In recent years, a number of leading high tech companies have found themselves suddenly following the competition. They have lost their place as market leaders of the pack to younger upstarts. Partially, this can be explained by the ability of the competition to leverage and optimise their product development processes to beat the leaders to the market with the most innovative products.
PLM may sound like just another acronym, but the reality is that it is a way for companies to fundamentally change their way of doing business; from generating a new idea, to market launch, right through to eventual retirement of the product line. Managing your product lifecycle has become more crucial than ever because the pace at which you need to innovate is increasing at a staggering rate.
Don't Get Left Behind by Failing to Invest in PLM
There are some companies out there spending significant amounts of their revenue on product development with the intention of beating you to the market with the next big thing. If you are not investing in your own PLM, you run the risk of putting yourself at a significant competitive disadvantage. Without having the systems in place to completely manage your whole product lifecycle, you’ll find it much harder to improve and optimise your processes and product development. Also, without an effective system of control, it becomes more likely that the products you are developing will end up being late to the market or fail to meet customer expectations.
3 signs that it is time to invest in PLM
There are three common signs that it might be time for your company to invest in PLM:
- Reduce Disconnects Between Teams and Departments: You might recognise this situation- different department working independently of each other, which can lead to miscommunications, problems with version control and delays in your product development. An investment in PLM will integrate some functions, enabling more effective collaboration.
- Invest In Your Data Systems: You live and develop by your data. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to get a comprehensive picture of your product's development, only to find that your data systems are inefficiently categorised or failing to capture and disseminate the data in a useful format.
- Manage Complexity: It seems inevitable that the demands of the market will lead companies to develop ever more complex products. But, this doesn’t mean it has to become unmanageable.
Your PLM investment needs to be properly planned, to ensure it is the right solution for your organisation. It will require time and investment, but the ROI benefits are clear.
To find out more about why you should invest in PLM and the ROI of PLM, download our free guide:
