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A well matched PLM system can be the best thing that ever happened to a company – manufacturing runs smoother, communication improves and day-to-day tasks are completed more efficiently. There are a lot of decisions to make when choosing a PLM solution: Do you buy or build? Is one better than the other? Once you decide, what happens next? There are no easy answers, but this post will help to explain the benefits and pitfalls of buy vs build.
What do you need? Identifying your business needs is an important first step. Define your high level requirements and be aware of the possible internal restraints – staffing, budget, and users. A typical process may look something like this:
- Identify the stakeholders needed to help make the decision.
- Understand the internal workflows and processes inside your company so the software changes for you, not you for the software.
- Identify the functional and technical requirements so you get what you need.
- Understand the attitudes and preferences within your company. For example, IT may have a predisposition to building things in-house or may have too much on their plate to dive into such a large development project.
- Assess your company's resources. Is your IT department big enough to develop an entire system while supporting the company? Do you only need to enhance or modernize a preexisting system? Is there any existing system at all? Are there enough funds for a new project or solution?
- What constraints would each option put on your company in terms of finance, functionality, staffing, performance, etc.?
- Understand the pros and cons of buy vs. build with your company in mind, what maybe be right for one company could be totally wrong for yours.
- When it's time to make the decision, make sure you're realistic. Why buy a system that doesn't meet your needs? And even though building seems feasible to you, it might not work for others in your company.
Building: Is it worth it? Building and maintaining a fully functioning, cross departmental, PLM solution can be an overwhelming undertaking for even the most talented IT department. It can also be a very costly route. For some companies, the perk of aligning all described requirements to their unique business can be dazzling enough to negate the cost. Before you start coding, make sure you consider the ongoing costs your company will f ace maintaining a support staff for fixes, enhancements and future development. Assess the bandwidth and capabilities of your IT department before presenting them with such a large project. Remember that developing your own PLM system takes time, patience, and effort – be sure you are ready for late nights, unexpected delays and potentially, a wonderful reward. And remember, you can also outsource the project to an independent company.
Buying: An easy way out? Buying a PLM system reduces much of the upfront work of designing, coding, testing and fixing a system. But buying introduces a new challenge – finding the best vendor to work with. Not do you want only a solution that fits your technical requirements, you also want to select a vendor you can work with.
If you choose to buy, consider all the costs that will come with the system. Beyond the standard start-up fees, you might have to pay for maintenance and updates, training, technical support, licensing, enhancements and additional license fees as you add users or functionality. And remember the more you customize the product, bigger task it may be to upgrade it going forward.
Additionally, be sure of your requirements before sitting down with a sales team. This will help to keep you from falling for the fancy bells and whistles. Most importantly, never settle for an "okay" system, never buy what you've only seen in a sales demo, and never, ever let the vendor define what you need.
No matter what you choose, implementing a PLM system will create challenges, but the payoff of a successful result is both rewarding and worth the investment.
Take your time with this decision, it's a big one.
