A new industrial revolution is unfolding — and this time, it’s not machines on the factory floor, but AI transforming the knowledge work that drives revenue, strategy, and growth in the manufacturing industry.
As a child of the ’70s, I knew what the future of robots and artificial intelligence would bring. Robot armies like the Cybermen or obedient android servants like C-3PO. But what about the all-seeing AI brain of HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey? Well, that seemed a bit far-fetched.
As Industry 4.0 got underway, things became clearer. Automation and machine learning were transforming the world. But the robots of the 2000s weren’t the armies of multi-skilled humanoids we imagined.
They were powerful robotic arms, AMRs, factory drones, scanners, and pick-and-pack machines; all the automated machinery that worked together to accelerate and streamline assembly and logistics.
Looking back, it turns out the development of walking, talking humanoid factory workers had been overhyped.
But the age of artificial intelligence capable of human-like problem-solving and communication, on the other hand, had well and truly arrived.
Now, the birth of LLM promises to change the face of knowledge work in manufacturing businesses in ways that could outpace the speed and scope of robotic automation on the factory floor.
But we’ve got to be ready to harness and control it.
Knowledge workers in the contract manufacturing world are the salespeople, account management teams, planners, designers, engineers, and data analysts who sit at the front end of your business.
Their work is centred around creativity, data interpretation and knowledge application for business growth. Together, they are the critical revenue generators for your business. But they are facing massive challenges as competition stiffens and buyer behaviour changes in a borderless, digital world. These teams are under increasing pressure to do more, faster — and with greater accuracy and insight.
“The most important contribution management needs to make in the 21st century is to increase the productivity of knowledge work and knowledge workers.”
Peter Drucker
Just as robotic automation enhanced the efficiency of manual workers to meet the demands of a globalised economy, so AI is set to turbo-charge the capabilities of knowledge workers.
With the new powers of automation, analysis, and reasoning grafted onto everyday technology we now have an unmatched opportunity to synchronise and accelerate our revenue operations.
And because AI doesn’t require hardware upgrades to impact our business, the speed of change is going to be exponential.
Which is exactly why we need to pay special attention to it.
"AI is not just another technology wave. It’s a fundamental rewiring of how businesses operate."
— Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic
For too long, knowledge workers in manufacturing - sales teams, marketers, engineers, and customer service - have been confined to their silos. Limited by legacy technology and a lack of platform integration, teams tended to operate in their own domains, often disconnected from the insights and workflows of others.
This fragmented structure has slowed down decision-making, stifled innovation, and limited the ability to respond quickly to market shifts.
While accessing, analysing and acting on "big organisational data" was the dream, it was often too complex and expensive to achieve.
But AI has changed that.
With the new powers of insight and automation given us by AI, we now have the ability to integrate marketing, sales, and customer service into a single, data-driven revenue engine, ensuring teams work together seamlessly to drive, faster growth.
One of AI’s most valuable contributions is consolidating fragmented data into a single, shared view of the customer. This isn’t just about better dashboards — it’s about ensuring every team, from marketing to post-sale support, works from the same, real-time source of truth.
Platforms like HubSpot’s AI-powered CRM unify insights across marketing, sales, and customer service, giving contract manufacturing teams full visibility into complex buying journeys — from initial enquiry to long-term customer support.
Salesforce Einstein layers predictive analytics on top, surfacing key trends and helping commercial teams anticipate customer requirements, flag deal risks, and time outreach more precisely. This level of intelligence is particularly valuable in long sales cycles and multi-stakeholder buying processes, where coordination across functions is critical to conversion and retention.
AI can help automate lead management, ensuring high-value prospects don’t get lost.
Tools such as Outreach.io track buyer behaviour and score leads dynamically to ensure they’re routed to the right salespeople at the right time. If a prospect downloads a spec sheet or lingers on a pricing page, AI-powered chatbots like Drift can engage them instantly, qualify their interest, and escalate to sales when needed.
Meanwhile, tools like 6sense can continuously monitor intent signals across the web — including keyword searches, content engagement, and visits to third-party websites — to identify companies that are actively researching solutions like yours, even before they land on your site.
AI enables truly personalised customer experiences — not just by segment, but by individual behaviour and preferences.
With tools like Mutiny, marketers can dynamically adapt website content based on who’s visiting and what stage they’re at. Gong analyses sales call transcripts to recommend follow-up materials that directly address prospect concerns. And in customer service, Zendesk AI uses natural language processing to assess sentiment, recommend responses, and escalate complex issues before they escalate into churn risks.
This kind of real-time responsiveness helps create meaningful, human-like experiences - even when the interaction is AI-driven.
AI doesn’t just analyse the past — it helps you predict what’s coming. Tools like Clari assess activity across CRM, email, and sales platforms to forecast revenue, flag at-risk deals, and prioritise pipeline efforts. People.ai maps rep activity to performance, giving sales leaders visibility into where time is being spent and what’s driving results. And with Tableau, enhanced by Salesforce Einstein, teams can build predictive dashboards that guide smarter decisions across the business.
These tools help sales teams shift from reactive to strategic, focusing energy where it matters most.
Service is no longer just about resolving issues — it’s becoming a key driver of growth. AI tools like Intercom’s Fin AI copilot resolve routine queries instantly and recommend upsell paths based on customer history. Freshdesk’s Freddy AI automatically categorises tickets, spots trends, and boosts agent efficiency with suggested replies. And for more transactional support, tools like Tidio turn live chats into guided sales journeys.
With AI, service becomes proactive, not just responsive — spotting signs of dissatisfaction early, retaining more customers, and creating new revenue moments.
All these software and AI opportunities exist right now, but they need discipline and planning to make them become a seamless part of your business practice, rather than a focus of adhoc experimentation.
Now is the time to systemise your approach, making these tools part of your formal process for marketing, sales enablement and customer service.
“This is a time when you should be getting benefits from AI and hope that your competitors are just playing around and experimenting.”
Erik Brynjolfsson, Director of the Digital Economy Lab at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI)
While 2025 research from McKinsey is showing that teams in every sector are champing at the bit to integrate AI tools into their working practice, a lack of leadership knowledge, planning and co-ordiation is holding them back.
“AI now is like the internet many years ago: The risk for business leaders is not thinking too big, but rather too small.”
McKinsey Report, 2025
94% of employees are already using Gen AI tools in some capacity.
Employees are 3x more likely to be using AI daily than leaders realise.
47% of employees believe over 30% of their work will be AI-assisted within a year.
Nearly half of employees want formal AI training—but many report receiving no support at all
AI isn’t the future - it’s the now.
And while your factory floor may already hum with the rhythm of automation, it’s time to bring that same transformation to the knowledge work driving your commercial growth.
The rise of generative AI and intelligent automation offers contract manufacturers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to break down silos, enhance human potential, and build a revenue engine that’s smarter, faster, and more connected than ever before.
But seizing this moment demands more than enthusiasm - it demands leadership.
The data makes it clear: your teams are ready, the tech is capable, and competitors could be moving already moving. The real gap is strategic alignment. It’s up to senior leaders — CEOs, commercial directors, and operational heads — to set the vision, invest in integration, and build the skills infrastructure that will turn isolated AI experiments into enterprise-wide gains.
So, the question isn't if your sales and marketing teams should get onboard with AI. It's whether you're ready to lead the charge.