A New CIMdata Program Review: SAP's New PLM Roadmap—Enabling Product and Service Leadership
ANN ARBOR, Michigan, July 17, 2008—CIMdata, the leading global PLM consulting and research firm, announces the availability of a recently-published review of SAP's new PLM Roadmap program The paper identifies the challenges facing businesses today, SAP's approach to helping companies address these challenges through their business strategy-based initiatives, PLM's role in supporting those initiatives, and a detailed look at SAP's new PLM Roadmap.
Commenting on today's highly competitive business environment, Ed Miller, President of CIMdata said, ''Companies are under continuous pressure to remain competitive. New competitors, new products, and new markets are contributing to this pressure. Customers want new, more innovative products that are tailored to their specific needs. They also want service and support that is timely, cost-effective, and focused to their needs.'' Mr. Miller further explained that companies of all sizes ''are demanding that their technology and application suppliers provide business-level solutions, not just applications and hardware that have new features and functions.'' He noted that business investment decisions today are based on the overall value that the initiative will provide to the company—expanded market share, higher profitability, improved customer loyalty, and more efficient use of the company's resources and intellectual capital—not just an individual's or a group's productivity or new functionality.
As a leading provider of enterprise solutions to companies in many industries across the world, SAP has determined that to continue to increase value to their clients, they need to be a more value-added solution provider than primarily a supplier of technology solutions. In order to meet this objective, SAP has identified a select suite of Business Strategies to communicate the issues that they will address with specific value-added solutions. They have stated that these Business Strategies will guide SAP's development of future products and services and clarify SAP's priorities for the industries they serve. SAP recognizes that Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is a key enabling vehicle for addressing these issues. As a result, SAP has renewed its focus and commitment to PLM and has initiated an aggressive, multi-year development roadmap to strengthen and expand its PLM solutions. CIMdata's review provides a perspective on SAP's PLM program and its fit within SAP's suite of offerings.
Copies of the ''SAP's New PLM Roadmap'' Program Review are available at no cost through the CIMdata website.
