A blog by Oleg Shilovitsky
Information & Comments about Engineering and Manufacturing Software

Cloud and PLM Solution Evaluation

Cloud and PLM Solution Evaluation
olegshilovitsky
olegshilovitsky
15 April, 2010 | 2 min for reading

I think, Enterprise Software is not simple. And Product Lifecycle Management is not an exception and even one of the most complicated pieces of enterprise software. I had chance to discuss how to simplify PLM. However, today, I want to talk about how possible to evaluate PLM solution. Cloud computing, in my view, can change a lot of things in how enterprise software can be development, implemented and deployed. In addition, it made me think about cloud as a possible “evaluation” option for PLM.

Few weeks ago, I came across the publication by Lawson software availability on Amazon EC2. You can take a look on details here. The interesting piece of announcement is the following:

[…Lawson External Cloud Services also features Lawson Test Drive, which begins to change the way Lawson demonstrates its products and how customers purchase ERP software. Lawson Test Drive allows Lawson customers to test real products for up to 14 days using their own business processes and data before committing to the actual software purchase. Lawson Test Drive increases enterprise customers’ confidence that a demonstrated product will match the eventual installed product. Lawson Test Drive is being launched with two of Lawson’s newest, most innovative products…]

In my view, providing possible test drive in the virtual testing environment can be an easy option for customers to evaluate PLM software. I can see the following advantages:

1. Customer doesn’t need to invest into local infrastructure and  IT work
2. Environment can be tuned and optimized by software vendor
3. Evaluation can be shorter and more efficient.

A big question is how to load such a testing system with customer data? This can be complicated task. However, if you think about a pilot project it can be possible, in my view.

What is my conclusion? Evaluation of enterprise software is a very interesting space. Cloud solutions are probably in the beginning of their development in the such areas like CAD/PDM/PLM. However, to use cloud for evaluation can be an interesting option to make an evaluation simpler and in the end to improve customer’s adoption rate. It is always easy when you can test and see how it works…

Just my thoughts..
Best, Oleg

Share

Recent Posts

Also on BeyondPLM

4 6
29 June, 2010

My post Open vs. Closed PLM Debates last week and related Fortune CNN Money Blog article by Jon Fortt –...

1 October, 2015

I was attending Aras Innovator Software-as-a-Service – a new PLM cloud offering of T-Systems webinar yesterday. If you are in...

5 April, 2013

Working with engineers is like herding cats. Try to put few engineers in a room and get an agreement. If...

13 July, 2010

The complexity is probably the biggest problem that exists in PLM today. How can we resolve it? Siemens HD PLM...

12 March, 2023

ChatGPT and AI topics are trending in the industry. The technology is fascinating and everyone is trying to taste it...

10 September, 2019

For the last few months, I’ve been having many discussions and debates about the current state of PLM, manufacturing trends,...

2 August, 2010

Some very interesting news is coming from Lockheed Martin. Navigate to the following link – Lockheed Martin Launches Open-Source Social Networking...

16 April, 2015

I’m on my way to COFES 2015 – annual gathering of people discussing a future of engineering software in Scottsdale, Arizona....

26 July, 2017

Software is eating the world. And products that we know in the past as purely mechanical, today have strong dependencies...

Blogroll

To the top