Category: PLM

10 tips for choosing the right Cloud PLM provider

How to make a future-oriented decision

Flexibility and agility are crucial for companies in today’s dynamic business world. This also applies to Product Lifecycle Management. Accelerated product development and a shorter time-to-market are essential to remain competitive. While a traditional on-premises PLM solution was the only option in the past, digitalization brought about an alternative – Cloud PLM. Today, PLM system providers offer agile and rapidly deployable cloud solutions for managing the entire lifecycle of your products.

There are numerous companies in the market offering various functionalities and packages. But how do you find the provider that perfectly meets your specific requirements?

This blog post provides you with 10 essential tips to consider when choosing a Cloud PLM provider.

1 Understanding your requirements:

As a first step in your search for the right cloud PLM provider, define your specific requirements and goals. What do you expect from a Cloud PLM solution? Which functions and features are important for your company? Make sure your requirements cover both short-term and long-term needs. Answer the following questions:

  • What type of products do you develop or manufacture?
  • What processes need to be managed?
  • What integrations with other systems are necessary?
  • What is your budget?
  • How many employees will be using the cloud PLM system?

Comparing your requirements list with the offered software packages will help you narrow down the selection of providers.

2 Functionality:

Carefully examine the offered functionalities and compare them to your requirements. Can you expand the range of functions if needed? This helps prevent high time and cost expenditures often associated with changing providers.

3 Integration and interfaces:

Check whether the Cloud PLM software is compatible with the software tools and applications your company uses, such as MCAD, ECAD, ERP, MES, and CRM. Integrating data into the Cloud PLM system helps you avoid data silos and consolidate all relevant information in one software – the Single Source of Truth – to enable cross-departmental access. Dr. Patrick Müller explains how to break down data silos in this interview.

4 Scalability:

Ensure that the provider’s software is scalable and can keep up with your company’s growth. It should also be possible to add or remove users without causing interruptions or incurring costs for a system change.

5 Security and data protection:

The security of your company and product data is of utmost importance. Evaluate the provider’s security measures to ensure that your data is protected from unauthorized access. It is also important to check compliance with regulatory guidelines and certifications. For more information on data security in Cloud PLM systems, we recommend this blog post.

6 Performance and service quality:

Ensure that the performance quality and availability of the software are contractually guaranteed with a Service Level Agreement (SLA). In the SLA, the provider and customer define aspects including how the provider handles outages and ensures data recovery.

7 Costs and licensing:

Many providers offer different packages of their Cloud PLM software with varying functionalities. Review the pricing structure of the provider and compare it to your budget. Also take into account the ongoing licensing costs.

8 Customization options:

Complex processes require customized solutions. Check whether the provider allows for customizations beyond the standard PLM functions. DevOps services enable you to continuously develop and optimize your business processes even after migration and implementation.

9 References and trial versions:

Take a look at the provider’s website to see if reputable reference customers are using the software. Experiences from other customers can provide valuable insights. You can also take advantage of free trial versions to test the software in your company.

10 User-friendliness and support:

An intuitive user interface should be an important factor in your decision. The user-friendliness of the software is crucial for the acceptance among your employees and eventually their productivity. Ensure that a personal contact is available to you for any questions or issues.

Conclusion

Choosing a Cloud PLM software provider requires thorough research. Consider your specific requirements and take sufficient time to compare different providers. By taking these 10 tips into account, you will find the vendor that best suits your needs and helps you optimize your product development processes.

CIM Database Cloud provides you with all state-of-the-art PLM functionalities, adapts to your requirements, and seamlessly integrates into your existing systems.

Data security in Cloud PLM systems

How Cloud PLM systems ensure data security on the highest level

As technology advances at a rapid pace, product life cycles become shorter, and the amount of digital information grows exponentially, companies face the challenge of managing their product life cycle data in a more effective manner. Consequently, more and more companies are turning to Cloud PLM systems that enable them to access data from anywhere and at any time. While the benefits of a cloud solution outweigh the drawbacks, there are still concerns. Specifically, about whether the data in the cloud is secure. In this article, we delve into the advantages of cloud-based PLM systems and demonstrate that solutions adhering to current security standards and requirements offer the highest level of data security and can be significantly more reliable than locally operated systems.

Security benefits of Cloud PLM compared to locally installed PLM systems

In a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, cloud service providers are responsible for maintaining security features in the application and ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data. They also ensure compliance with current cybersecurity standards, regularly update the software to address new security risks and vulnerabilities, and continuously monitor the system for potential threats. When it comes to security, most companies do not have sufficient resources to make investments in hardware, infrastructure, and personnel comparable to the major cloud providers.

Thanks to economies of scale, cloud administrator teams operate more efficiently and with greater specialization compared to administrators of an on-premises installation. As a result, routine tasks such as updates and maintenance are reduced for internal IT teams, allowing them to focus more on their day-to-day operations, such as user satisfaction, implementing new IT features, and company-specific IT security matters.

Security measures of Cloud PLM providers

To ensure that data is fully protected, cloud applications should adhere to current best practices and comply with all relevant regulations regarding cybersecurity in the cloud. Five measures have become widely established in this regard:

1. High-security data centers and encryption

Cloud PLM providers rely on highly secure data centers equipped with state-of-the-art security technology. These data centers provide physical protection, access control, and active monitoring around the clock. Additionally, all data stored in the cloud is protected by cutting-edge encryption technologies. In the highly unlikely event of a security incident, the data remains unreadable to unauthorized parties.

2. Access control and permissions

Cloud PLM systems offer precise control over who can access the data. Assigning individual permissions at the user level ensures that only authorized users have access to specific data and functions. Administrators have the option to define user roles themselves and assign individual permissions. This ensures that employees can only access information relevant to their work.

3. Regular security updates and maintenance

Cloud providers perform regular security updates and maintenance to promptly address potential vulnerabilities and keep the systems up to date. This ensures that Cloud PLM systems are constantly protected against current threats.

4. Redundancy and disaster recovery

Another crucial aspect of data security in the cloud is redundancy and disaster recovery. Cloud providers store their data in distributed data centers at multiple locations and conduct systematic and professional backups. This provides protection against data loss due to hardware failures or in the event of a disaster.

5. Compliance and certifications

To meet the highest security standards and ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data, cloud providers should adhere to compliance guidelines and certifications. One notable standard in this field is ISO 27001. It provides a framework for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and continually improving security management systems, procedures, and policies. Depending on the region and industry, other certifications may also be relevant.

Humans – a factor of (in)security

Once a company has chosen a suitable cloud-based PLM system and selected a cloud service provider that adheres to all best practices for data security in Cloud applications, the first major step towards data security is taken. However, to ensure maximum security, another important element is needed: the training of the company’s employees.

The security of data in PLM systems largely depends on the conduct and expertise of the employees. Therefore, it is crucial that they undergo regular IT security training. These trainings should teach employees how to recognize phishing attacks, suspicious emails, malware, and questionable links in order to prevent unauthorized access. Employees must also be sensitized to report suspicious incidents to protect themselves and their colleagues.

Cloud PLM systems with document management and an integrated communication tool significantly reduce the risk of encountering insecure emails or links, as communication takes place in a protected environment. Encouraging users to utilize such features directly contributes to enhanced security.

Furthermore, it is of great importance that employees are trained on how to securely handle confidential data and strictly adhere to the company’s privacy policies in order to prevent data breaches.

Conclusion

Cloud-based PLM systems offer you the highest level of data security through the use of encryption, access control, regular updates, redundant data storage, and the compliance standards of cloud service providers. Still, the security of your PLM system data also depends on the behavior of your employees to a large extent. Regular IT security training is essential to ensure that users are aware of current threats.


Take advantage of the many benefits of cloud-based PLM software now: With CIM Database Cloud, you get a secure solution to protect your sensitive product development data.

How the entire company benefits from PLM

The advantages of a PLM system beyond product development

The transformation pressure on manufacturing companies is increasing. They need to optimize their core business while simultaneously driving their digital transformation, enabling them to quickly react to changing market conditions and new customer requirements. Particularly for companies with complex product portfolios, it is essential to accurately calculate costs from the initial customer inquiry to order completion, coordinate manufacturing and development across locations, and involve numerous suppliers while always keeping an eye on target achievement.

An integrated PLM system helps companies master these challenges and set the course for long-term competitive success. With suitable function modules and interfaces, it supports them to align processes across departments for maximum efficiency, grasp complex interdependencies faster, and significantly reduce the time to market of their products.

Discover the specific added value that a PLM system provides to your company beyond the development department:

Product cost management

With integrated product cost management, product costs are calculated quickly and reliably during development. Pricing is optimized while costs are kept within budget.

Reliable sales planning is crucial for product development. In order to offer competitive products, companies need to know as early as possible what these will cost and are allowed to cost. If prices exceed the market average, they must offer convincing arguments to potential customers as to why. To achieve decent contribution margins, however, prices cannot be too low either. When conditions change – for example, due to fluctuating material costs or altered manufacturing processes resulting from new customer demands – this often leads to problems. This is because key metrics are usually calculated in separate IT systems in the controlling or accounting departments – outside product development, where 80% of the product costs are determined. Information synchronization and exchange are not digitally harmonized, making them time-consuming and error-prone. Under these conditions, meeting project budgets can be compared to navigating by sight in thick fog.

With the help of integrated product cost management, companies can accurately calculate product development costs in early development stages. When selecting a PLM system, a product costing module with easily adaptable calculation schemes should therefore be a factor to consider. This allows you to calculate various product lines at the same time and adhere to project budgets by capturing costs during development.

To enable the costing of product variants, colleagues outside product development should have direct access to the engineering bill of materials as well. A PLM system with its role-based access management concept allows just that. With this approach, companies set the course early on to achieve the desired profit margin. By analyzing different sales volumes, they determine the optimal price and increase product profitability.

The following areas in the company benefit from integrated cost management:

Controlling: A product costing module integrated into the PLM system allows the controlling department to directly access calculation schemes as well as product cost calculations from development and set relevant directives. This helps you ensure product profitability and contribution margins, increase cost-effectiveness, and steer your company with precision.

Sales: The quick and reliable calculation of variants, for example, for requested material alternatives, accelerates the quotation phase. Your sales team can provide quotes on short notice – and thus quickly increase revenue.

Procurement, materials management, and logistics: Keep larger quantities of frequently requested and used parts in stock to reduce procurement costs. Additionally, materials management can proactively stock alternative materials in appropriate quantities with regard to increasing sustainability aspects.


Product development: Control and break down costs to determine project profitability based on actual needs rather than fictitious specifications from the ERP system. This allows you to plan project costs realistically and adhere to budgets. Simultaneous cost tracking within the project enables you to document expected work efforts directly in the work breakdown structure and compare them with the cost breakdown. By utilizing project cost reports, your team always stays on top of things.

Requirements and variant management

Effective requirements and variant management sets the foundation to implement customer requirements faster, configure variants in no time, and bring innovations to market sooner.

Customer requirements are constantly increasing in both their quantity and the level of detail of their specifications. As the number of product variants grows, so does product complexity. Without requirements management along the entire product lifecycle, rapid and efficient development is hardly possible – let alone the use of suitable methods to support interdisciplinary collaboration, such as MBSE.

The increasing variant diversity also raises the risk of compromising the cost-effectiveness of procurement, manufacturing, and quality assurance. This is because, in conventional approaches, small batch sizes do not allow for economies of scale and the corresponding cost reductions.

PLM Software with integrated requirements management enables faster and more accurate product development in accordance with customer requirements. Requirements can be documented throughout the entire lifecycle and captured and edited more easily. The relationships between requirements are visualized in the digital product model and the degree of fulfillment can be permanently tracked. Additionally, PLM-supported requirements management provides the foundation for Model-based Systems Engineering (MBSE) for interdisciplinary teamwork.

Integrated variant management enables companies to strategically align their product portfolios and minimize the effort for variant configuration. With feature- and rule-based variability models, they can build platforms and product systems, limit variant diversity, reduce proliferation, and manage their portfolio in an efficient and cost-effective way. Additionally, the digital data and process organization of the PLM system facilitates largely automatic documentation, which significantly simplifies the fulfillment of compliance requirements.

Departments beyond development that benefit from PLM with integrated requirements and variant management:

Sales, product management, and product development: Sales can respond more quickly to customer inquiries and capture new or modified requirements directly in the PLM system. Product management and product development can easily process these requirements and simultaneously track their implementation, reducing lead times and increasing innovation productivity.

Variant management enables the targeted development of product portfolios tailored to market demand. Across departments, the company thus combines customer orientation with efficient value creation – for example, by leveraging intelligent process patterns and delivery strategies like CTO+ (Configure-to-Order in conjunction with Engineer-to-Order).

The platform approach and product systems set the foundation for a cost-effective and efficient portfolio. Furthermore, a PLM system ensures alignment with the company’s strategy and compliance with sustainability goals. It enables them to develop their products with cost-effectiveness in mind – even from batch size 1 –  and implement innovations for new market opportunities or business fields faster. This is enabled by intuitive configuration options and reusing existing variability models stored in the PLM system.

Effectively limiting variant diversity: The interaction between maximum BOM (also known as 150% BOM) and sets of rules prevents the creation of uneconomical variants. Through a PLM system with integrated variant management, the portfolio can be managed in a clear and structured way.

Support for product, quality, and compliance management: Thanks to automatically recorded comprehensive documentation, design decisions can be accurately traced back even years later. This makes it easier to meet compliance requirements with clients and authorities.

Procurement, materials management, and logistics: Frequently used components are stocked in various material alternatives and in larger quantities, reducing procurement costs. This enables companies to increase cost-effectiveness, shorten delivery times, and increase customer satisfaction.

Conclusion: A PLM system benefits the entire company!

PLM systems ensure end-to-end data availability along the digital thread. They enhance collaboration within product development and across departments, all the way to supplier chains. A PLM system as a central database (in the sense of a “Single Source of Truth”) with modern IT-supported collaboration tools significantly shortens time to market, reduces efforts in the quotation process, and simplifies compliance with customer and regulatory requirements.

Companies looking to manage the complexity of their product portfolio with a PLM system do not necessarily have to put up with high administrative efforts. Cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions provide preconfigured and standardized function modules out of the box. A user-friendly no-code environment allows the specialized departments to set up the software themselves without requiring any specialized IT knowledge. Furthermore, companies relieve their IT department from efforts that traditionally come with installing and maintaining dedicated hardware infrastructure. Updates and backups are performed automatically, eliminating the need for manual interactions. Extensive cloud security technologies provide reliable protection against cyberattacks and prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data.

Benefits of SaaS PLM at a glance:

  • Building and managing complex product portfolios
  • Systematic product cost management during development
  • Comprehensive requirements management throughout the product lifecycle
  • Rule-based variant management
  • Implementation of methods to support effective interdisciplinary collaboration in complex projects
  • Fast response times
  • Reduced workload for internal IT department (in times when IT specialists are scarce)
  • High availability and IT security

Take advantage of cloud-based PLM software now: CIM Database Cloud is the solution for end-to-end digital product development. With “Innovate”, you bring innovations to market faster and manage your product portfolio with ease.