One of my readers, asked me earlier today why PLM ISVs are not talking much about paradigm shift. I thought it is a great question, which is really hard to answer. Vendors are using many buzzwords. I don’t want to mention list of buzzwords here, but I’m pretty sure all of them are available in vendors’ marketing materials. And also included by analysts in industry Hype Cycles. PLM vendors are talking about many new things in the industry and each vendor is different. Although discussion around vendors ranking is convincing us that there is no much functional difference between current established PLM vendors.

I decided to look for answers in the notes I captured last week during PLMx event in Hamburg. I was listening to Nick Leeder presentation about PLM Industry Survey he conducted. I don’t have an intent to put all slides here. You can contact Nick and talk to him. However, I want to share few that caught my special attention.

So, first who attended. This is an important data point.

And here is a summary, which shows many issues and problems with PLM.

PLM is still very much around engineering and related functions.

And after many years of “simplification”, PLM is still complex.

This one is shocking. Even data is created in PLM applications, a huge number of users are not using vendors’ tools to get data out of these PLM databases

Cloud is still a myth and existing PLM vendors aren’t doing much with cloud.

Siloed approach and absence of integration is a major showstopper.

What is my conclusion? So, getting back to the question from my readers. I think existing vendors are here for 20 years and their business is established using current technologies and business models. Paradigm shift will demand vendors to change. And it might not be for their advantage. Remember Nokia, Kodak and some others that missed some industry changes and technological transformations. However, I think, It is a time to introduce paradigm shift in PLM industry. To move from from data control to data intelligence. To provide easy data sharing and communication. Connecting data in different silos, streamlining processes and simplification of experience. Easy to say. Simplicity is hard. But, I’m pretty sure, it is a right time to work on these problems. Future of PLM looks exciting. 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.

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