At the time research companies and industries pundits are trying to answer on the question why cloud PLM adoption is not going as fast as some vendors dreamed about five years ago, industry cloud business is probably going through the roof. At least this is what I learned from Techcrunch article yesterday. Navigate to the article Why 2017 will be the year of the industry cloud, which speaks about M&A and other related activities in the industry cloud segment. I found the following passage interesting:
Large diversified industrial and telecom companies have not only realized the value of the industry cloud, but have grasped that they must evolve into technology companies to avoid disruption. That will motivate them to take an aggressive deal-making posture. They can afford to make mistakes in what they choose to buy. What they can’t afford is to lose the leadership positions they’ve built in their historical market segments. What makes these industry cloud companies so attractive? They’re uniquely well-positioned to capitalize on advances in two areas all of these potential buyers can’t help but consider strategically important: machine learning and the Internet of Things.
Here is the thing. Data is a new oil in 21st century. PLM companies didn’t do well with data. Existing PLM platforms are build on rusted RDBMS platforms. At the same time. industrial companies are looking how to capitalize on the value of vertical data. Data collection from sensors and company databases with long history of operational transactions can be a goldmine for new SaaS applications.
It made me think about an impact industrial internet activity can provide on cloud PLM applications struggling to break through the wall of manufacturing company adoption. It can be a good news for PLM vendors. Massive infusion of cloud technologies and SaaS application can remove some of the concerns manufacturing companies have about cloud PLM. Also, IT organization will be pushed to adopt knowledge and experience in running cloud applications.
What is my conclusion? An acceleration of industrial internet can remove some of the cloud PLM adoption inhibitors by pushing more cloud technologies to manufacturing companies. It can be a good news for cloud PLM vendors. At the same time, companies will acquire new technologies and might have concern about existing cloud architectures promoted by some PLM vendors hosting existing on premise PLM platforms using IaaS infrastructure. Just my thoughts…
Best, Oleg
Want to learn more about PLM? Check out my new PLM Book website.
Disclaimer: I’m co-founder and CEO of openBoM developing cloud based bill of materials and inventory management tool for manufacturing companies, hardware startups and supply chain. My opinion can be unintentionally biased.
