Is Your Business Ready for PLM?

Ready, set go! The race to implement PLM has started. Many people will approach PLM implementations like a sprint, when in reality it's a marathon. Successfully implementing any technology in your business is challenging, but PLM is especially tricky. That's because PLM is a strategic decision, not just software; and PLM never ends! There are also many people that must be involved to achieve PLM success.

What can you do to make sure your business is ready to get the most out of PLM? Here are some key areas that you can evaluate to see if you are ready for PLM success:

1) Executive Support - If you do not get support from a high level executive sponsor for PLM, you won't make if very far. PLM is a strategic activity with an enterprise vision, and it means that it must be supported from the very top of your organization.

2) Organizational Support - There will be many organizations that need to be part of the overall PLM implementation. If you do not have support from key people in all of your organizations, you will struggle to successfully implement PLM.

3) User Support - Do you have a good plan to involve your users in the PLM selection process, and a good Cultural Change Management Plan to continue interactions with users after the initial implementation?

4) IT Support - Like it or not, PLM technology will involve a large amount of commitment from your IT organization. If they are not on board, or if they just look at PLM as another piece of software to install, you really won't get very far with your PLM implementation.

5) Education - Are all of the people involved with PLM properly educated? If you educate right from the beginning, you will get much better success with your PLM implementation. All of the above people need PLM education so that there is no confusion about what PLM is, and how it can benefit your business.

There are obviously more aspects of PLM to consider, but these are some of the key items you must evaluate BEFORE you dash off on your PLM race.

What areas of PLM are you working on today?

Cheers,

Jim