Business and IT leaders know well that education and training are essential to the success of technologybased solutions. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is no exception. If managers and end users don’t learn and adopt new ways of working with PLM solutions, the best software in the world is of little value. All too often, however, companies short-change investments in programs to ensure adoption of their new solutions...

1. Global Services Insights
Four Keys to Ensuring
PLM Adoption
Business and IT leaders know well that education and
training are essential to the success of technology-
based solutions. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)
is no exception. If managers and end users don’t learn
and adopt new ways of working with PLM solutions, the
best software in the world is of little value.
All too often, however, companies short-change investments in programs
to ensure adoption of their new solutions.
The justifications for minimizing adoption budgets often sound plausible:
Our people can figure it out themselves; the tool is not that complicated;
we’ll train a few super users and let them train everyone else.
But the consequences of under-funding can be dramatic. New processes
are ignored, paid-for licenses go unused, duplicative work and error
rates continue, and promised performance gains fail to materialize.
Adequate budgets are part of the answer. Industry benchmarks suggest
that companies dedicating at least 15 percent of overall PLM investments
to adoption programs receive far more business benefit than companies
that fail to meet that threshold.
Just as important, though, is how you invest.
About the Research:
PTC Global Services and Tech Clarity, an analyst firm that specializes in product life cycle management, interviewed 190 senior business and IT leaders in April
2012 about their experiences with PLM. The goal of the telephone survey was to understand key success factors in planning, implementing, and adopting PLM
solutions in complex manufacturing environments.
The survey highlighted four issues: PLM strategy and approach, programmatic challenges, implementation and adoption techniques, and adoption. Survey
participants included representatives of a wide range of manufacturing companies across Europe and North America, including automotive, aerospace, industrial,
and consumer products.
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2. New research from Tech Clarity and PTC points to four specific ways in
which high performers stand apart from other companies with their
learning and adoption programs for PLM.
High Lower
1. Strategic planning: High performers are much more likely than Performing Performing
other companies to create a strategic plan for training and adop- Companies Companies
tion as part of their overall program planning for PLM, rather than
Strategic planning
simply organizing training programs once the new system goes live
(63 percent vs. 41 percent).
63%
2. Company awareness: High performers are more likely to invest in vs.
company-wide communication programs to build awareness of the 41%
need for change, the nature of the change, and the value of the new
0% 50% 100%
solution (59 percent vs. 45 percent).
3. Role-based training: High performers are much more likely to Company awareness
invest in customized training for people and work groups based on
their different roles and responsibilities rather than providing one- 59%
size-fits-all training on software features and functions (51 percent vs.
vs. 31 percent).
45%
4. Test environment: High performers are much more likely to create a 0% 50% 100%
training or “sandbox” test environment for managers and end users
to explore different aspects of the new system before it goes live (51
Role-based training
percent vs. 19 percent).
Relegating “training” to an HR-driven afterthought while program 51%
leaders focus on implementation may seem like a reasonable way to vs.
manage, but the data show that investing the right way in learning and 31%
adoption makes a huge contribution to ultimate business value. As is
0% 50% 100%
so often the case with major technology solutions, the fundamentals of
change management continue to reign supreme.
Test environment
About PTC Global Services 51%
The 1,400 professionals at PTC Global Services help the world’s leading vs.
manufacturing companies gain product and service advantage through 19%
solution strategy and design, process transformation, technology 0% 50% 100%
configuration, and organizational training and adoption. Our in-house
experts and premium services partners work overtime to ensure the
best possible results and maximum return on investment. Learn more at
PTC.com/consulting.
© 2012, Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC). All rights reserved.
For more Insights from the Global Services team, please visit Information concerning the benefits and results obtained by customers
blogs.ptc.com/category/strategy/. Or scan this code with your using PTC solutions is based upon the particular user’s experience and
mobile device. testimonial, is furnished for informational use only, and should not be
construed as a guarantee or commitment by PTC. Due to the varying
degree of complexity of our customers’ products and/or their design
processes, typical or generally expected results are not available. PTC, the
PTC logo and all PTC product names and logos are trademarks or regis-
tered trademarks of PTC and/or its subsidiaries in the United States and in
About the Author other countries. All other product or company names are property of their
respective owners.
Rob Leavitt is Director of Thought Leadership at PTC Global Services, J0459–Four Keys to Ensuring PLM Adoption–Insights–EN–0612
the consulting arm of PTC. A long-time advisor to top technology and IT
services firms, Rob works with PTC consultants, partners, and customers
to advance understanding of key issues and challenges in product
development, manufacturing, and after-market service. Contact Rob at
rleavitt@ptc.com. Follow Rob on Twitter at @PTC_Consulting.
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