CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
25 October 2004
Product News
Sopheon Brings Portfolio and Program Management Solution and Expertise to Microsoft's Program for Collaborative Product Development
Sopheon , an international software and services company, announced today that it will bring its portfolio and program management (PPM) system and expertise to Microsoft's Program for Collaborative Product Development (CPD), which provides a solutions framework for helping manufacturers expedite the delivery of products to market, while reducing costs associated with the product development process. Sopheon will work with Microsoft to develop and deliver solutions that further integrate many of Microsoft's collaborative technologies into Sopheon's Accolade product development system.
This announcement is consistent with Sopheon's publicly-acknowledged focus on building strategic relationships that extend the functionality, scalability and market reach of its Accolade system and support expansion of implementation capabilities to keep pace with escalating market demand for Sopheon's solution. In related news, Sopheon also announced today that it would integrate Microsoft Office Project Server 2003 and Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2003 into Accolade to further enhance the solution's collaborative, information-sharing and enterprise deployment capabilities.
Microsoft's Program for CPD is designed to help companies make optimal use of investments in Microsoft productivity, project management and collaboration solutions to improve new product development (NPD) success rates. The approach centers on enabling better collaboration among cross-functional team members so that projects are completed more quickly and with higher quality deliverables, while providing seamless access to information that allows for faster, better decision-making. It addresses two critical aspects of product life cycle management (PLM): portfolio and program management; and product design and collaboration.
"Sopheon has developed a reputation as a domain expert in product portfolio and product development process management," said Don Richardson, director, Manufacturing Industry Unit at Microsoft. "By combining their advanced software solution and industry-specific knowledge with Microsoft's proven, easy-to-use technology solutions, Sopheon has responded to the industry's demand for tools that provide the collaboration and communication capabilities needed to help manufacturers deliver products to market faster."
"The emphasis of Microsoft's concept of Collaborative Product Development goes to the heart of what it takes to achieve new product success," said Andy Michuda, chief executive officer of Sopheon. "No product development process will work unless it is used. One of the reasons our Accolade solution has been so successful is that we have been able to take advantage of Microsoft technology to help achieve ease-of-use and high process adoption rates that translate directly into improved ROI from R&D spending. By furthering our efforts with Microsoft through the CPD program, we will be able to extend Accolade's functionality and scalability, while also enabling users to derive greater value from their existing Microsoft investments. We are pleased to be part of the CPD initiative not only because it makes good business sense for Sopheon, but because it makes good business sense for our clients and prospects."
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