In my earlier post; PLM 2018 my focus, your input, I invited you to send PLM related questions that would spark of a dialogue. As by coincidence Oleg Shilovitsky wrote a post with the catchy title: Why traditional PLM ranking is dead. PLM ranking 2.0. Read this post and the comments if you want to follow this dialogue.

Oleg reacts in this post on the discussion that had started around the Forester Wave ranking PLM Vendors, which on its own is a challenging topic. I know from my experience that these rankings depend very much on a mix of functions and features, but also are profoundly influenced by the slideware and marketing power of these PLM Vendors. Oleg also quotes Joe Barkai’s post: ranking PLM Vendors to illustrate that this kind of ranking does not bring a lot of value as there is so much commonality between these systems.

I agree with Oleg and Joe. PLM ranking does not make sense for companies to select a PLM solution. They are more an internal PLM show, useful for the organizing consultancy companies to conduct, but at the end, it is a discussion about who has the biggest and most effective button. Companies need to sell themselves and differentiate.

Do we need consultancy?

We started a dialogue on the comments of Oleg’s blog post where I mentioned that PLM is not about selecting a solution from a vendor, there are many other facets related to a PLM implementation. First of all, the industry your company is active in. No solution fits all industries.

But before selecting a solution, you first need to understand what does a company want to achieve in the future. What is the business strategy and how can PLM support this business strategy?

In most cases, a strategy is future-oriented and not about consolidating the current status quo. Therefore I believe a PLM implementation is always done in the context of a business transformation, which is most of the time not only related to PLM – it is about People, Processes and then the tools.

Oleg suggests that this complexity is created by the consulting business, as he writes:

Complex business and product strategies are good for consulting business you do. High level of complexity with high risk of failure for expensive PLM projects is a perfect business environment to sell consulting. First create complexity and then hire consulting people to explain how to organize processes and build business and product strategy. Win-win

Enterprise and engineering IT are hiring consulting to cover their decision process. That was a great point made by Joe Barkai- companies are buying roadmaps and long-term commitments, but rarely technologies. Technologies can be developed, and if even something is missed, you can always acquire independent vendors or technology later – it was done many times by many large ISVs in the past.

Here I agree with a part of the comments. If you hire consultancy firms just for the decision process, it does not make sense/ The decision process needs to be owned by the company. Do not let a consultancy company prescribe your (PLM) strategy as there might be mixed interests. However, when it comes to technologies, they are derived from the people and process needs.

So when I write in the comment:

We will not change the current status quo and ranking processes very soon. Technology is an enabler, but you need a top-down push to work different (at least for those organizations that read vendor rankings).

Oleg states:

However, the favorite part of your comments is this – “We will not change the current status quo and ranking processes very soon.” Who are “we”???? Management consulting people?

With “we” I do not mean the consulting people. In general, the management of companies is more conservative than consultants are. It is our human brain that is change averse and pushes people to stay in a kind of mainstream mode. In that context, the McKinsey article: How biases, politics, and egos derail business decisions is a fascinating read about company dynamics. Also, CIMdata published in the past a slide illustrating the gap between vision, real capabilities and where companies really are aiming at.

There is such a big gap between where companies are and what it possible. Software vendors describe the ideal world but do not have a migration path. One of the uncomfortable discussions is when discussing a cloud solution is not necessary security (topic #1) but what is your exit strategy? Have you ever thought about your data in a cloud solution and the vendor raises prices or does no longer have a viable business model. These are discussions that need to take place too.

Oleg also quotes a CIMdata cloud PLM research how companies are looking for solutions as they are “empowered” by the digital world. Oleg states:

In a digital world, companies are checking websites, technologies, watching YouTube and tried products available online. Recent cloud PLM research published by CIMdata tells that when companies are thinking about cloud PLM, the first check they do is independent software providers recommendations and websites (not business process consultants).

I am wondering the value of this graph. The first choice is independent software recommendations/websites.  Have you ever seen independent software recommendations?

Yes, when it comes to consumer tools. “I like software A because it gives me the freedom what to do” or “Software B has so many features for such a low price – great price/value ratio.”

These are the kind of reviews you find on the internet for consumers. Don’t try to find answers on a vendor website as there you will get no details, only the marketing messages.

I understand that software vendors, including Oleg’s company OpenBOM, needs to differentiate by explaining that the others are too complex. It is the same message you hear from all the relative PLM newcomers, Aras, Autodesk, …….

All these newcomers provide marketing stories and claim successes because of their tools, where reality is the tool is secondary to the success. First, you need the company to have a vision and a culture that matches this tool. Look at an old Gartner picture (the hockey stick projection) when all is aligned. The impact of the tool is minimal.

Conclusion

Despite democratization of information, PLM transformations will still need consultants or a well-educated workforce inside your company. Consultants have the advantage of collected experience, which often is not the case when you work inside a company. We should all agree that at the end it is about the business first (human beings are complex) and then the tools (here you can shop on the internet what matches the vision)

Although this post seems like ping-pong match of arguments, I challenge you to take part of this discussion. Tell us where you agree or disagree combined with argumentation as we should realize the argumentation is the most valuable point.
Your thoughts?