For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Market Overview: PLM Deployment Support

New Offerings From Vendors And Service Providers Lower Implementation Hurdles

by Roy C. Wildeman, October 21, 2009

As companies pursue a more ambitious agenda for product life-cycle management (PLM), the complexity of their application deployments is on the rise, creating a host of new integration, data migration, and customization challenges for application development . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Smart Grid Technologies: Coming To A Utility Near You

Modern IT And Communications Systems Are Transforming The US Power Industry

by Roy C. Wildeman, October 19, 2009

Today's energy companies face an unprecedented quandary of regulatory requirements, market pressures, and public scrutiny that, in combination, act to disrupt traditional approaches to cutting costs and servicing consumers. With the recent federal stimulus . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

PLM SaaS Adoption: The Barriers Persist, But Don't Rule It Out

by Roy C. Wildeman, July 1, 2009

With the costs of product life-cycle management (PLM) applications under more and more scrutiny, software-as-a-service (SaaS) is getting more attention as a viable alternative approach to on-premise deployments. Today, however, the adoption of SaaS for . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

The ROI Of Product Life-Cycle Management

A Total Economic Impact™ Analysis Uncovers Extended Rewards Alongside Risks

by Roy C. Wildeman, June 15, 2009

As companies pursue a broader agenda for product life-cycle management (PLM), the scope and complexity of their application implementations can make it harder to track, or even realize, the business value of those investments. A Total Economic Impact . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Forrester's Best Practices Framework For Adopting PLM In Services Organizations

Lessons For Companies Where The "Product" Is Not a Manufactured Good

by Roy C. Wildeman, April 10, 2009

Forrester interviewed users, vendors, and systems integrators operating in financial services, telecom, and other services industries to research the common principles behind leading methods for the collaborative management of product information where . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Case Study: CNA Insurance Deploys A Smart Combination Of PLM Processes And Technology

by Roy C. Wildeman, April 10, 2009

To support its $10-billion property and casualty insurance business, CNA Insurance needed a way to tame its product data complexity and drive better turnaround time for new product introductions and changes. By combining foundational product life-cycle . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Case Study: Asian Telecom Boosts Its Service Offerings With Product-Centric Practices

by Roy C. Wildeman, April 10, 2009

To better compete in the Asia Pacific telecom market, this leading communications service provider needed a way to revamp its product delivery capabilities and address distressing time-to-market and cost performance. By taking a product-centric view of . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Manufacturing Intelligence Tools Help Deliver Lean Software

A No-Frills Approach To Plant Visibility Brings Fast Results

by Roy C. Wildeman, March 12, 2009

Today's IT environments in manufacturing organizations are characterized by disparate, siloed applications segmented by different data models and jury-rigged integration constructs — a reality that makes maintenance as well as future application development . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

A Process And Apps Introduction To The State Of Product Life-Cycle Management 2009

by Roy C. Wildeman, March 10, 2009

Today's product life-cycle management (PLM) champion faces terrific ambiguity in defining the right PLM process and applications strategy for the business. To help benchmark the most-common approaches, Forrester surveyed 130 PLM stakeholders across a . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

An App Dev Introduction To A Process Overview Of Product Life-Cycle Management

by Roy C. Wildeman, February 11, 2009

Manufacturing and services firms are increasingly seeking out expanded, enterprisewide product life-cycle management (PLM) functionality to meet demanding product development requirements. However, the reality of supporting end-to-end PLM processes — . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

An App Dev Introduction To The Forrester Wave™: PLM Applications, Q2 2008

by Roy C. Wildeman, February 11, 2009

Despite the emergence of product life-cycle management (PLM) in services organizations, the majority of PLM deployments and application offerings are still defined by manufacturing firms seeking to improve the efficiency of their product development processes. . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

The State Of Product Life-Cycle Management 2009

by Roy C. Wildeman, February 6, 2009

Increasingly, manufacturing and services firms are seeking out expanded, enterprisewide product life-cycle management (PLM) functionality to meet their complex product development requirements. To benchmark the state of this expansion, Forrester surveyed . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

App Dev's Role In Bridging The Embedded Software Development Gap

by Roy C. Wildeman, December 16, 2008

As the world market for products with embedded software expands, a persistent gap between software development and other systems engineering disciplines is leading to myriad quality problems, costs, and recalls. Increasingly, application development professionals . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Achieving Interoperability And Collaboration Among Disparate CAD Data

by Roy C. Wildeman, December 2, 2008

Standardized CAD (computer-aided design) data is a persistent pipe dream for many engineering organizations, as different proprietary CAD systems proliferate across company divisions and supply chains. Worse, engineers and nonengineers alike must often . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Bridging The Embedded Software Development Gap

Approaches For Integrating Product Software Within Complex Systems Design

by Roy C. Wildeman, September 5, 2008

To compete on innovation and deliver high-end functionality, manufacturers are embedding more and more software into their products — and finding that software bugs and compatibility failures can cripple new product introduction (NPI) profits. To address . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

The ROI Of RFID For Asset Tracking

A Total Economic Impact™ Analysis Uncovers Big Benefits When Minimal Inventory Controls Are In Place

by Patrick M. Connaughton, Roy C. Wildeman, July 29, 2008

Asset tracking using active Wi-Fi-enabled RFID tags is getting more interest these days. Why? For one, even with the high cost of tags, there's actually a clear ROI in sight for these investments. To illustrate this, we created two conservative ROI models . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

The ROI Of RFID For Supply Chain Visibility

A Total Economic Impact™ Analysis Links Gains To Depth Of Systems Integration

by Roy C. Wildeman, Patrick M. Connaughton, July 18, 2008

Among the various applications of radio frequency identification (RFID), employing the technology for supply chain visibility has generated particular enthusiasm and controversy for manufacturers and distributors across a variety of industries. Amid the . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Market Overview: Manufacturing Execution Systems

More Options Emerge To Support Global Deployments

by Roy C. Wildeman, July 7, 2008

Manufacturing process and applications professionals often see their choice of available manufacturing execution system (MES) software whittled down by specific vertical orientations, as vendors have historically focused on plant-specific challenges. . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Project Portfolio Management (PPM) For Product Development

R&D Executives Have Distinct PPM Requirements; Technology Options Abound

by Roy C. Wildeman, June 20, 2008

Just as CIOs are turning to project portfolio management (PPM) software to help drive faster, more predictable IT projects, R&D executives are investigating PPM initiatives to address similar pain points in the product development process. Unlike . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Product Life-Cycle Management Applications, Q2 2008

CAD Players Retain Their Lead; ERP Players Are In Hot Pursuit

by Roy C. Wildeman, April 29, 2008

Forrester evaluated leading product life-cycle management (PLM) applications across approximately 70 criteria from the perspectives of both discrete-based and process-based manufacturers. In the established discrete-manufacturing market, we found that . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Product Life-Cycle Management For Services?

How To Approach PLM When Your "Product" Is Not A Manufactured Good

by Roy C. Wildeman, March 24, 2008

What does product life-cycle management (PLM) mean for a services organization where the "product" is not a manufactured good? Several important PLM processes apply to services firms in industries like financial services, government, and telecom services. . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Best Practices: Product Data Management

Lessons On Building The Foundation For PLM

by Roy C. Wildeman, February 12, 2008

Forrester interviewed manufacturers and systems integrators across a variety of industries to research the common principles behind leading methods for managing a company's core product information. We identified product data management (PDM) best practices . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Case Study: Procter & Gamble Masters Enterprisewide PDM

by Roy C. Wildeman, February 12, 2008

To support its track record of innovation, Procter & Gamble's product data management (PDM) strategy has to accommodate local, specialized methods for complex product designs while taking advantage of the company's sizeable economy of scope across . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Quality Management Solutions For Manufacturers: Some Assembly Required

Approaches To Address Today's Compliance Mandates

by Roy C. Wildeman, November 8, 2007

The combination of regulatory, customer, and globalization pressures is creating a "perfect storm" for compliant manufacturers. As compliance mandates grow, nearly all manufacturers face business imperatives to better manage and document process control . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

People-Centric Applications Support Lean

CDC Factory Focuses On The Critical Process Owners — That Is, The Operators

by Roy C. Wildeman, September 27, 2007

Lean manufacturing programs encounter all kinds of roadblocks, including operators who are frustrated and disengaged from the information systems. Designing for people — a principle demonstrated by CDC Factory's operations execution system — helps reinforce . . .