A total of almost 100 companies took part in the latest survey. "The results show that, in addition to a high number of investment projects in connection with the digitalization of processes, trend topics such as IoT platforms and virtual reality in particular have become significantly more important," explains Rainer Glatz, Managing Director VDMA Software and Digitalization.

Webshops and digital spare parts catalogs in the lead
The IT Report 2018 shows the extent to which the trends have been reflected in companies' investment plans. Compared to the previous VDMA IT study from 2016, some mechanical engineering companies are setting new priorities with their current investment plans up to 2020. Webshops and digital spare parts catalogs have been among the top 10 investment projects in the industry since 2014. This year, they have now climbed to the top of the investment plans with an outstanding 38%.

This will lead to a further significant increase in use in mechanical engineering, as around 40 percent of planned investments relate to new installations. Other IT systems such as customer relationship management, variant configurators and service management solutions, which are used to support sales and customer loyalty processes, are also at the forefront of investment projects.

There is also a stronger focus on the digitalization of production-related processes compared to previous years. Manufacturing execution systems, quality management solutions and solutions for inter-company data exchange (EDI) with suppliers and customers are on the investment plans of almost one in five companies.

IoT platforms in the fast lane
While many IT trends such as cloud computing, virtualization and apps have shown a steady increase in importance, this no longer applies to IoT platforms. In 2016, more than 60% of companies said that they were unaware of the topic or that the solutions were not relevant to their own company.

Today, the picture is different. Platforms are important for three quarters of companies, with almost 30% already using solutions. The service application area is leading the way with 22%, followed by production (13%) and sales (12%). However, the first use cases can also be found in development and logistics. A total of 50% of the companies surveyed intend to use IoT platforms by 2020.

Virtual reality conquers mechanical engineering
Virtual reality is now also playing an important role in mechanical engineering, as the topic is relevant for around 70 percent of companies. One in five companies already uses such solutions, and this figure is expected to grow to around 45% in the next two years.

In terms of technology, the focus is on smartphones, tablets and smart glasses. In terms of areas of application, companies are currently focusing on service (20%), sales (11%) and product development (11%). Other areas of application such as marketing, production or logistics have rarely played a role to date.

Machine learning still in its infancy
Many companies are already focusing on machine learning in connection with their own products and product-related services. However, when it comes to using it in their own business processes, only around 35% of the companies surveyed consider it to be of medium to very high relevance. At 9%, the number of applications implemented is also still manageable compared to other trend topics. However, it is already clear today that the mechanical engineering sector is working intensively on the topic and is planning to make greater use of it. as