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New research by Tech-Clarity and PTC highlights four key success factors that distinguish high performers in Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) from the rest of the pack:

• Strategic business alignment

• Process-based solution design

• Reduced customization of PLM software

• Comprehensive, role-based learning and adoption

Sounds pretty obvious, right? Well, sort of. But, as usual, the devil is in the details. The practical reality is that the companies that actually follow these approaches in detail achieve business results far greater than those which take shortcuts in planning, implementation, and adoption.

On average, the 200 business and IT leaders from Europe and North America in the survey reported modest improvements in the three most important business objectives that drove their PLM investments: time to market, product development efficiency, and reduction in product cost.

Global Services Insights

High Performance PLM:Four Keys to Outstanding Business Results

3% Improvement

4% Improvement

2% Improvement

Average Improvement for 200 Business and IT Leaders

A recent survey reported modest average improvement in key PLM business metrics.

Time to Market

Product Development Efficiency

Reduced Product Cost

0%3%

5%

10%

15%

0%4%

5%

10%

15%

0% 2%

5%

10%

15%

About the Research:

PTC Global Services and Tech Clarity, an analyst firm that specializes in product life cycle management, interviewed 190 senior business and IT leaders in April 2012 about their experiences with PLM. The goal of the telephone survey was to understand key success factors in planning, implementing, and adopting PLM solu-tions in complex manufacturing environments.

The survey highlighted four issues: PLM strategy and approach, programmatic challenges, implementation and adoption techniques, and adoption. Survey partici-pants included representatives of a wide range of manufacturing companies across Europe and North America, including automotive, aerospace, industrial, and consumer products.

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A Closer Look

Digging deeper into the data, however, we can see that a “high perfor-mance” group of companies are realizing business improvements five to ten times as great as the average and lower performing companies.

What are these PLM leaders doing differently?

The most important differences lie in how companies plan and manage their PLM initiatives, regardless of experience level or scope.

In particular, high performing companies are much more likely than others to emphasize four things in planning and managing their programs:

1. Strategic business alignment: Align PLM planning to key business objectives with detailed implementation roadmaps and scorecards to ensure program accountability for business value, not just tech-nical improvements.

2. Process-based solution design: Focus first on business process improvement and look to software capabilities that support process change, rather than taking a software-first approach.

3. Reduced customization of PLM software: Hold the line on software customization to keep costs in check and preserve flexibility for future growth and change.

4. Comprehensive, role-based learning and adoption: Take a more strategic and role-based approach to learning and adoption of the new processes and tools vs. relying mostly on basic training for soft-ware features and functions.

Most companies will naturally gain more value from their PLM programs as time goes by and the organization gains more experience with what can and cannot be accomplished across the organization. For those that want to accelerate time to value, however, these four key success factors truly separate the high performers from the rest.

About PTC Global Services

The 1400 professionals at PTC Global Services help the world’s leading manufacturing companies gain product and service advantage through solution strategy and design, process transformation, technology configuration, and organizational training and adoption. Our in-house experts and premium services partners work overtime to ensure the best possible results and maximum return on investment. Learn more at PTC.com/consul t ing .

For more Insights from the Global Services team, please visit blogs.ptc .com/categor y/s trategy/. Or scan this code with your mobile device.

Time to Market

Product Development Efficiency

Reduced Product Cost

Differences in Improvement

0%

8.9%

1.5%5%

10%

15%

0%

13.3%

1.3%5%

10%

15%

0%

5.8%1.1%

5%

10%

15%

1.5% Improvement

8.9% Improvement

13.3% Improvement

5.8% Improvement

1.3% Improvement

1.1% Improvement

High Performing Companies

Lower Performing Companies

© 2012, Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC). All rights reserved.

Information concerning the benefits and results obtained by customers

using PTC solutions is based upon the particular user’s experience and

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processes, typical or generally expected results are not available. PTC, the

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tered trademarks of PTC and/or its subsidiaries in the United States and in

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About the Author

Rob Leavitt is Director of Thought Leadership at PTC Global Services, the consulting arm of PTC. A long-time advisor to top technology and IT services firms, Rob works with PTC consultants, partners, and customers to advance understanding of key issues and challenges in product development, manufacturing, and after-market service. Contact Rob at rleavitt@ptc.com. Follow Rob on Twitter at @PTC_Consulting.