Comments on: Freemium PLM – Yes or No?

By: olegshilovitsky

olegshilovitsky — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:37:58 +0000

Manuel, I got you. Well, in the context of what I posted, feature=service=capability=whatever else customer can consume. You put more technical semantic into that, which is ok. Great discussion. Best, Oleg

By: Manuel Joseph

Manuel Joseph — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:49:20 +0000

Basically, everybody gets the full blown implementation of PLM, but..lets take blackberry as an example.
blackberry has 3G and wi-fi “features” for free because it comes with it, but that doesnt mean, they get free “Services” such as MobilTV or GPS features or others. To use them, they subscribe for it.

SOA – Service oriented architecture concepts.

Am I thinking the wrong way? or this is not possible.

By: olegshilovitsky

olegshilovitsky — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:28:59 +0000

Manuel, I’m confused to differentiate “service” and “feature”. For me it is the same… Sorry, what is difference?

By: Manuel Joseph

Manuel Joseph — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:19:53 +0000

I see what you are saying. Hmm, given that as flickr or linkedin offers, a SERVICES based freemium will play better than feature based. I am assuming that services and features are different in PLM context.
For eg. Multi-site functionality is a feature, but there can be multiple services that can use Multi-site.
Customers should be able to taste everything before they go an get it from a bakery. ( sorry its time for lunch here).
Comments?

By: olegshilovitsky

olegshilovitsky — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:47:36 +0000

Martijn, Pay per extra feature is interesting, but really can work only in SaaS implementation when it doesn’t require installation, etc…. Best, Oleg

By: Martijn Dullaart

Martijn Dullaart — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:20:55 +0000

Another thing is that when you use Feature limited, do you also support to pay per extra feature (maybe very complex) or will it be a feature set, where the user only wants one extra feature but he gets a lot more that he does not really want to pay for, or is it more like free (basic) version vs paid (everything) version (which makes the that statement even more valid?

By: olegshilovitsky

olegshilovitsky — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:33:10 +0000

Manuel, These levels indeed something that reflects existing product configuration. But, even if Vault, Insight or PDMWorks Workgroup is free, they are not considered by customers as a step towards something next. Customers see it as a separate offering. The biggest problem, I see is a disconnection of these product lines in customer’s eyes. Don’t you think so? Best, Oleg

By: olegshilovitsky

olegshilovitsky — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:20:23 +0000

Martijn, Thank you for your thoughts. It makes sense to me. Probably “Feature” is the best one. However, to create right features split is not a simple task. This is something that will define your free/paid combination. More on the “free” side and your dead on $$$, but if your “free” is not good enough you will die too… Great discussion. Best, Oleg

By: Manuel Joseph

Manuel Joseph — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:18:58 +0000

Hello Oleg-
I dont think of PLM products coming for free, but any vendor could find a prospect for PLM implementation in steps
1) ADM – Application data management – With feature limited only. There are vendors providing this such as SOlid-Edge and Insight(Free); Autocad and Vault(free -Basic functionality only).
2) Once customers are ready to move on, they can move to PDM, Product Data management. Of course the above combinations wont work, so they move to a different plm tool such as teamcenter.
3) Then comes PLM. More features, and bigger tool such as Teamcenter + ERP integration+ SAP + ..+ ..

By: Martijn Dullaart

Martijn Dullaart — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:59:38 +0000

Hi Oleg,
I personally think that Feature and Time limited are the best approach (possibly even a combination of the two). Let me explain why:
1/ Both Seat and Capacity limited is something that can stand in the way of mass adoption in the organization. If an organization is getting excited about the PLM solution, you should encourage them to use it. With Seat/Capacity limited, this is more problematic.
2/ Feature limited also allows users to first get acquainted with the basic functionality of the PLM solution before being overwhelmed by all advanced features.
3/ I like time limited because it allows the organization to see the benefits before they have to invest.

For Customer Class limited I see something like a combination of one of the other models e.g.: For small business we offer a feature & time limited deal. While for large companies we only offer a time limited time.