Improving customer experience (CX) ranks as the top corporate objective for the third year, followed closely by improving brand equity. Customer relationships are top of mind for manufacturers in 2022 as maintaining brand loyalty becomes increasingly complex, with the world quickly moving to digital channels. Companies are shifting from remote work that began with the pandemic to hybrid models that will include a mix of work-from-home, on-site, and flexible options. The cloud offers flexibility and quick access to the latest technology features. Investments in workforce management and engagement tools are crucial to ensuring high performance. Manufacturers will invest heavily in analytics, especially solutions providing actionable data for customer journeys and the voice of the customer(VOC). With the enormous amount of data available today from many sources, it must be integrated, mined, organized, pertinent, and customized to provide customers with personalized and positive experiences.  IT investments over the next year will be customer-centric. While most other industries rated “attracting and retaining talent” as a priority, manufacturing companies continue to consider it an unimportant goal. Manufacturing companies tend to deal with business-to-business customer interactions, limiting their view of end-customer expectations. However, there is a trend towards direct selling to consumers from manufacturers, requiring investments in customer-facing technology to support them. The primary goals of this research are to: • Understand the impact of COVID-19 on contact centers • Understand the challenges organizations face today • Monitor the status of digital transformation • Assess the current and future use of contact center solutions • Evaluate factors that drive investments in contact center solutions • Gauge market and technology trends • Appraise available IT budgets • Measure perceptions by vertical industry • Discover opportunities in different regions This study examines the growth opportunities for CX solution providers and the manufacturing industry that emerged from pandemic-related challenges and the rapid move towards digital channels that compel manufacturers to invest in CX solutions that will help them stay with or beat the competition. Author: Alpa Shah