Advantech (Europe) - Advantech is sharpening its focus on six key verticals: manufacturing, transportation, energy and utilities, healthcare, retail, and logistics. By combining its market-leading hardware and IoT Software portfolio with added-value services such as design and manufacturing, customization, and e-commerce, the company is positioning itself as a one-stop partner and creating a unique value proposition for customers across these industries.

How has Advantech’s organisational structure in Europe evolved over the years, and what factors shaped this evolution?

Advantech has been active globally for 42 years, and in Europe for 35. When we first entered the European market, we progressively built a strong Channel Partner Network to establish brand awareness and provide local advice and services. This was particularly important given Europe’s diversity of regions, languages, and business cultures.

As the market evolved, we introduced new go-to-market models. A direct account model allowed us to support customers seeking a partner with a global footprint, a partner who could ensure local agreements could be backed at an international level. Later, we added an online sales model to serve smaller customers across Europe’s 40+ countries. An online team was set up to make it easy for these long-tail customers to do business with Advantech.

Our organisational structure developed in response to these needs. By combining strong local presence with flexible sales models, we grew to become the global leader in industrial PCs, with more than 42% market share.

What were the main reasons or challenges that led Advantech to shift from a regional to an industry-focused model?

Customers expected more than just technology. They wanted us to understand their industries, their pain points, and their growth areas. That meant moving from being simply a supplier to becoming an advisor and strategic partner. Competition is no longer local, it’s global. We strengthened our regional footprint over the last decade, with strong country organizations and local leadership. Now, with solid roots and a strong customer base, we are taking the next step: shifting to an industry-focused structure. By going deep into sectors, we can specialize, consult more effectively, and truly help our customers compete globally. That’s why we decided to move to a sector-led model.

What specific goals or improvements does the company expect to achieve by focusing on individual industries?

Two years ago, when we launched this strategy, we asked ourselves: what should our ambition be for the next 40 years? Today we have more than $2 billion in revenue and a market capitalisation of $10 billion. So, what comes next?

We looked at external opportunities and identified a clear global trend: digital transformation and IoT. Across industries, be it manufacturing, IT and telecom, healthcare or transportation, companies are connecting their existing infrastructure to digital systems to become more productive, efficient, and data-driven.

This is where Advantech’s portfolio fits perfectly. Our strengths - industrial computing, communication, IoT software, data acquisition - are exactly what companies need to connect their brownfield systems to modern digital platforms. And with AI now driving many of these transformations, the opportunity is even greater. The decision to move towards industry focus was about aligning with this opportunity. To succeed, we need to understand verticals in depth. That’s how we can become true specialists in Edge, AI, and digital transformation, helping customers achieve their goals while positioning Advantech for long-term growth.

How will the new structure impact internal processes, collaboration and strategic operations within the company?

A good example is our e-commerce journey. Initially, online sales were simply one of our go-to-market channels. But digital transformation made us rethink this model. E-commerce is standard in B2C, but a few years ago it was still rare to see it done well in B2B. That’s why we decided to innovate and develop our own platform.

We launched IoT Mart, our dedicated e-commerce platform, and in January 2025 it went live in Europe after 18 months of preparation. IoT Mart is not just another sales channel - it is part of our digital transformation. It drives process improvements across the organisation, from sales to logistics to production. It also provides a knowledge-sharing hub for the wider IoT community.

Other departments are already leveraging the processes and innovations created through e-commerce to improve their own operations. This is just one example of how customer-centric initiatives influence not only how we serve clients, but also how we collaborate and innovate internally.

As we become more industry-focused, we will apply the same principle: understanding not only the technical needs of customers, but also their business models. This will allow us to keep innovating, both internally and externally, in line with sector-specific demands.

What changes will the industry-led focus bring for sales and the ways customers are approached and supported?

It will bring multiple benefits. First, it allows us to scale our expertise globally, instead of limiting knowledge to specific regions. By focusing on verticals, we can develop much deeper domain expertise, which in turn improves the scope and quality of our customer engagement.

Advantech has built over 10,000 products in the past 42 years, from computing to communication, data acquisition, and software. In the past, this was largely product centric. But if we now take these competences and align them with the needs of a vertical, say, manufacturing, we can offer a complete package that is unique in the market.

Customers benefit from faster time-to-market, simpler implementation, and better support. For example, we can customise products easily, drawing from our wide portfolio, so customers don’t have to wait long for a tailored solution. We also uphold strict quality standards, including certifications required in different verticals. Think of transportation, where onboard train systems need specific approvals, or energy, where requirements differ by country. By aligning certifications and solutions with vertical needs, we make it easier for customers to find everything they need under the Advantech umbrella. When you combine this with our software capabilities, the value proposition becomes even stronger. Customers not only receive certified, high-quality hardware, but also software platforms like WISE-Edge to connect and process data seamlessly from the field to the cloud. This integration is what makes Advantech more than a supplier – it makes us a knowledge hub and a strategic partner.

How will Advantech customers benefit from the new organizational structure and what concrete changes can they expect in their daily interactions or project support?

Going global does not mean losing local presence. Europe remains fragmented, with many languages and decision-making cultures. Local footprint and face-to-face support are still vital. At the same time, many of our customers and partners are consolidating, often merging into pan-European structures. Our new organisation mirrors this, combining local closeness with global strategy.

For customers, this means the best of both worlds: proximity and language support, combined with the ability to work with us seamlessly across borders and technologies. It also means access to more complete solutions. For example, in the semiconductor industry, customers no longer want just a computer. They want integrated systems: computer, communication, power supply, cabling; all in one module. Advantech can deliver this, speeding up time-to-market and simplifying the supply chain.

We are focusing on six main verticals: manufacturing, transportation, energy and utilities, healthcare, retail, and logistics. On top of hardware and IoT software, we are adding services like design-in, customisation, and e-commerce. This combination creates a unique value proposition for our customers.

Is there anything else you wanted to add, Jash, that maybe is not included in the questions that you would like to see in that article in that written Q&A?

Yes, I would emphasise the importance of software. Hardware has been our foundation for decades, but software is now critical to enabling intelligent solutions. Our WISE-Edge platform is a good example. It connects field devices through multiple protocols, processes data at the edge, and makes it available for cloud integration. This allows customers to make real-time decisions at the edge while also building data-driven business models.

What makes Advantech unique is that we offer both the hardware and the software to achieve this IT/OT convergence. We cover everything from certification and protocol conversion to edge computing and IoT software frameworks. That means system integrators and equipment builders can work with one partner to bring data from the physical world into the digital world.

This combination – hardware, software, IT/OT expertise – gives Advantech a unique position in the market and makes us a strong enabler of digital transformation.