CIMdata Concludes 2010 North American Vendor Forum and Releases 2009 PLM Market Analysis

ANN ARBOR, Michigan —CIMdata, a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) consulting and research firm, presented its 2010 America’s PLM Vendor Forum—the first in a series of global events. This forum was held in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA on March 25th 2010.

CIMdata’s PLM Vendor Forums are the world’s premiere gathering of technology and service suppliers focused specifically on the PLM market and issues concerning its development and growth. Participants gathered to hear CIMdata’s perspective on the state and trends of the current and future PLM market, as well as a detailed discussion of CIMdata’s research and perspective on 2009 PLM market results. These included CIMdata’s extensive analysis and forecasts regarding market growth across PLM domains, industries, and regions, and the performance (revenue and market share analysis) of leading PLM solution suppliers.

In CIMdata’s annual “State of PLM: Today’s Market and Leading Trends” address, Mr. Peter Bilello, CIMdata’s Vice President, stated that “In today’s highly-competitive and cost-conscious market, PLM is even more important for enabling an organization’s ability to become more efficient and innovative—especially as companies need to do more with the same or fewer resources.” He added, “In many ways 2009 was a positive year with regard to PLM, despite the overall market being down approximately 10%. PLM’s adoption as a true “enterprise” initiative clearly became more visible in 2009 and it is driving investments in expanded solutions and developments to make it more valuable for enterprises of all sizes.” In Mr. Bilello’s concluding remarks, he commented that the global economic downturn drove many companies to recognize and incorporate PLM as a critical component of their survival strategy and an enabler of business recovery. He went on to say, “In many cases, PLM is needed for the re-tooling of companies and perhaps even entire industries.”

Commenting on the PLM market in 2009, Mr. Ken Amann, CIMdata’s Director of Research, said, “Even with a global economic downturn, financial uncertainty, and a harsh business climate, companies continued to support PLM although they reduced their overall investments.” Recent statistics compiled by CIMdata show that the Comprehensive PLM market experienced a 9.6% decline in growth in 2009. Mr. Amann added, “While the first half of 2009 was definitely down, during the latter part of 2009 the PLM market began to return to positive growth.” Nevertheless, a wide range of companies continued investing in PLM to achieve short-term benefits as well as long-term strategic value throughout the product lifecycle and across their extended enterprise. The ability of small- to medium-sized businesses to invest in PLM was more widely impacted by the loss of credit than that of larger enterprises. “PLM may be one of the major factors in determining which companies are best able to maintain their competitive position as global markets rebound,” noted Mr. Amann.

In addition, CIMdata provided the participants with practical insights and approaches that they can use to navigate the PLM market during the current economic recovery, and discussed two major trends impacting companies as well as the PLM industry—social networking and compliance/sustainability.