Making Connections at PLM Connection 2012

I recently spent several days at the Siemens PLM Connnection 2012 event in Las Vegas. Luckily, I did not lose all my money and end up in a ditch. I also did not sell my hair to a wig shop; but I digress. Despite all the distractions there, I was able to learn a lot of new things. There were tons and tons of sessions to choose from and a lot of good information was shared; three of the sessions were actually mine (below), so I am a bit biased.

CIMdata PLM University Session 1
CIMdata PLM University Session 2
CIMdata PLM University Session 3

Most importantly I met some great people! We often follow people on Twitter, or read blogs, or watch videos, but often we don't actually meet many of the people we follow. Two of the people I met there were Susan Cinadr (@susancinadr) and Dora Smith (@dorsmith). I have followed both of these interesting people for several months on Twitter, and now I have actually met them; they are much nicer in person, by the way.

There are many lessons one could take a way from PLM Connection 2012. What stands out for me is the amazing breadth and depth of PLM technologies available today. A popular Chinese saying, "May you live in interesting times", was actually an ancient curse. All the options for PLM today might seem daunting, but there is no reason to worry when you have an event like PLM Connection where you can learn as much as you want.

These are certainly interesting times for PLM. There are new technologies like cloud computing, big data analysis, mobility, gamification, social PLM, and others that will make big impacts. I look forward to seeing what Siemens PLM will do in the future to support these and other exciting technologies.

For me, PLM Connection 2012 provided a peek into the expanding world of PLM, and provided a lot of food for thought. I look forward to future events where I can continue to connect with my social peeps!

Cheers,

-Jim