Digital transformation has become a top priority for manufacturers, overtaking AI, automation and the skills gap. But while investment in automation and production technology continues to rise, many businesses are still struggling to execute where it matters most: turning technology into real commercial results. Intergage explain more.
Too often, digital transformation is viewed through an operational lens — shop floor systems, predictive maintenance, production dashboards – while revenue-generating teams like sales, marketing and customer service are overlooked, disconnected and under-supported.
Transformation stalls without commercial alignment, and disconnected teams and data can slow growth. However, tools like HubSpot, combined with the focus of Fried Egg Marketing, are helping manufacturers bring strategy and systems together to power real, scalable results.
Why digital transformation starts with aligning teams and data
Most manufacturing leaders still equate digital transformation with operational efficiency — automating the shop floor, optimising production or integrating new machinery. Revenue operations departments including sales, marketing and customer service are often left behind, seen as peripheral rather than central to transformation.
The result is a disconnected commercial engine where customer data is fragmented, teams operate in silos and revenue growth feels harder than it should. The problem we see in manufacturing businesses? Disconnected teams, disconnected tech and disconnected data.
Disconnected tools. disjointed teams. disappointing growth
According to HubSpot’s Crisis of Disconnection report, just 23% of businesses report having excellent data connectedness. For manufacturers, that figure feels all too familiar. Many firms have rushed to digitise, adding CRM tools, marketing platforms, service portals and ERP systems. But instead of simplifying growth, this tech explosion has created a tangled web of siloed systems, duplicated data and fractured teams.
This disconnection hits hard in manufacturing environments, where long sales cycles, technical complexity and high customer expectations demand seamless communication across departments. Instead, Intergage often see marketing generating leads that sales don’t follow up on — not because they’re lazy, but because the leads don’t match the actual needs of ideal-fit buyers.
Sales, pressured to hit targets, over-promise or quote inaccurately because they don’t have the right customer or operational data to hand. Operations teams are then left trying to fulfil orders that were never a good fit to begin with, while service departments scramble to meet SLAs they didn’t help scope.
The result? A poor customer experience, rising churn, misaligned priorities and countless internal frustrations. Different departments hold different views of the same customer.
Forecasts from sales don’t match reports from finance. No one’s quite sure what’s working, only that margins are tightening and ROI is too vague to justify.
Disconnected tech and teams aren’t just inconvenient — they’re actively damaging growth. Businesses operating with fragmented platforms are significantly less likely to hit their marketing, sales and service goals. They also suffer from inflated tech spend, missed revenue opportunities and a general lack of strategic clarity.
For manufacturers dealing with complex buying journeys and narrow margins, that’s a recipe for stagnation. True digital transformation doesn’t just mean buying more tools. It means connecting the right people with the right data at the right time. And until that happens, growth will remain frustratingly out of reach.
Digital success demands more than software
The 2025 Manufacturing Momentum Report reveals a pivotal shift in mindset: digital transformation is no longer about inspiration or experimentation. It’s about execution. Manufacturers have, for the most part, embraced the idea of digitalisation. But what many are now grappling with is how to integrate new tools into existing operations, scale those solutions across their teams and, crucially, extract meaningful business value from their investments.
This is where many fall down. Technology alone doesn’t drive transformation. People do. Without alignment between teams, the best tools in the world will sit underused or misapplied.
In manufacturing environments, where success relies on precision and process, this misalignment is especially damaging. Sales, marketing and customer service often operate in silos, each with their own version of the customer, their own metrics and sometimes even their own systems. Marketing may not understand the realities of the sales cycle. Sales may dismiss leads because they don’t see the marketing context behind them. Customer service, meanwhile, may be left out of the loop entirely until there’s a problem to fix.
True digital transformation requires shared visibility. A single, accurate picture of the customer from first touchpoint to post-sale relationship. It means sales teams can see which content or campaigns a customer engaged with. It means marketing can understand which leads actually converted and why. It means service teams can proactively support customers because they’re looped into the full journey.
This is not about making everyone do the same job. It’s about making sure everyone is working from the same truth. The same systems. The same data. The same definition of success.
When manufacturers achieve this kind of alignment, technology becomes an enabler rather than a burden. Teams work faster, waste less and focus more. Strategies become scalable. Results become repeatable. And digital transformation delivers the competitive edge it promised in the first place.
Accelerate your digital transformation with HubSpot
Digital transformation in manufacturing doesn’t succeed with isolated tools or one-off campaigns. It requires a central, connected platform that brings every team and touchpoint together. That’s where HubSpot delivers unmatched value.
As a unified CRM for marketing, sales and customer service, HubSpot gives manufacturers the ability to track every interaction along the customer journey in a single, intuitive system. From lead generation and email automation to pipeline visibility and post-sale engagement, HubSpot brings clarity, consistency and control to what was previously chaotic.
With HubSpot, manufacturers can accelerate their digital transformation by:
- Replacing manual, paper-based processes with automated workflows that streamline lead capture, customer onboarding and aftersales communication. All critical for scaling without adding headcount.
- Providing sales and business development teams with unified, real-time data across customer interactions, quotes, website engagement and email responses, enabling smarter, faster decisions based on actual buyer behaviour.
- Synchronising marketing efforts with live deal activity in the pipeline, so campaigns support revenue targets, not just vanity metrics.
- Delivering connected, consistent customer experiences across all departments, using a single platform to unify quoting, support, service and account management. This is a foundational shift from fragmented legacy systems to integrated digital operations.
System meets strategy: fried egg marketing
Even the best tech needs the right strategy behind it. Having worked with Manufacturers for more than 20 years, Intergage has a proven framework designed specifically for B2B manufacturers looking to scale with purpose – Fried Egg Marketing.
Your sales conversations become sharper because they’re backed by real-time insight — not assumptions. Reps walk into meetings with a clear view of each buyer’s challenges, content engagement and deal history, allowing them to sell with relevance and confidence.
With Fried Egg Marketing your service delivery becomes more profitable, not by cutting corners, but by aligning promises with operational capacity. When teams share a single source of truth — from sales commitments to delivery timelines and customer preferences — you reduce miscommunication, missed deadlines and costly rework.
The result? A fractured customer experience, inconsistent messaging and internal friction that stalls growth.
But the impact doesn’t stop there. Operations can forecast more accurately when sales data is consistent and live. Marketing can stop chasing lead volume and start building high-fit demand. Finance can model revenue with greater confidence. And leadership can make strategic decisions based on connected data, not conflicting spreadsheets.
In short, when your systems, teams and strategy are aligned with HubSpot as the connective platform and Fried Egg Marketing® as the guiding focus, your entire organisation becomes more agile, efficient and ready to grow.
Fried Egg Marketing ensures that the data flowing through your CRM isn’t just accurate. It’s meaningful. It gives your teams a shared understanding of who you’re for, what problems you solve and how to communicate value consistently at every stage of the buyer journey.
Together, HubSpot provides the platform and Fried Egg Marketing delivers the precision.
That’s the real power of alignment. Strategy and technology working hand-in-hand to fuel long-term growth in the manufacturing sector.
Fried Egg Marketing: ready to align, simplify and scale?
Disconnected tech is costing you time, money and customers. It’s time to stop adding tools and start building a connected commercial engine.
Explore the Ultimate Guide to HubSpot for Manufacturers
Learn how HubSpot helps manufacturers streamline sales, marketing and service – and turn digital transformation into real-world growth.
Start transforming the way your teams connect, collaborate and convert – with one platform that works the way you do.
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