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17 April 2009

CIMdata PLM Industry Summary

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Manufacturing Executive Leadership Forum  Hannover Messe (logo)

Managing Automation Media, CIMdata, and Deutsche Messe announce The Manufacturing Executive Leadership Forum, an executive level invitation-only event to be held on the Fair Grounds during HANNOVER MESSE.

The Manufacturing Executive Leadership Forum is a special 3-day executive-level briefing developed exclusively for senior level manufacturing industry leaders attending HANNOVER MESSE. It will combine the high-value insights, ideas and proven strategies of some of North America's and Europe's leading manufacturing industry thinkers, practitioners and market analysts.

Learn more about The Manufacturing Executive Leadership Forum

CIMdata Polls: Listening to the PLM Community - How have these stressful economic times impacted your PLM program?

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CIMdata Online Polls

CIMdata is now featuring online polls with real time reporting on our web site at http://www.cimdata.com/polls/polls.html. Each week the results of the previous poll will be included in the CIMdata PLM Industry Summary to help you stay on top of trends in the PLM industry.

Take a moment to visit the site and vote on our current poll.

The results for the last opinion poll are:

The latest CIMdata Opinion poll (March 2009) sought to understand what PLM solution suppliers can do to successfully sell their solutions in today’s stressful economic times. The choices from which participants selected primarily focused on various forms of cost and/or benefit-related strategies. As illustrated in the graphic, one-third of poll participants indicated that the solution supplier community needs to do a better job articulating their solutions’ value propositions (e.g., show how their solutions reduce cost and improve efficiency). This is not too surprising since during stressful economic times, most companies are clearly looking for quick return on investment (ROI) initiatives. What is somewhat surprising is that only 7 percent of participants indicated that solution suppliers should offer alternative payment schemes (e.g., leasing, etc.). In times where many companies are generally cash-poor and/or reluctant to layout cash, it would actually make sense for them to seek purchasing arrangements where they don’t have to spend capital to receive measurable business benefit.

Another surprising result of the poll is the very low percentage of participants who indicated that the most important thing that could be done was for solution suppliers to ensure that their software supports a company’s preferred Information Technology (IT) platform (e.g., .NET, Java, etc.). This is surprising because managing multiple technology platforms can, and usually does drive up support costs significantly. Furthermore, it has been CIMdata’s experience that companies generally seek to reduce IT support costs during stressful economic times by consolidating platforms and/or systems. This is a trend we have seen during past stressful economic times and one which we expect to see more of in today’s economic climate.

Finally, it is worth noting that 24% of poll participants indicated they feel that all of the strategies mentioned are valid options for PLM solution suppliers seeking to be successful in today’s stressful economic climate. This in fact means that more than 50% of poll participants would actually like to see PLM solution suppliers better articulate their solutions’ value propositions. This is by no means a rounding error; clearly this is an area in which solution suppliers have to do a better job.

NOTE: The results of these polls are anecdotal, not scientific.
If you have a suggestion for a poll you'd like to see contact us at info@cimdata.com.

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