service requests, assets, access and change now sit directly inside the wider supply chain.
Where digital friction enters the supply chain
Many manufacturers are still operating with technology environments shaped by years of expansion, acquisition and local decision-making, leaving different sites and teams dependent on separate platforms, manual ticket routing, spreadsheets and workarounds that were once practical but now slow the business down.
This complexity creates operational drag that is quickly felt beyond the IT department, particularly when a service request is routed to the wrong team, when a system change interrupts planning or production workflows, or when weak asset visibility delays the response to a problem affecting equipment, software or infrastructure. In logistics terms, these issues become visible through missed handovers, slower decisions, delayed shipments and customers waiting for equipment, parts or service that should already be moving through the chain.
For manufacturers, improving resilience often starts with simplifying the environment already in place, consolidating service systems, reducing overlap and creating a clearer operating model that allows people to move through workflows with greater speed and confidence. This kind of foundation gives AI and automation a practical role, because connected workflows allow intelligent tools to route requests, deflect common issues and surface information that would otherwise take agents time to find.
Turning service management into operational infrastructure
The manufacturers seeing the greatest value are treating ITSM as part of operational infrastructure, with the same focus on visibility, consistency and speed that already shapes wider supply chain planning. At Vermeer, automated routing and AI-assisted support helped reduce resolution time by nearly 50%, giving employees and production teams faster support in an environment where equipment uptime and customer responsiveness are closely linked.
Structured change management carries equal importance, because system updates, access changes and platform migrations all need clear ownership, approval and visibility when the consequences of disruption can move quickly from a local IT issue into a major production one. For supply chain leaders, the principle is familiar because resilient operations depend on shared information, predictable processes and the ability to respond quickly when conditions change.
Modern ITSM gives manufacturers a clearer path to sustainable performance by reducing manual effort, improving service visibility and helping teams address small issues before they create wider disruption across production, logistics and customer operations. When the digital workflows behind manufacturing are simplified and better connected, the business is better placed to protect uptime, keep shipments moving and meet the commitments that downstream customers depend on.
