Experience and Capability in the PLM Market
Contents
Business Advantage has been tracking PLM awareness and uptake since the acronym first became a buzz word in 2002. Our definition of PLM would read something like: “PLM is a set of processes including software that is basically concerned with the better integration of solutions such as CAD, data management, analysis and simulation tools, and enables everyone involved in the product design and development project to work together more effectively”.
This is certainly not a new concept now, or in theory back in 2002, but is still a relatively little known and understood one. In September 2002 we conducted a PLM awareness survey in the mechanical CAD sector, and discovered awareness was very low. We returned to the sector last month and asked very similar questions – see the article in our e-zine CAD Spaghetti for the full results – and found that the results were little different. Just 12% of the managers interviewed said they had heard the term PLM, so visibility needs to be significantly raised by the vendors before PLM becomes recognised for what it is.
Business Advantage has carried out over 300 projects in the technical computing – CAD/CAM/PLM/CAE/GIS markets, one particular specialist area is the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) sector. We help many leading PLM vendors such as IBM/Dassault, Agile, MatrixOne, PTC and UGS to better understand their markets and drive business growth.
For these clients we have carried out; competitor intelligence, market studies, sales lead generation, event recruitment, company profiling, database services and reseller recruitment.
Business Advantage’s specialist telemarketing team has unequalled experience of lead generation projects for the global technical computing markets, with direct experience of; Mechanical, Electrical, Process and Civil CAD, CFD, PLM, GIS and rapid prototyping solutions for clients that include; Autodesk, Bentley, Blue Ridge Numerics, PTC, SolidWorks and UGS.
Business Advantage has completed some 40 channel recruitment projects for many leading IT vendors including; Autodesk, PTC, SGI, Sun Microsystems and UGS.
One recent project was in the civil engineering sector where we initially researched the civil engineering and GIS markets in Japan and China and then profiled and interviewed resellers to find suitable partners for our client.
Business Advantage has considerable experience of company profiling, not just gathering the names and contact details of key people, but uncovering information (generally unpublished) that enables its clients to quickly decide if an account fits its target profile before undertaking expensive sales or marketing campaigns.
The information our researchers can collect is completely dictated to by our clients, but could include; CAD packages used, numbers of seats, size of product range, average time to market of new products, relationships with suppliers, how their opinions are formed about PLM and other design and engineering issues; where they go to receive information so that their opinions can be properly shaped; how satisfied they are with current technology; what improvements they would like to see to PLM technologies; who would be involved in the decision making process for PLM etc.
Business Advantage has carried out company profiling projects for many high profile clients that include; Autodesk, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, HP, IBM, Fujitsu, PTC, and Sun.
Business Advantage’s UK CAD/CAM User Site Database contains the details of over 15,000 UK sites that use CAD, CAM or both and it is the ideal resource for PLM based business development projects.
Sites can be selected using multiple criteria to exactly fit a client’s target market. For example, sites can be selected by business sector, number of employees, CAD used e.g. Pro/E, CATIA, SolidEdge, Inventor etc., number of seats and application area such as mechanical, electronic design etc.
The names of senior decision makers such as Technical Directors, CAD/Design Managers, Managing Directors, IT Managers, Engineering Managers and Production Managers are also recorded.
Importantly, all sites in the database are called at least every six months to check all contact information.
Business Advantage has carried out 100s of market research projects for clients in the global ICT market. Many of these projects have been in the CAD/CAM/PLM/CAE etc. markets and have enabled our clients to better understand;
- new market opportunities
- competitors
- what customers think of their products and services
- what new product features or services would be best received
- future buying intentions
- the awareness and impact of their brand/products.
Business Advantage has carried out research projects for clients that include Agile, Autodesk, Bentley, HP and PTC.
This lead generation project was based upon our client’s market leading PLM offer.
Quality Managers, Engineering Directors/Managers, Product Directors/Managers and other managers connected with decision making for PLM solutions were contacted by our specialist telemarketing team in UK companies with over 250 employees.
Although lead generation was the primary aim of the project, other key information was collected and the level of interest in PLM recorded by our telemarketing team to enable our client better understand the potential interest in PLM in the future.
Data collected included; business description, names, job titles and emails of the key decision makers involved in PLM, whether contacts were familiar with PLM, key business Issues and the process for introducing new products to market.
This project was for a leading UK PLM reseller.
The initial phase of the project concentrated on manufacturers of industrial and consumer products.
Using data sourced from Business Advantage’s unique database of UK companies using CAD/CAM, our specialist telemarketing team contacted companies with 5+ seats of CAD/ECAD, in particular known users of ‘top tier’ CAD systems such as Pro/Engineer, Solid/Edge, SolidWorks, CATIA, AutoCAD and Inventor. Users of CAD applications for electronics design were also contacted.
The initial point of entry into organisations was CAD Managers/IT Managers until the internal decision making process was understood and the primary contact changed.
Where contact was made with a senior decision maker, their awareness of PLM and level of interest were recorded and tables produced analysing sales leads by business sector, number of employees and level of interest. This data enabled our client to plan further campaigns targeted at companies with a profile likely to yield the best results.
The primary objective of the project was to identify well-qualified sales opportunities for our client’s PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) solution amongst a targeted list of eight major prospects in the Aerospace and Defence sector, provided by our client.
The purpose of the calls was to engage decision-makers regarding their business challenges and PLM strategies with a focus of profiling each company’s pains and business drivers to potentially lead to a technology purchase.
As a secondary objective, market intelligence was collected to help our client refine its overall marketing and sales strategies relative to these accounts in the Aerospace and Defence sector. This included the collection and verification of four to seven key contact names appropriate to the evaluation of PLM strategy, collaboration practices and design tools environment.
This study, for a leading PLM supplier, looked at the fashion industry, in particular leading fashion houses in UK, France, Belgium and Germany to understand issues surrounding the subject of Product Data Management systems, Collaborative Manufacturing and e-manufacturing.
Senior directors/managers were targeted to understand; whether the companies outsourced or manufactured all or some of their own clothing, whether product data management systems were in place, or whether they were being considered and whether the companies were using supply chain management systems or were looking to improve it.
Our client wanted detailed profiles of eight targeted companies in the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) sector; Imperial Tobacco, Gallaghers plus some food and beverage companies.
Detailed information was provided on:
- Organisational structure - centralised and decentralised; functional versus product matrix.
- Multiple site details
- Key contacts in the DMU’s (Decision Maker Units) with contact details
- PLM and related systems in use
- Business and channel partners they work with
- Plans in place for PLM.
So when it comes to the PLM market, please contact Business Advantage for any market research intelligence that you feel you lack. Similarly, if you feel that you want to generate qualified sales leads or profile key accounts or generally develop more and better business opportunities from the global PLM sector; we believe, that as a specialist marketing partner, we can help, probably better than any other company. After all, we have been providing tailored research and business development services in the PLM sector for many years.
Tel: +44 (0)1689 873636
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