Product Management Goes "Hi Tech" with PLM

For many years I was a product manager at Bell Labs. We used three ring binders, ISO 9000 (and then 9001) standards to ensure quality and a lot of Microsoft Excel(TM) and Microsoft Project(TM) worksheets.

The hardest part of the job was keeping the status up to date and making sure that all of the members of the team -- both direct and matrixed (e.g. our counterparts in sales, marketing, support, etc.) knew what they needed to know so we could get to market on time and on budget.

Boy have times changed.

Major software players now offer something called PLM (short for Product Lifecycle Management). Lifecycle is the key word here. The software helps any type of product manufacturer (from shoes to NASA's next generation space ship) from idea through design and manufacture, update cycles, service and support needs and even end of life decisions.

Back "in the day" at Bell Labs we worked on a six month cycle -- which included everything from "patch releases" (bug fixes) to major next generation and even the generation beyond it planning that went out at least three years. That isn't easy to do with three ring binders!

PLM promises to do for product development what ERP did for the factory floor and supply chain.

The article "What is PLM?" outlines the advantages companies can expect by using PLM software:

1. Shorter Time to Market


2. Better product quality


3. Reduction in prototyping costs


4. Savings through the re-use of the original data


5. A framework for product optimization


6. Savings in reduction in wastage.


7. Savings through the complete integration of engineering workflows

As an ex-product manager the biggest bang for the buck potential based on my experience is

• faster time to market


• fewer missed dates


• fewer "mis-matches" in PM / stakeholder expectations and engineering


• better quality control

In January of 2008 the Gartner Group released a report entitled "Magic Quadrant for Manufacturing Product Life Cycle Management, 4Q07." where they list Siemens PLM, Dassault Systems, PTC, Autodesk, Oracle and SAP as providers of PLM software.

Siemens (formerly UGS) is rated the highest. Oracle acquired Agile (if you've heard of Agile). Gartner dropped Infor because their revenue was too low this past year -- but if you are just learning about the various options you might want to consider looking at them.

In these economic times where the stock market is fluctuating and we may be heading for a recession any tool that can help you cut costs while getting to market faster PLM should definitely been on your radar to consider.

Leaders in CRM Analytics

I'm a former NCR Teradata employee having run development of a number of their industry specific CRM "starter kits." Teradata is used by some of the biggest, most successful companies around to track their profitability and keep an eye on the bottom line. Wal-Mart was one of the first to recognize the value of figuring out what sold well in different locations and how quickly things sold. Wal-Mart took the concept of JIT (just in time inventory) from manufacturing to retail -- and Teradata was the tool that let them do it.

These days the world works in multi-channels -- retail, wholesale, brick & mortar and click & mortar. So targeting what you want to sell now needs a clear understanding of your own market value proposition. To do this you need to know the market segment that fits your value prop and the customers who populate that segment. Again this is where analytic tools like Teradata can crunch data and turn it into information that not only tells who who buys what -- but what other market segments and propsect profiles fit that target as well.

All this is a preamble to a new study by the Gartner Group on multichannel campaign management. They've determined that the leaders in this market (no surprise here) are Teradata, SAS and Unica. The one surprise is that Siebel (always a wannabe in analytics with a weak offer) is now a contender.

This information is from Gartner's " Magic Quadrant for Multi-Channel Campaign Management, 1Q 07." Gartner uses a box split into four blocks (2 up and 2 down) to graphically give their POV on who is a leader, a contender, slipping behind, etc. Gartner Group is one of the leading high tech analyst companies around these days having bought Datapro, Dataquest and a few others along the way. From Gartner's report:

“Leaders consistently out-perform in overall campaign management performance for basic and advanced campaign management , as well as for integration with e-marketin. . .Leaders have high market visibility, high market penetration, strong market momentum and a strategic vision for growing the campaign management business.”

Some up and comers named in the report include Aprimo, Alterian and Eloqua.

If you are looking at marketing automation (and if you are doing any marketing at all it is crazy not to -- you are just gambling and guessing without analyzing the success of your campaigns) then consider looking at the companies mentioned by Gartner. Microsoft Dynamics CRM has also announced a BI component so if you are on the small side you can still get analytical information without spending a fortune.