PLM Licensing is so Old School

PLM Licensing is so Old School

The way enterprise PLM software is licensed to businesses is wrong, period. Pay now. And pay later. Then pay even more. And why not pay for things you can’t even identify. Traditional PLM licensing schemes are complicated, confusing, expensive and broken… and their days are numbered.

To understand why, you need to experience it first-hand. Start by getting a quote from your friendly, knowledgeable PLM salesman at any of the major legacy PLM system providers.

User-seat licenses are the first thing you'll want to know the cost for; however, as you get into the quoting process you will soon learn that each User license has accompanying "modules" access. This is a fancy way of magically justifying higher and higher fees.

From there you learn that server licenses are needed, along with a lot of other ancillary things such as developer licenses and other mysterious costs. Next thing you know, you've got a multi-million dollar quote and the salesman is telling you he's going to do you a favor by providing a "discount." But wait, there's more.

If your PLM software deployment gains wide-spread adoption (a goal of every successful PLM implementation), you will need to purchase more licenses. PLM license expenses can be huge up-front, but broad, global roll-outs are where the costs absolutely skyrocket. Effectively, the PLM project becomes a victim of its own success.

The reality is that many PLM implementations have been stuck as "engineering only" systems or worse, "limited to a few designers only" because it is economically unfeasible to spend the small fortune required to provide everyone that needs access with a license.

If it is proposed that PLM licenses be purchased for "only those that need them," then the company's competitive position is being sacrificed. Collaboration is essential to innovation and without it your company is sure to lose its edge.

Yesterday's safe answers are today’s death knell. That's why the days of expensive enterprise PLM software's User-Seat License schemes are over. Buyer beware, you may be jeopardizing your company's future (and your own career) if you purchase PLM licenses from one of the major providers.

So, if User-seat PLM licensing is broken and wrong for the enterprise, then what's the answer? What's the alternative? No user licenses, end of story.

Learn more about the Aras Technology and how we've eliminated this antiquated, one-sided practice.