Today’s companies use hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of different software systems. These generate vast amounts of isolated data during the development, manufacturing, and marketing of products. Often, these systems are manufacturer-specific siloed solutions, also known as “road breakers.”
However, business processes that span several systems and domains always need this data in a specific new context. After all, in the age of Industry 4.0, this is the only way to generate truly valuable information for users to meet customer demands – whether with new digital products, business models, or forms of customer interaction.
But how can these overarching processes be digitalized in a way that is both beneficial and economical? Especially when considering that direct connections between systems – even in manageable numbers – can rapidly lead to huge amounts of effort, are difficult to extend, and take a lot of time and work to administer?
The common solution to these issues is to integrate siloed solutions by switching to system environments from a single manufacturer. Interaction between the individual software packages is optimized within these system environments. One example of this is Product Lifecycle Management (PLM).
However, by its very nature, this strategy has its limits – at the latest when the manufacturer has no further relevant products in its portfolio.
