Product lifecycle management research program on cloud-based solutions published

CIMdata announced the publication of a multi-sponsor collaborative research program report on the use of cloud-based solutions to enable product lifecycle management (PLM) strategies and processes in industrial companies.

By CIMdata January 4, 2018

CIMdata announced the publication of a final report from a multi-sponsor collaborative research program on the use of cloud-based solutions to enable product lifecycle management (PLM) strategies and processes in industrial companies.

The initial research program focused on the collaborative product definition management (cPDm) segment of PLM, defined by CIMdata as the category of data and process management solutions at the core of most industrial PLM implementations. In 2016, CIMdata estimated the cPDm segment at over $5.6 billion, up more than 5.2% over 2015. A small portion of this estimate is cloud-based, but the segment is poised to grow significantly in the next few years.

To help execute this research program, CIMdata enlisted several leading PLM solution and service providers. The extended research program team collaborated to develop a Web-based survey intended to help identify the crucial issues facing potential cloud adopters and lessons learned from companies that have considered or made the move to cloud-based PLM.

The research program included several elements, including an initial Webinar highlighting the key issues. The Webinar introduce the global survey to learn more about industrial organization cloud adoption processes and status. Interviews with thought leaders from sponsors and their lead customers were published on the CIMdata.com blog and promoted on social channels by all participants to encourage broader discussion on the topic and to promote survey participation.

Stan Przybylinski, CIMdata’s vice president, said: "Cloud-based enterprise applications are dominating other application domains, like customer relationship management (CRM), but have barely scratched the surface in supporting PLM. 80% of our respondents are using one or more cloud-based enterprise solutions. Their PLM strategies are underpinned, for the most part, by legacy on-premise solutions, with 35% having implementations that are 5 to 10 years old, and another 22% over 10 years old. Only about 16% of our respondents were currently using cloud-based PLM solutions, but just about all of the cloud-based PLM solutions have some trial use within the respondents, which bodes well for future adoption and implementation."

Industrial companies are looking for many different benefits from moving to the cloud, as shown in the figure above. Many are looking to ease their IT management burden. The licensing costs and flexibility help with reducing capital expenditure, lowering startup costs, and allowing rapid scale up and scale down as needed.

Cloud adoption clearly has benefits, but it also creates issues for organizations using it. Integrating cloud-based PLM offerings and enterprise systems topped the list at 45%, with security close behind at 43%. 65% of respondents either were already using cloud-based systems, or had budget to proceed, 72% within 12 months, and another 22% in 24 months. The research also included questions about information sources and decision-making processes across the adoption lifecycle.

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– Edited from a CIMdata press release by CFE Media. See more Control Engineering PLM and control design stories.

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