How can the Cloud & PLM help Your Global Enterprise?

Cloud hype has been growing in the PLM industry for awhile now. Interest in Cloud-based product lifecycle management is growing fast and deployments are becoming more and more common.

One of the big problems is that people are talking about "going to the Cloud" as if you're just going to wake up tomorrow and decide to move everything... everyone knows that's just not going to happen. Yet, the cloud hype continues.

Chad Jackson from Lifecycle Insights has actually put some thought into when, how and why large enterprises might consider using the Cloud for specific PLM scenarios.

He's identified some different scenarios that could benefit from Cloud-based solutions and are particularly relevant to global companies and might make sense to consider:

1. ) Organizations entering into rapid co-development projects:

Sometimes when companies want to hit fast moving market windows they engaged with customers, strategic suppliers, and outsourced manufacturers.  In this scenario it is common that both parties are not willing to share the data and information that is in their own PLM systems.  The solution is a PLM system that can be easily and quickly deployed, accessed by all key parties and must be flexible to meet the needs of both parties.

2.) Separate & Finite Duration Programs

Situations arise where the business unit is unable to use the existing PDM/PLM system and needs a new environment.  This is commonly because the developmental effort requires highly specialize practices and methodologies that sometimes only fit this one project or program.  We tend to see these types situations arise in the Aerospace and Defense industries.  To handle this scenario, a PLM system that is quick to deploy, flexible, upgradeable, secure and can support highly specialized needs and compliance requirements is key.

3.) Separate or Transitional Development Scenarios

We all know that change is inevitable in the business world.  Sometimes when undergoing mergers, acquisitions, divestiture or Join Ventures, operations, including product development, must be separated out as a stand-alone PLM environment for the new organization.  This scenario calls for a PLM system that is quick to deploy, can easily handle data migration and be able to provide archiving and retrieval methods.

 

These scenarios demand an alternative to traditional PDM systems. "Technology advancements combined with new business models provide a promising alternative. A flexible, agile PLM solution deployed on the Cloud meets the fast start-up time requirements of these scenarios. These new Cloud-based solutions represent an excellent fit for decentralized development projects and programs," notes Chad.

Read the full Lifecycle Insights article: http://aras.com/plm/003310