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AMR Research Alert

SAN JOSE, CA - 11/20/2001 - CRM versus PLM versus CAM:
The OEM's Dilemma

Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) will be forgiven their confusion with the different applications available to support their ongoing relationships with their customers. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) vendors are selling a vision that includes field-service functionality. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) vendors are selling the concept of collaborating with customers as the product moves through its lifecycle from concept to retirement. And Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) vendors are selling a vision of asset lifecycle management to OEM customers. So what’s a manufacturer of original equipment to do?

The first step is to clearly define the business objectives. Is the primary objective to get to know customers and sell them more equipment? If so, look to CRM applications from vendors, such as Siebel, Pivotal, and large Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) vendors. Is the primary objective to collaborate on new product development with customers? If so, PLM applications from vendors, like PTC and MatrixOne, should help. Is the primary objective to increase the service component of company revenue by targeting additional equipment, upgraded spares, and services (the Collaborative Asset Management [CAM] scenario)? Then, applications from niche vendors, like Automation Technology Inc. (ATI), will help; or for OEMs that rewrite their applications for the Web, the Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) vendors may be of use.

Some OEMs will choose one application category with the hope that, one day, it will address all their needs. As attractive as the prospect of one application is, it is not realistic. Even ERP vendors that sell applications in each category do not provide the inter-enterprise view of the data necessary for collaboration. For OEMs that measure sales volumes in hundreds of units per year rather than thousands, a combination of sell-side e-commerce and collaborative asset management applications would be the best fit. Close attention should be paid to IT architecture as, inevitably, there will be a requirement to share data between the applications. Indeed, both the data integration and the cross-functional business process issues are addressed in the Enterprise Commerce Management (ECM) model. Manufacturers of complex equipment would do well to use ECM to define their infrastructure as well as select vendors that adhere to its seven technical pillars.

--Leif Eriksen

About Automation Technology Inc.
ATI is a leading provider of Collaborative Asset Management solutions for high value equipment. ATI's products help capture failure, inspection and repair knowledge and retain it for these assets throughout its life cycle. ATI’s product have been applied to various types of assets including, boilers, HRSGs, high energy piping lines, steam turbines, pulverizer mills, high voltage underground cables, and transformer equipment.

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