The Record - Issue 20: Spring 2021

101 MANU FAC TUR I NG & R E SOUR C E S and business growth at a time of disruptive restrictions. The company provides fire, heat- ing, ventilation, air conditioning and security equipment for buildings around the world. It is proud of its culture of innovation, which is embodied by a company-wide Tech Challenge ideas competition that marks an annual high- light for its 105,000 employees. When the pan- demic in 2020 meant the firm could not host separate competitions across expo halls in the US and India as usual, it used Microsoft 365 technologies to create a single, 100 per cent virtual event that the whole organisation could take part in. As a result, it drew 50 per cent more attendees and saw more global, diverse contestant teams and more engagement than in any other year. With support from Microsoft and its partners, manufacturers are devising new ways to find, train and keep the workers they need. “Investing in people’s success pays off not just in better qual- ity work, but also in higher employee engage- ment and retention,” says Masson. “When you give your people a set of modern tools they can access from anywhere, including technologies that help them work better together, you’re help- ing them be more creative and efficient as a team. Combined with connected data, you’re creating the conditions for innovation. Using technology helps companies to unite massive workforces across global teams – from any device, virtually anywhere. This fosters a more inclusive envi- ronment, where employees can share ideas and diverse perspectives can flourish.” Human resources (HR) teams can use the same tools to collaborate and communicate more effectively. “These solutions empower modern HR to compete for top talent and create an employee experience that leads to retention,” says Masson. “With the help of exciting new mixed-reality tools like guides and remote-assist programmes, manufacturers can draw, onboard and retain talented workers who can deliver impactful results.” By providing digital tools that are relevant to today’s workforce, manufacturers can create a foundation for growth through more agile, remote business practices. “This industry is building the future,” says Masson. “That’s excit- ing to the next generation of top talent. How manufacturers use technology to attract, train, and retain them can be a significant competi- tive advantage.” Using technology to support productivity, skills development and collaboration creates a foundation for business growth. We asked selected Microsoft partners how they are helping manufacturers to bridge the skills gap and prepare their people for a digital future Partner perspectives Sarah Reynolds Vice President of Marketing, Augmented Reality and IoT at PTC “Effectively upskilling and reskilling your workforce to meet future organisational needs will be critical to both short-term and long-term business success. But scaling the knowledge and expertise of your top employees to the broader organisation can be difficult and time-consuming – both for your training teams who must develop the content and for your experts who need to share their skills. PTC Vuforia Expert Capture, built on Microsoft Azure, streamlines knowledge capture and transfer, enabling you to easily document and transform your experts’ tacit domain knowledge into reusable training materials without disrupting their normal workflows. By capturing best practices and step-by- step instructions from your top employees as they work, you can quickly and easily unlock the knowledge within your workforce and create immersive job aids and training materials that help all employees become experts.”