PLM vendor Sopheon expands innovation, time-to-value capabilities

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Manufacturing News, Source : The Manufacturer US
Published : 26 Oct 2006 17:34

Oct. 23, 2006—PLM vendor Sopheon announced today the introduction of a set of add-on applications for its Accolade® product life cycle management solution.

Referred to collectively as Accolade Accelerators 2.0, the new offerings are designed to enable companies to more quickly achieve the next level of maturity in the governance of their innovation processes and realize the associated higher levels of business performance. The Accelerators will help manufacturers generate additional business value from their innovation initiatives, and provide them with an effective blueprint for attaining world-class product innovation.

Sopheon’s research has confirmed that the product innovation process within most companies is not static. As a business evolves and its capabilities grow, the process changes. It moves through discernible stages of maturity which, in successful implementations, are marked by increasing sophistication and broader, deeper levels of end-user adoption. The data indicates that as a process matures, and adoption increases, there is a corresponding increase in the revenue and profit generated from new products. Companies vary dramatically in the maturity levels of their processes and the competency with which those processes are governed. If a technology supplier fails to allow for these differences in their provision of support solutions, the result will be low process adoption rates and reduced business contribution. Sopheon’s clients range from global innovation leaders to beginning Stage-Gate® adopters. Sopheon has learned that aligning a company’s process maturity level and the technology used to enable the process is essential to achieving improved business performance. Sopheon’s Accelerators are the first solution set in the industry to ensure that critical alignment.

Each Accolade Accelerator consists of a prepackaged software configuration built around best practices for governing the innovation process. There are three applications in the version 2.0 set:

• Stage-Gate® Accelerator. Reduces the time required for an organization to put a fully

functional innovation process in place. This Accelerator provides highly configurable

process models, including introductory, traditional, fast-track and post-launch versions,

as well as out-of-the-box templates for deliverables. Implementation can be completed in

as few as 60 days. The application can be used to manage a product from the time it is

conceived as an idea, throughout its multiple releases, until it is retired from the market.

Stage-Gate Accelerator makes cradle-to-grave product life cycle management a reality.

• Portfolio Management Accelerator. Provides the industry’s first software-based process model for portfolio management. This Accelerator supplies the keys to successful

product portfolio management, answering questions such as:

What is product portfolio management?

How can we most effectively manage a portfolio of products?

How can we use metrics to improve portfolio performance?

Advanced charts and reports are rooted in key metrics and best practice algorithms that

allow users to enter what-if inquiries and receive visual representations of the impact of

adding or removing particular projects from the developmental pipeline.

• Product Planning and Roadmapping Accelerator. Makes it easier to develop credible

and reliable product plans, and to ensure successful plan execution. This Accelerator

provides clear short- and long-term views of product development schedules. It charts

interdependencies among projects, allowing the user to see potential bottlenecks far in

advance and eliminate them before they derail launch plans. Roadmapping is transformed from a standalone activity supported by a point solution to an integral part of the product development process. Users of the Product Planning and Roadmapping Accelerator are able to better forecast and manage the timing of product introductions, leading to such benefits as improved new product revenue and margin performance and reduced product cannibalization.

“The design and implementation of most of today’s product life cycle management solutions assume all manufacturers have identical process-management capabilities and depth of understanding,” said Bryan Seyfarth, solutions marketing director for Sopheon. “The reality is that companies vary widely in their level of innovation process sophistication. To assume that the exact same process solution will bring value to every manufacturer is naïve and impractical.Sopheon’s Accelerators align precisely with the unique innovation process and governance requirements of each adopting organization. Whether a company is implementing its first structured product development process or already a mature, world-class innovator, our Accelerators will help it move rapidly to the next stage of innovation growth.” The new Accolade Accelerators are available immediately for purchase and implementation.

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