Trends like IoT, digitalization and Industry 4.0 are bringing several opportunities as well as lot of challenges for the manufacturing industry particularly SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises). One of the possible ways to deal with some of the challenges, such as reducing time-to-market and dealing with market uncertainties, is to improve the New Product Development Process (NPDP). This in turn needs a holistic approach to address both technological and non-technological aspects simultaneously. The research presented in this article investigates the factors and their dependencies which can accelerate or decelerate NPDP. The findings are based on empirical studies from two Swedish manufacturing companies. The data is obtained for the projects related to digitalization and connectivity as well as traditional product offerings by the case companies during the last 10 years. From managerial perspective the work provides guidelines as a basis for improving NPDP in an organization for attaining sustainable competitive advantage in the adoption of new trends.