PLM and importance of mobile apps

May 7, 2013

Mobile is hyping, trending, skyrocketing… You name it. Everything goes mobile these days. Many developers of enterprise apps are asking these days – what does it mean for me? PLM developers are one of them. How mobile apps are important for users of CAD, PDM, PLM and other engineering applications? In the past, I posted – Mobile PLM gold rush. Did vendor miss the point? My main point – mobile is about how to get a specific job done. It is about how to "read email", "approve task", "review change". However, it is clearly not about how to make "everything mobile" .

I was reading an interesting article few days ago. Larry Page Says Mobile Apps Won’t Hurt Search: ‘The Information Wants To Be Found’. Here is an interesting passage you may want to remember.

CEO Larry Page responded that he “always” gets asked about how the popularity of mobile apps affects Google search, but he’s “not super-concerned” about it. “We’ve been dealing with that issue for a long time,” Page said. “Fundamentally search is an amazing thing for publishers and software developers and other apps. I think, in general, the information wants to be found."

The statement resonate. PLM is first about how to make product information available for people. The right information at the right moment of time. PLM system should deliver this information regardless on type of device you are using – desktop, mobile, Google glass (:)).

What is my conclusion? The critical role of mobile apps in PLM is related to ability to deliver information and make a decision regardless on your location. Product development and manufacturing business is dynamic and distributed these days. Mobile apps need to support it. However, it is only possible by establishing core PLM services managing data and processes in a seamless way. Just my thoughts…

Best, Oleg

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PLM systems and web scale API trajectories

April 28, 2013

APIs. Just to eliminate any possible confusion, API stands for Application Programming Interface. Wikipedia provides very straightforward definition of API here. For many years, API was an important element of PDM, PLM and other enterprise software business. APIs enabled the possibility of any system to be expanded, customized and tailored to any customer needs. For many years, the availability of API was considered as ‘must have’ feature during any PDM/PLM system evaluation. Thinking about API usage in PDM/PLM system, I can segment it into two different aspects 1- ability to customize a specific system behavior such as data model, user interface appearance; 2- ability to integrate system with surrounding eco-system (eg. desktop applications, other enterprise application, etc.)

The second aspect of usage API to integrate with surrounding eco-system is getting more and more interesting. Almost a year ago, I posted on my blog – Why PLM need to learn Web APIs? If you haven’t had a chance to read it, catch up now, please. For me, growing web ecosystem provides an interesting prediction about what is going to happen next in enterprise software world. In parallel, I can remind you another blog – Mobile PLM and BaaS. Web provides a good oriented of how systems can be expanded. Web and mobile Apps expansion. This a way systems will expand, grow, gets customized and tailored in the future.

The following article was published on TechCrunch just few hours ago – Facebook And The Sudden Wake Up About The API Economy. Take a read – I found this article very solid. It made me think that importance of Web API infrastructure and openness among PLM system will be growing faster than I thought last year. Few acquisitions and partnership in the world of API makers – Intel / Mashery, Mulesoft / Programmable Web and very recently Facebook / Parse demonstrated, in my view, that the interest to back end application data combined with mobile app development is skyrocketing. API is a key how to make this data available and turn into profitable mobile (and other Apps). Here is an interesting passage from TechCrunch article.

With that scaling in number of APIs comes a virtuous circle for the developers that build compelling apps and APIs. The APIs extend the apps reach as they become part of distributed data network. As more people use the APIs so the app developer generates more data. As the data increases in scope, often the service will become an API. Facebook needs new streams of data to keep rolling out new digital products. Back end as a service providers like Parse provide SDKs and APIs that give developers access to infrastructure for storing basic data types, locations and photos. How Facebook uses this data is a question mark. But regardless, Pare serves as a constant replenishing source, nourished by the apps on the Parse platform that use APIs. Facebook now will decide how to package and segment that data to push more relevant advertising to its 1 billion users.

What is my conclusion? I would like to make a parallel between web platforms scaling to billion users and PLM platforms searching for a runway to grow up in every manufacturing company and to link manufacturers with customers, suppliers and business eco-system. Distributed data network is a key thing. Current PLM platforms were designed for “inside-firewall” reality have hard time to scale to web reality. To future PLM customers and evaluators – check your PLM platform of choice for the ability to grow beyond servers located in your backyard. PLM vendors must take a note about their future scale and ability to expand the ecosystem. Just my thoughts…

Best, Oleg

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PLM Developers – what is the right mobile platform?

April 1, 2013

Mobile is coming to enterprise. Blackberry was a first device who cracked mobile enterprise. Enterprise mobile email delivered by Blackberry was king of the road many years. Then came iPhone, iPad and many other devices. The development for different mobile platforms is skyrocketing. There are many questions here. Every PLM vendors did a first step and developed "something mobile" for the last 2-3 years. After the first mobile strike, more serious questions are coming – what is the PLM mobile application strategy? How to support a diversity of platforms and devices?

Last year, I posted few blog articles with my thoughts about PLM and mobile. You can start by navigating to the following link – Mobile PLM gold rush: Did vendor missed the point? One of the big topics in mobile development is to choose between native mobile apps and mobile browsers – Mobile PLM: Apps vs. Mobile Browsers.

Nevertheless, the choice of mobile platform for enterprise and PLM remains open. Enterprise PLM vendors have hard time to make a choice and assign their development priorities. Few days ago, I was reading CIO article – Microsoft to make leaps in mobile enterprise. The article refers to the research made by Aberdeen Group. Here is an interesting quote and picture with numbers. Aberdeen plans to release its official findings next week

The survey looked at mobile app deployment plans by platform—Apple iOS, Android, Windows 8/Windows Phone and BlackBerry—covering both tablets and phones. "The plans for mobile app deployment in 2013 were a big surprise," says Aberdeen research director Andrew Borg. The data shows Microsoft Windows Phone 8 and Surface tablets poised to make a profound leap, as CIOs hope to retake control of the mobile enterprise. Apple iPhones and iPads may be reaching a point of saturation.

What is my conclusion? I think, PLM developers have a hard time to choice the right platform. I don’t see a single platform domination for the next few years. To me, the development on iOS platform is an obvious choice. The decision about other platforms is not clear. Microsoft clearly keep their presence on the agendas of enterprise CIOs and it makes chances of enterprise PLM to develop support for Windows mobile potentially high. Android platform most probably will become a major by population. Will it be the same for enterprise customers? This is a good question to ask. With the high diversity of devices, PLM vendors need to focus on platforms and backend technologies that can make their choice flexible and decrease a cost to support additional mobile platforms. Just my thoughts…

Best, Oleg

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Mobile PLM and BaaS

March 22, 2013

I learned a new buzzword yesterday. Have you heard about BaaS? Navigate to the following TechCrunch article – Kinvey Launches Enterprise Back-End Service For Building Mobile Apps That Move Data From Salesforce, Oracle And Other Sources. Kinvey is a startup that put a mission to scrap data from enterprise backend systems and make it available for cloud and mobile applications. Here is an interesting passage:

The new Kinvey For Enterprise back-end as a service (BaaS) platform allows developers to build mobile apps that can authenticate users and securely read, edit and publish data to and from enterprise data sources, such as Salesforce.com CRM and Oracle. Before, middleware ran inside the data center, often on proprietary software that locked customers into one vendor. Data now needs to pass freely between data centers and public cloud services across any number of applications. In these “heterogeneous,” environments, mobile apps changing everything. A company may use Sharepoint and Salesforce.com. To get that data into one mobile app they can’t rely solely on the provider’s API. They need a mobile SDK to get that data and feed it into the app.

It made me think about data problem many manufacturing companies are experiencing these days. The typical environment of enterprise company is heterogeneous- many existing systems, databases, files and other sources of information. Very often, companies are implementing PLM to scrap all existing data in the product development, manufacturing, supply chain and move it to a brand new PLM system. While it turns as a very beneficial project, it usually very expensive and time consuming.

In parallel to that we have a very strong mobile trend these days. The population of mobile workers is growing. According to IDC study, the number of mobile workers will reach 1.3B. It is a big number that will establish a huge demand for mobile applications.

idc-mdm-stats_4.png

The ideas of BaaS are interesting. The question of cost remains open for me.

What is my conclusion? Mobile is a next big thing that will happen to enterprise companies. Today, it is mostly limited to email. Can you imagine your business and professional life without mobile email today? I don’t think so. The next step is to make other data in the company “mobile and transparent”. I don’t know if BaaS is an ultimate way to solve the problem. However, the potential to do that is huge. Just my thoughts…

Best, Oleg

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What PLM can learn from “mobile discover apps”?

February 19, 2013

Mobile apps is one of the most growing segments of software business these days. Clearly, the years after iPhone and Android introduction, we had an explosive growth of mobile software and variety of applications. Enterprise software and PLM vendors are trying to learn "mobile language" as well. However, in my view, vendors are still missing the point of mobile. I posted about that last year. The initial approach taken by many PLM vendors was to bring "the same software mobile version" was wrong, in my view. Current PLM software took a holistic approach on use cases and scenarios. "Mobile" experience requires different, task oriented approach.

Couple of days ago I was reading Mashable article – 9 Excellent Apps for Discovering New Things. I was using some of these apps like Flipboard and Waze. I found the concept of "new things discovery" interesting. Alongside with apps, I found the following quote interesting

Breaking from the norm and discovering new things can often be a difficult undertaking. Your smartphone can help along with that process, and is a great starting point for finding something new.Whether you’re looking for new places to check out news, a new less congested way route to work, or even something fantastic to eat for dinner, apps can help you get there a little quicker, often suggesting things you might have no realized even existed.

I made me think about mobile and PLM mobile apps. Engineering practice requires "discovery" very often. Here are some use cases – discovery of previous decision made by your company, discovery specific domain experts, partners discovery and many others. To use the concept of "discovery apps" can be an interesting way to think about mobile experience in enterprise.

What is my conclusion? New class of mobile app/services is emerging these days.PLM vendors thinking about mobile need to make a note. The three important keywords are – user, data and context. Combination of them together creates a completely new class of experience. Context removes of significantly decreases the need for user input as well as eliminate additional filtering. Discovery mobile app for manufacturing and engineering can be actually very cool ideas.

Best, Oleg

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What PLM can offer to post-PC employees?

February 13, 2013

IT consumerization speed is probably underestimated. At the time we are discussing if enterprise workers need to use tablets, mobile devices and Apple computers, many of employees are actually using them. I’ve been reading InfoWorld article Get used to it: The post-PC employee has arrived. The article is pulling data from Forrester research based 10’000 information worker study. The following passage summarize the recommendation is a very clear way:

If you’re still arguing that iPads, Macs, iPhones, and Android devices are toys that faddist employees will soon get over, stop wasting your breath. If you believe a strict separation of work and personal information and activities can be imposed on information workers, stop wasting your time and money. If you’re not reworking your applications and Web services to be adaptive — that is, to work across multiple operating systems, browsers, screen sizes, and user interfaces — you’d better start now.

Here are some interesting facts and numbers I captured. The number of people accessing the Internet through PCs in the USA will shrink from 240 million in 2012 to 225 million in 2016. Tablets are using used at roughly the same levels (from 39% to 49%) everywhere – at a work desk, home, cafe and traveling. Use of multiple devices is coming (29% already use 3 or more devices). PC rules, but mobile is getting bigger. All these facts and numbers made me think about what PLM can offer today to such a "post-PC employee".

CAD is heavy focused on Windows desktop

Majority of CAD applications are running on Windows platform these days. Starting from professional 3D design packages like SolidWorks, Autodesk Inventor and ending up with CATIA, NX and Creo it is all about Windows. AutoCAD back on Mac since last year. Rhino provides Mac/OS version but it still limited. Even if you can find CAD available on Mac/OS or Linux, the majority of PDM/PLM integrations CAD are operating on Windows platform only.

PLM web interfaces is heavily on IE and Windows platform

Core PLM packages are essentially web-based. However, many of these web interfaces contain a significant portions of technologies and functions tailored to IE and Windows platform. The overall trend of PLM providers is to move towards modern web design and HTML5, which is a positive thing. However, it happens way too slow, in my view.

Mobile is ramping up fast, but without clear focus

The awareness about mobile apps is in the right place these days. However, the move of PLM vendors to mobile app is chaotic without specific goals and strategies. It looks that for most of vendors to provide "mobile version of something" was an imperative. At the same time, not many of them thoughts about specific mobile-oriented scenarios. In past, I posted Mobile PLM gold-rush. Did vendors miss the point? I still think, it is pretty much true for all mobile apps in PLM space.

What is my conclusion? PLM technologies and applications are complicated stuff. It took time for vendors to build it and achieve certain level of completeness. Some of vendors are arguing that technology is not a critical element of PLM software. For all these vendors it is better to understand that era of PC, Windows and IE is over. New post-PC employees will be using different criteria when buying their devices and bringing them to work. Vendors better take note now and start delivering. Just my thoughts…

Best, Oleg

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PDM and Data Sharing Changing Paradigm

January 15, 2013

I would like to speak about PDM today. You can hardly find engineers that like data management. For many years, Product Data Management (PDM) kept the score of inevitable evil in engineering and manufacturing software. Everybody wants data, but nobody want to manage it. At the same time, even if PDM is quite challenging in terms of implementation, it brings a lot of benefits. Navigate to the following link to read Jim Browns’ Best Practices for Managing Data. Data sharing is one of the most important aspects PDM is supposed to solve. Difficulties to share data with internal and external colleagues is one of the most critical aspects of data management.

However, the problem of files sharing is relevant outside of PDM too. Consumerization is one of the strongest technological trends these days. Few days ago, the following CMSwire article and infographic caught my attention – The evolution of file sharing. The article speaks about mobility and mobile access. Take a look on the picture – it is self explaining.

It is interesting to see how data security was one of the key important aspects related to enabling of data sharing even back in 1950s. The following passage was my favorite:

Concern over who is accessing what files is not unique to the use of mobile devices. In the Mad Men era of the 1960s, sensitive files were kept under lock and key in cabinets. Only people with physical keys could access those files and information, and careful lists of those with access were kept. However, the widespread use of inventions like the copier by the 1950s and the fax machine by the 1960s introduced new security threats as these documents could then be replicated.

Mobile and cloud technologies are revolutionizing data sharing paradigms. One of examples I specially like is Chrome tabs access across devices. If you are using Chrome browser, you can share the information open between different browsers in different devices.

What is my conclusion? Technological landscape is changing very fast these days. The fundamentals of PDM were invented 15-20 years ago. I don’t think these fundamental assumptions will survive under new requirements coming with mobile access revolution. Technology and shift in workforce will be driving a new wave of innovation in manufacturing. The technology will become more transparent for users and more sophisticated internally. It is a time to re-think paradigm. Files and data need to be shared, but technology should be invisible. Just my thoughts…

Best, Oleg

Infographic credit to CMSWire article.

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Mobile PLM: Apps vs. Mobile Browsers?

October 17, 2012

I want to come back to the topic of mobile apps vs. mobile browsers again. Earlier this year I posted PLM: Mobile-Optimized Sites vs. Mobile Apps, which presented some interesting numbers about US mobile apps vs. mobile web consumption. It demonstrated a clear growth of mobile apps usage vs. web. At the same time, I can see lots of focus and effort around HTML5 mobile browsers, which presents some promise towards seamless user experience between web apps and mobile apps. The following chart caught my attention few days ago – total time spent using mobile web vs. apps.

This picture made me think more about PLM Mobile App vs. Mobile Web dilemma again. There are there main points here.

1. User experience. We like browsers, since it can potentially provide a seamless user experience. It supposed to be unified for different platforms. However, in the case of mobile browsers, it is not always true. Mobile versions of web apps as well as mobile versions of websites are different and provide slightly different user experience. At the same time, native apps user experience is superior and this is a reason why many people decide towards the apps approach.

2. Too many apps. The increased amount of Mobile App, can introduce another problem – what app to chose? Even today, I can have a hard time to choose the right app. What will happen if tomorrow vendors introduce dozens of apps? Clearly, there is a danger here. However, this problem is not much different from the problem of having complicated product portfolio, and it is well known today.

3. Multiplatform development cost. Last but not least. The days when the development was done solely on Windows platform gone. The question of how to optimize the development for multiple platforms, including mobile platforms is important. However, users are clearly not interested in this topic. So, the last thing any vendor can do is to expose these problems to customers.

What is my conclusion? I think the question of “mobile app vs. mobile web” will continue to challenge PLM developers. I think, the right way to deal with this is to focus on user experience. No big news here. Platforms will continue to “rules the game”. Native apps can provide a better experience. To deliver it and keep the development cost low is a challenge most of vendors will continue to experience. Just my thoughts…

Best, Oleg

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Mobile PLM Development Challenges and User Experience

September 21, 2012

The topic of mobile applications drives more and more attention every day. This is true not only for consumer website and applications, but also for enterprise software vendors. Enterprise companies are playing the catch up with mobile product development. It is true for almost all segments of enterprise software – ERP, CRM, PLM and others. One of the latest splashes in this place was Salesforce.com announcement of their Salesforce Touchplatform. For those of your interested in additional development around mobile, I recommend you to get a mobile development guide from Salesforce touch here.

The discussion about how to develop mobile applications is trending. One of the most popular topics is Native Apps vs. Mobile Optimized web sites. Earlier this year, I raised this topic in one of my blog posts. It shows some interest in mobile optimized websites. However, I think it is a good time now to get back to this topic again. If you follow Facebook, you probably had a chance to see the whole discussion about Facebook mobile app. Bad user experience of Facebook mobile became one of the clear showstoppers for Facebook future success. Forbes’s article Facebook’s HTML5 dilemma, explained put some lights on the core problem behind Facebook mobile. Read it and make your opinion. I found the following passage important:

Take hardware. Using a Dell or a Mac, you still interact with web applications in basically the same way, with a mouse or trackpad and a keyboard. Hardware variation rarely impacts basic web-browsing functionality. Now consider the differences between a Blackberry and an iPhone. Or a Samsung and a Nokia. Different screen sizes, different levels of computing power, different pixel densities, different operating systems, and very different means of interacting with each device. EachScape CEO Ludo Collin, whose company has developed mobile applications for clients like NBC and Discovery Networks, says that developing for HTML5 is “ten times more complicated than iOS” since developers need to account for such a mind-numbing degree of variation.

The situation among PLM developers is not different much. I know PLM vendors working on the HTML compliant approach (Arena, Autodesk PLM360, Kenesto, Vuuch). At the same time, I can see vendors developed applications for mobile platforms (TeamCenter, Windchill, SolidWorks, Autodesk, Inforbix, MobilePDM). Native platforms introduce challenges to development teams. However, I can see advantages of native-apps related to usability and speed. No surprise, most of the "native apps" debates are around iOS platform. The latest iPhone5 release is going to introduce another challenge by adding new screen resolution to the game. Until now, different screen resolutions were a "privilege" of Android platform only.

What is my conclusion? The demand for intuitiveness and user experience is very high. Enterprise IT and software vendors are clearly on fire to provide a new generation of solutions to match consumer applications and mobile development trends. In parallel, browser platforms introduce many additional challenges to the development of web platforms. To develop dedicated mobile apps can be a reasonable compromise. Just my thoughts…

Best, Oleg

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Cloud PLM and Cost of Data: Your Mileage May Vary?

September 6, 2012

Cost is important. Period. It drives attention of IT managers and CFOs. With a massive changes cloud and mobile bring to a modern enterprise, structure and definition of cost will be transforming. On my way from Tel Aviv to Boston yesterday, I had a chance to read RWW Mobile article – The Rising Cost Of Mobile Data For Enterprises [Infographic]. The good news – the cost of mobile data is going down. Bad news – data trafic is growing.

I found the following passage very important:

Data management is often overlooked in the enterprise mobility conversation. When employers think of mobility in the workplace, the first thing they think about is security and locking down company information on devices that could easily be stolen, lost or hacked. Application deployment and management is the next task for the IT team to figure out, making sure that the right employees have the right apps to do their jobs. In the mobile world, the trend is typically toward more of everything. More security, more apps, more functionality. But more is also… more. It means that employees suck up more megabytes and hence more corporate resources.

If you are in the IT market to shop for enterprise systems, the question of cost (or total cost of ownership) is in the list of your top priorities. Cloud transformation and introducing of Cloud / SaaS packages are changing the way people thin about TCO. Before "cloud era" the traditional TCO formula of licenses, maintenance and implementation usually provided a basis you are working with. This is not true with cloud and SaaS. Software vendors stop selling licensing and switch to sell services. It opens additional opportunity to optimize resources and to get down cost of the software. At the same time, it may introduce new cost for enterprises.

What is my conclusion? Optimization. This is the right topic to discuss with enterprise cloud software vendor. How is it optimized for resources the application sucks from cables and mobile networks? It is the same question you ask your car dealer about the MPG. In the cloud world, you need to shop for lower traffic, which fundamentally will increase the efficiency of your IT stack and will drive TCO down. Just my thoughts…

Best, Oleg

Infographic courtesy of ReadWriteWeb article


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