Bloomberg TV's Betty Liu's recent LinkedIn post: What Would You Really Ask A CEO challenged readers to think beyond the typical questions people ask F500 CEOs. Liu suggests we go beyond questions about market trends and business strategy, and dig deep to answer the question: What would you REALLY want to ask a chief executive of a major corporation who's risen among the thousands at his/her company to get to the top?
In other words, what real information can you get from people who've been there, done that, and can help you do a better job for yourself and for your company?
This got me thinking about the questions I hear every day from people in the PLM selection process. Everyone asks about operating systems, integration, scalability, upgradeability and so on. But is that really what buying decisions are based on? I wondered, what do buyers REALLY want to know?
I came up with a long list, but in the end I think it boils down to this: Was it worth it?
So, flipping Liu's question a bit, I asked myself: Given the opportunity, what would a CIO or VP of Engineering that is about to choose a PLM system ask a peer who has already implemented one?
Was it worth the money?
Was it worth the resources?
Was it worth the projects you had to forgo in order to do it?
Was it worth the results you've seen?
And the big one: Was it worth sticking your neck out for it?
Choosing a PLM system for a company, or replacing an existing one, can be a career-impacting decision. Choose well and you're a hero. Choose poorly and, well…
So what's a decision maker to do? Their homework.
Ask questions. Talk to other users – not just the reference accounts from the sales guys. Get your hands on it. Install the software and try it with your data in your environment. Run a pilot. Do a benchmark. Turn over every rock you can find and then turn over a few more. Then find a PLM company that genuinely cares about your success to the point that they are willing to share the risk with you. And FYI, the PLM vendor that wants millions of dollars in upfront licensing fees isn't really risking anything. Well, except maybe the cost of that round of golf they paid for.
The Getting Started page on aras.com is great place to begin. You'll find product videos, industry reports, customer stories and lots more.