In Episode 55 of Razorleaf’s Stay Sharp podcast, The State of PLM 2024, co-hosts Jen Ferello and Jonathan Scott pause their investigations into the various nuances of product lifecycle management, project management, and business decisions. Instead, they step back for a broader view of the PLM universe, drawing on their experience with boots-on-the-ground workers. Together they tackle where PLM is going, what they’re seeing in the world of implementations, what companies interested in PLM should consider, and what all of that should mean to listeners.
Cloud is the Major Change Agent
Jonathan makes the point at the outset of the conversation that he’s using the word “cloud” broadly, explaining, “It is the combination of cloud and software as a service … but also X as a service—fill in your favorite X there, infrastructure as a service, platform as a service.” A rundown of the types of cloud offerings he sees includes: a traditional, on-premises installation in a company’s own datacenter; a traditional, on-premises installation in someone else’s datacenter; an “on-premises” installation on someone else’s infrastructure as a service (IaaS), such as Amazon Web Services or Azure; or a software as a service (SaaS) cloud PLM system from a PLM vendor.
His reason for enumerating some of the many cloud PLM flavors is to make clear that cloud has options that can suit a variety of needs. Clearly, that’s often a benefit, but it’s also a challenge because there might be too many choices. “It’s made it very difficult for [customers] to compare and contrast, and they get lost in the noise. Then they lose the thread of what they were trying to do in the first place,” he says.
It’s Not Unusual to be Confused
Confusion is a major trend Jonathan and Jen see around PLM, along with a learning curve as customers are forced to dive deep into the financial and technical implications of every possible configuration to be sure they’re making good business decisions. “I could do this PLM system from that vendor and that PLM system from that vendor. And then they get sideways because they’re comparing the on-premises version hosted on a cloud provider against the cloud native option,” Jonathan says. When comparing the cost of the two systems, they might not be factoring in the cost of the hardware or the monthly IaaS charge, which are incorporated into the cost of the cloud-native option.
Jonathan also cautions that “cloud” doesn’t always mean the same thing to everyone—customer or vendor. But different definitions can be dangerous, because you need to understand the implications of what you’re buying. For example, if you have your own service and you buy cloud PLM licenses and install it yourself in your datacenter or IaaS, when you stop paying the PLM bill, you no longer have access to the PLM platform or upgrades, but you still have access to your data. In contrast, you might use cloud PLM from a PLM vendor on servers the vendor manages. In that case, you don’t have to do any server or software maintenance or upgrades, and you don’t have to pay for any physical or virtual infrastructure. But when you stop paying for PLM, your access goes away—and so does your data. Jonathan says, “How you get it dictates what you get, how it behaves, and what modes it can operate in.”
PLM Scope is Still Evolving
The other constant Jonathan and Jen see in the PLM industry is change, in part because PLM is doing all kinds of things that it didn’t do in the past. “PLM has evolved from product data management into product lifecycle management,” Jen says. “The concept change really opened it up. Product lifecycle is not just the product data, it’s all the other things.” Notable additions these days include model-based systems engineering (MBSE), simulation lifecycle management (SLM) or simulation process data management (SPDM), and model-based enterprise (MBE). Even PLM-adjacent processes, such as application lifecycle management (ALM) and access to standalone applications, are being considered within the PLM environment because of the need to integrate and provide customers with a seamless workflow.
“[PLM] is something you need to constantly be revisiting and educating yourself on,” Jen says, “because there’re a lot of options out there.” Jonathan adds, “And keep your technology strategy and your PLM strategy aligned with your business strategy. That’s the key.”
Learn More About the Current State of PLM
The full podcast contains more discussion and details on a variety of topics, including other considerations for selecting your cloud PLM offering, how to avoid being confused by “cloud” terminology, and more.
Check out the full conversation in Stay Sharp Episode 55: The State of PLM 2024, and join us each week for a new podcast.
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