Last week I posted about changing faces of product development following PI Congress in Berlin. One of the conclusions I’ve made is that we are starting to see a changing world of enterprise as a result of new generation of employees coming to the world of manufacturing. It is a very interesting shift and, I’m sure, we are going to see many changes in the future. What becomes more and more clear that manufacturing world is changing and it will demand a new type of software. This type of software is coming from web eco-system, mobile and gaming industry. And it will be demanded by enterprise.
Thoughts about gaming and different devices took me back to one of my old posts – PLM and the future of Gamification. One of the key element of future gamification is actually people. Looking back, 3-4 years ago, it was hard to find people that would be considering enterprise or business software as a cool place. It is a time to get an update and see if more people and new companies are getting involved in the business of for enterprise software. The following blog post caught my attention yesterday. Navigate to Altimeter’s Take: The Technologies That Matter from SXSW 2013 by Jeremiah Owyang about South by SouthWest Conference (SXSW 2013). For many years, this conference was a home place for hardware, consumer technologies, games and other cool stuff. It looks like this year it was a bit different. Hardware and enterprise were in focus. Here is my favorite and probably most important passage if you are developing enterprise software (and PLM) these days.
Software innovation continued, but mobile enterprise was a star. Software was not forgotten altogether, and from the festival that’s brought us many a fun app and game, this year the interest was in work. It seems the developers and mobile-centric brands are finally on-board the billion-dollar-bandwagon that is enterprise mobile development. Crowds lined up around the block to hear about mobile apps for major brands and to help people do their jobs. The era of Angry Birds millionaires while not quite over, is waning and the future is better tools for work that act like the toys we all enjoy on our mobiles.
So, this is how my provoking blog title is coming from. People are looking for better tools with the quality of games and other consumer applications to get their job done. PLM vendors need to think about how to change the balance of development forces and mix people with design and enterprise experience with young talents ).
What is my conclusion? The transformation is coming. SoMa is probably still full of consumer startups. However, the interest to enterprise software is growing. I won’t be surprised some ex-Angry Birds Developers soon will be applying for job positions in PLM and other business software companies. Just my thoughts…
Best, Oleg
