How many PLM vendors disappear in disruption predicted by Gartner?

Both of us have been in PLM for a long time and we have seen how slow PLM market dynamics change, so I don’t see anything significant happening in the next 5 years. Further, once a company has implemented PLM software, switching to another vendor is extremely expensive and not a fun task.

Scott, thanks for commenting! Yes, you are right- it is expensive and slow. However, because of last 10 years transformation and M&A activities, many companies stuck with outdated and/or previous versions deployed PLM projects. It is an opportunity for disruptors. Don’t you think so? Best, Oleg

Why Asia?

Interesting observation. I think that overall cost of producing PLM is very high, if you include Sales and Marketing activity included. Without that, any new fully blown PLM product will be dead. Not sure about CAD – this is might be different.

I agree that the trend depicted in the slide is fairly obvious. As you suggest, the question is if anyone can disrupt the status quo in a meaningful and worthwhile fashion. Over the last decade the battlefront has moved from PLM vs. PLM to PLM vs. ERP. In my opinion, ERP companies have the ability to move PLM to a higher level by augmenting structured product data (BOM) with other information: supply chain, quality, service, customer experience, and others.

But mainstream ERP companies, namely Oracle, SAP and Infor, are doing only a mediocre job in messaging and delivering this value. At the same time, PLM vendors are much more active, trying to “redefine PLM” and seeking opportunities that some might considered the turf of enterprise players, such as supply chain, cost management, service, and retail.

Bottom line? Not much change at the top as far as the players, but I believe that the sphere influence of “pure play” PLM companies will grow whereas PLM offering from ERP companies will lag. Nonetheless, Gartner’s Peter Sondergaard may be too hasty to predict the demise of Oracle or Microsoft. Replacing an ERP or a PLM system is not as simple as substituting a Cisco switch for a different vendor.

The opportunity for innovative companies – established or upstarting – is to leverage the wealth of information to improve decision making in every stage of the product lifecycle. It’s more than just reiterating the growth of sensor-generated data and information explosion. It’s about providing rich context for higher-fidelity product and customer related decisions that are based on complex multidisciplinary data that currently resides in multiple systems: PLM,
ERP, bespoke applications and myriad of emails, spreadsheets and the like.

One last note. I don’t share Gartner’s opinion that we are close enough to the point where “3-D printing will change everything.” Much work is a head of us in order to “industrialize” 3D printing, but that’s a different conversation, which you can join here http://joebarkai.com/does-3d-printing-doom-the-supply-chain/

Joe, thanks for your insight, examples and links! To me the key point is related to how leverage information for decision making. It sounds good in “general terms”, but when it comes down to the earth in a real companies situation, traditional siloed approach and throw over the wall methods are still taking place. It will be interesting to see how many news companies will try to challenge the status quo of big vendors in ERP and PLM domain. But, I’m pretty sure, it will come a lot during 2010s. Best, Oleg

Process are still made of documents. SAP and others have an ERP approach that take care of metadata but has a very poor document management (sometimes a link to a shared file system), and no (o near nothing) integration with document production software (Office, CAD, Media editor, …)

So, is PLM only about flow & form management, like ADOBE vision in LiveCycle Suite? I don’t think so.

The answer could be simpler then we think. Many department has many different needs and one approach for all is not a correct answers. Many product connected in a single well integrated system is the best answer I found in 12 years of Document, Product Data and Lifecicle management system implementation.

Do industries really need a single heavy PLM ?

Hi Oleg,

Change is inevitable. Here is a slide I created about 10 years ago, trying to document the evolution of the industry to that point. Easy to see that there have been a lot of changes.

Joe has a point, about the need to combine product lifecycle data with other enterprise data. This should give a leg up to enterprise software companies, who provide those systems of record, to reuse a phrase in vogue. At the same time, however, the systems of engagement for product lifecycle participants have left a lot to be desired.

I think that the usual suspects will be around for some time, since these systems never die. But there will be winbacks and replacements that will shift around the logos on solution provider Websites. This makes delighting the customer even more important for long term success.

Stan Przybylinski
VP of Research
CIMdata, Inc.

“Files have their place, but they are often where information and knowledge go to die” great concept explanation. That is one of the most important concept : information usability (use and reuse ad again) . And where does knowledge workers use it ?

1) In process (of flows): that where all good PLM can automate and save time. Data extraction from file to metadata is a mast.

2) In document creation, wherever in simple “first page” title and address auto compile for a word processed document or a more complex assembly drawing with in drawing BoM. (Many PLM are not connected to CAD and BoM is a separate document or data structure, but cannot place in drawing.)

3) In document processing. With no (server side) integration INTO the document you cannot write inside the document. What about the state (new, controlled, approved, ecc…), many PLM work around it updating files when open by the user… but if I sand the file out of the organization without open the document: metadata are not Write into the document. (and many oder cases but I do not wont to write a poem).

Did the major PLM software houses have understood that ?

Stan, thanks for sharing and commenting. Yes, I agree completely -existing solutions have a very long lifecycle and this is what will keep many companies alive in this domain. However, the replacement will happen more and more often by brining product focusing on a specific value and with low TCO.

Shaun,

thanks for your comment and insight! Yes, it is interesting perspective and demonstrate some specific characteristics of how consultancy and advisory works in enterprise software. I’m not sure it is all “paid advertising” :). However, the story about “never been fired by signing a contract with IBM” is still here. I’d love to get your opinion on one of my recent posts – Crowdsourcing and PLM consultant’s future.
http://beyondplm.com/2013/12/16/crowdsourcing-and-plm-consultants-future/ …

Best, Oleg