Guest Post: Some predictions for the 2010 PLM Market

This is a guest post from Sanjeev Pal, Research Manager for IDC’s Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) programs in my SBS Group.

Each year many programs at IDC publish Top Ten Predictions for the coming year. The following is a summary of the PLM Top Ten Predictions for 2010. The domino effect of financial crises that led to the global economic recession in 2009 has altered the worldwide economic landscape and has slowed down the growth of PLM applications market. IDC’s PLM applications market includes functional markets like MCAD/MCAM/CAE, cPDM, NPDI, Manufacturing and Other Engineering segment that excludes EDA. Since these functional markets cover numerous industry verticals under manufacturing and non manufacturing sector, they are directly influenced by macro economic trends and the trends of the overall software markets that were mentioned in this post. Here are my predictions:

• PLM Solutions That Are Tailored Specifically for Industry Verticals Will Drive Market Growth…

This is a guest post from Sanjeev Pal, Research Manager for IDC’s Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) programs in my SBS Group.

Each year many programs at IDC publish Top Ten Predictions for the coming year. The following is a summary of the PLM Top Ten Predictions for 2010. The domino effect of financial crises that led to the global economic recession in 2009 has altered the worldwide economic landscape and has slowed down the growth of PLM applications market. IDC’s PLM applications market includes functional markets like MCAD/MCAM/CAE, cPDM, NPDI, Manufacturing and Other Engineering segment that excludes EDA. Since these functional markets cover numerous industry verticals under manufacturing and non manufacturing sector, they are directly influenced by macro economic trends and the trends of the overall software markets that were mentioned in this post. Here are my predictions:

• PLM Solutions That Are Tailored Specifically for Industry Verticals Will Drive Market Growth with Contrasting Demand for Solutions in Emerging and Industrialized Regions
• The “New Normal” Will Give Rise to Increased End-User Buying Power Causing Extreme Pressures on the Existing PLM Vendors to Mold Their Offerings and Also Increasing Opportunity for Aggressive PLM Applications Supplier.
• Convergence of PLM and Business Intelligence Solutions Will Gain Popularity to Provide Product, Process, and Project Intelligence
• Slow Adoption of PLM in Cloud Will Continue
• Sustainability in Design Authoring and cPDM Software Will Remain Important and Gain Regional Momentum
• The Use of Social Product Life-Cycle Management Applications Supported by Open Online Communities Will Increase
• Productivity Enhancement Applications such as Asset Management and Simulation Tools (CAE) That Address the Entire Life Cycle of Products and Processes Will Be in Demand
• There Will Be an Evolution of SmartCAD Tools That Offer Design, Material, and Process Choices in the Initial Design Phase
• The Confluence of PLM and Gaming Technology Will Provide Real Lifelike Experience in the Media and Entrainment, AEC, Mechatronics, and High-End Simulation Domains
• Lightweight 3D Viewers for Collaboration, Documentation, and so Forth Will Become a Requirement for the PLM Portfolio Rather Than a Competitive Advantage

What do you think?