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I’d like to introduce you to something called the Out Of The Box Paradox. It is the cause, or at least a contributing factor, to the lack of success of a significant number of Legacy PLM initiatives.
The OOTB paradox begins when a firm initiates a PLM project. Requirements are gathered and PLM vendors are engaged for POCs and ultimately a shootout. The shootout includes some kind of a wish list and a number of demos to illustrate the Legacy PLM system's ability to achieve the requirements. When the dust settles there is a winner.
During implementation, the Legacy PLM vendor often press you to simplify your processes and use their "Standard practices." Why would you do that? Your company isn't a mindless clone trooper following the guy in front of you! This is simply an attempt at a Jedi mind trick to cover for gaps like fragile workflow engines and unstable customizations. At the end of the day, you give in some areas and press for customization in others.
This is where the wheels fall off the wagon. All the promises that were made about the product and its technology begin to fall down. The OOTB processes don’t fit with what you do. Schedules fall apart. Leadership is upset. Scope gets trimmed. Users and management alike are jaded! Now it's pretty clear why 35% of PLM projects have more than 3 years remaining.
What is the root cause? The evaluation process is flawed! The firm spent valuable time evaluating demos and POCs only to throw them away. The firm has an understanding of what the Legacy PLM system can provide OOTB. But they never understood what was really needed - the ability to customize the PLM system to suit their business needs. When their development team started customizing - all hell broke loose! This is the OOTB Paradox!
When we developed Aras Innovator we set out to do things differently. Because we are one of you! Most of us came from somewhere else and have felt these pains. We knew you would NEED to customize and we started there. Our Model Based SOA allows us to begin customizing to suit your business needs on day one. No, really! It is a regular occurrence to have an Aras "sales" meeting go from PowerPoint to modeling.
It all starts with a "How would you handle…" question. The next thing you know we are building custom item types and change processes. Here is the best part… Everyone in the room can see in real-time how simple it is to customize Aras Innovator to meet exactly what their company does. The leadership and technical teams are able to grasp the material at their respective levels of detail. It is readily apparent to everyone in the room that Aras Innovator can do what is really needed - rapid customization to power your Business of Engineering.
Now when implementation is kicked off the customer has the best of both worlds. Instead of worrying about safely customizing the minefield of Legacy PLM, Aras Innovator provides a choice: build a complete custom environment or start with Aras Innovator's OOTB processes and modify them. Because the Aras OOTB processes are built in the same model-based environment that are used by the customer there is complete flexibility and stability. Paradox resolved!
We know you are not a clone and OOTB doesn’t work! Legacy is not the PLM you are looking for!
Your business is unique and different.
Together, Different we shall be!
Stay tuned, next time I will present some data that offers some correlation and impact to the OOTB paradox.
Thanks to Doug M for the idea behind this post and your mentoring.
-Dave