Dream: PLM Saving Calculator?

I found the following “device” in my mail box today- Google Apps Saving Calculator.The Out-Of-The-Box functionality is damn simple. You select number of people in the organization on the top and see how much $$$ you are going to save when you move to Google Apps. There is also Google Enterprise Apps website.

You can call it completely marketing or crazy. Nevertheless, it made me think again about simplicity and PLM. Current PLM systems and environment are very dependable on many pre-requisites, characteristics, options, etc. At the same time, PLM became mature in many organizations. Don’t you think it is a right time to come with some Bayesian prediction about what PLM can save?

Time to think… what is your opinion?

Best, Oleg

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  • Herve

    Not that creazy, but I wonder if you can really save 3550$ per employee just moving to Google apps.

    are there some other parameters on tat disk? Can you post more pictures of that gadget?

  • Herve, No other parameters… Best, Oleg

  • Prashant

    I will put atleaset $3000 per employee 🙂 and oleg if the software is fOSS you will be saving much more than that coz you will be paying only for the google usage. :-).

  • Prashant, Despite the fact, “calculator” tuned for Google Premier, I believe Standard version make sense too. FOSS + your mailbox is much bigger than average corp. one. Best, Oleg

  • Brilliant. It’s a good strategy. Once you open yourself up to the ROI discussion, you have a couple of places to go. Either you agree with the numbers and want to know more or you disagree with the numbers and get into a conversation about the true value for a customer. Either way, you’ve moved from glossy collateral to a “roll up the sleeves” working session. I’m working on a home project. The vendor that got my immediate attention is the one that had an ROI spreadsheet. He got me asking a lot more questions and questioning his numbers. Although all of the questions I ask may be more than he bargained for, he took the lead position among the various vendors.

  • Bob

    If we only had a tool, or possibly a team, that allowed us to help customers assess the business value that PLM would provide them. Sounds like a great idea.

    It would be a little more complicated than a date wheel, but I bet it would only take 2-3 questions to get a useful discussion started.

  • DJ

    It is a great idea! I suggest one minor update; add a pull down tab with rows & columns to document the names and salaries of the people you will eliminate as that is the only way to validate the “improvement” with your PLM deployment.
    Beyond that you can spend the months & years to do the business case with ROI, NPV, IRR, blah blah blah but if you do not have Sr Mgmt with the intuitive sense of the value of your PLM plan…
    Oh well, hold on during the Grand Recession and then move on as soon as you can.
    The poor bean counters have no experience actually doing product development so you have no option but to translate into the only language they speak = the dollar—which is completely inept at capturing the value. I mean, so what if I move from one iteration of a design on a network drive today to one per hour with PLM and it is available globally? Apparently no value and much higher cost—until you ask to have that CAD file tooled and catch an issue and suddenly…voila you may have done something, maybe not.
    Let the “discussion” plod on…

  • OK how about a tongue and cheek view?

    A PLMer could not develop such a wheel. They will want 100+ parameters and before you know it it will no longer be a simple 2d wheel. I bet it turns into some complex 3d thing. The other issue is the input space required for cost. There is not enough room on the wheel for all the zeros for the product and consulting cost. The expense side will be $35,000 per employee before you start getting value…

  • John Susko

    I have built one of these…
    …email me for details.
    Oleg>>> Thanks John!

  • Sherry

    Would love to see some thoughts on a PLM calculator

  • Rick, Thanks for your comments! Agree with you. When you see ROI-related numbers, your impression and type of discussion will be different. How do you see similar tool for PLM sales? Best, Oleg

  • Bob, why do you see it complicated? Here is my take… If a vendor can get a representative number of PLM implementations (can we?) and build Bayesian (statistical) prediction based on the set parameters (i.e. size of organization). The real biggest question if PLM implementations are mainstream enough to build statistics… Therefore, I wrote it as a dream. Best, Oleg

  • DJ, Thanks for you comment! I think, I got your point… You are saying, PLM is not about dollars, but about the way you work. So, even don’t try to calculate it in plain numbers. The design process and people communication are what important – not necessarily how many times you exchange CAD files. However, even so- do you see any dollar- implication on how an organization can work ;)? Best, Oleg

  • Chris, I’d absolutely love it in 3D :)… Maybe something similar to Rubik-cube? Seriously, I think your position is sort of extreme. I will try to explain why. I think, PLM idea is absolutely good. However, most of the systems today are not ready for mainstream. So, it considered complex and expensive. For most of the cases I’ve seen, PLM implementation is tightly connected to the people in the organization. This is sort of similar to engineering and manufacturing life…. Best, Oleg

  • Sherry, I don’t think one even exist. Let see, may be PLM vendors reps will come and uncover something new… Best, Oleg

  • I’ve just spent the last few weeks creating a simple Strategic Financial Model for our Artwork Management Solutions that calculates the RIO on our AMS applications and the results are very compelling.
    I’m in agreement with Rick, it ignites conversation (this Blog is proof of that) and that has got to be a great start with any CFO in a major organisation
    Oleg, I’d love to get your opinion on the calculator I’ve created, how can I share it with you?

  • Ashley, Thanks for your comment! You can send it to my email oleg dot shilovitsky at gmail dot com. I’d be glad to discuss it with you. Best, Oleg

  • DJ

    Yes, absolutely—there are financial implications & value. My post was attempting to illustrate (and poorly I gather) that to derive that value in a compelling and successful (success = approval to spend the millions required to do a PLM effort) way is a very fluid process. In contrast, you and others were saying how cool it was that there was a calculator to show the suggested value for G Apps. Ok, I agree, it is cool but essentially useless. IF and I mean IF you or anyone else in the audience have spent a large portion of your career at fortune 100 companies in hi-tech in IT and worked on exactly what you are discussing you would probably conclude as I have that each and every one of these projects and associated financial efforts is unique and variable beyond “systematizing” with a pre derived calculator. Alas—I wish it was easier & more direct; we could spend much more effort on deploying the tools instead of justifying why we need to do & attempting to show the value it has created.

  • DJ, The very interesting point is that people, mostly interested in such a type of calculators are non-engineers. These people are kind of CXO type. I think, it is because they are not able to understand the value, other than $$$. Unfortunately, because PLM industry is not able to explain the clear $$$ value, we are spending so much time on justifying why we need tools and not deployment etc… So, I agree with you, but I’m taking this point in reverse- let’s make this tool, prove it and go full speed to implement PLM…. Does it make sense ;)? Best, Oleg

  • DJ

    Yes it makes $ense; let me know when the first draft of the PLM cost to value wheel is ready; I will use it on my next project and let you know how useful it is…

  • DJ, Thanks- I will keep you posted :)… Best, Oleg

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