This IDC study is the second study based on survey results from IDC's regular AppStat Survey series, executed four times per year. These findings rely on a special PLM/PDM-focused subsegment of the November 2006 AppStat Survey. The survey results presented here focus on the business challenges of manufacturing enterprises - specifically, the key requirements to making these companies more successful, solutions to secure company success and hurdles on the way to implementation, ways to manage product data, and channels for PLM/PDM applications purchases. The first study on PLM was executed in August 2006 and focused on software spending plans and the adoption of open source, mobile functionality, and service oriented architecture by 205 survey respondents who were users of PLM.

Gisela Wilson, director of IDC's Product, Project, and Portfolio Management Solutions program, points out: "These survey findings will help PLM applications vendors to carefully evaluate their sales messages to manufacturing enterprises and develop product and marketing initiatives to expand their sales opportunities from large to small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises. Key factors will be support for process changes as well as product delivery as software as a service, on demand, and open source software."