This is more and more obvious: 3D is not only the future: it is still the present. We build cars in 3D, we watch movies in 3D, we design our living-room in 3D, etc… But why is it so successful? Maybe because people can easily translate visually what they think of and interact with their peers to share emotion, opinions, ideas,…
 
In parallel with the development of powerfull and easy-to-use 3D technologies such as 3dvia, social networks are more and more popular. People interact with each other on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn either on their computer and thanks to their iPhone for instance. Sharing ideas and sending messages “in 3D” has never been so easy.
 
Doing what we say
 
The aim of PLM MarketPlace is to deliver more value to our customers thanks to the cooperation between our Solutions Providers and our Value Added Resellers. In other words, we sell 3D solutions all day long. This is nice but not enough.
 
We now want to go a step ahead and build a kind of “PLM MarketPlace in 3D”. In the end, this is quiet logical for people promoting 3D technologies! This is why we have built a virtual showroom allowing people to discover the program in 3D! With your own-made avatar, you can walk through the scene, watch videos, read products data sheet and presentations, interact with other people visiting the scene at the same time, contact us, and much more!
 
Be our guest!
 
This PLM MarketPlace in 3D is available now, feel free to enter by following the instructions below. 
 

For those of you wanting to share the experience with customers, colleagues, partners,… you can share the link of the demo video as well.

 
This is a first step for us and we are looking after your comments, suggestions and ideas to improve the next scenes we are working on with our partners part of the PLM MarketPlace.
Feel free to share your feedback by leaving comments on this blogpost!

Well, 2009 is really coming to its end, and after last week’s retrospective, and as promised, it is now time to look at the future! As we said, we’ve got really cool things to announce for the PLM MarketPlace community. In 2009 (also applies for the previous years ), we spent time meeting our customers, partners, resellers online but also for real (COE, DEVCON, ECF, …) and tried to find out how we could do better to help them.

Of course, today, it is still too soon to disclose everything, but this, for sure, what you will get from the PLM MarketPlace in 2010.

A growing catalog

The software catalog will welcome two new post-processors providers: ICAM and IMS. Their offers should be available online mid-/end-January. Note that in the field of post-processors, CENIT referenced their offer a few weeks ago.
On the hardware catalog side, we are very proud to announce that AMD decided to join the PLM MarketPlace! Their offer is scheduled to be available next month, a special announcement will be made once it is online, stay tuned!
Finally, we remind our services providers that we are still looking for candidates to be referenced on the Services Catalog of the PLM MarketPlace. The referencing mode is very flexible and made to comply with your business habits. Don’t hesitate to contact us to know more!

You remember IBM?

In October, Dassault Systèmes announced the acquisition of IBM PLM and its 700 Sales Reps. These guys showed interest in the PLM MarketPlace and the easy way it represents to deliver more value to customers. This is why, in the coming weeks, IBM PLM Sales Reps will be able to resell the solutions available on PLM MarketPlace! This represents a good opportunity to make a connection between customers and referenced partners… Again, “connecting partners” is our motto!

Buy one, get…

… maybe not one free but, for sure, in 2010, there will be special discounts from our referenced partners, even new ones! Check regularly the homepage (www.plmmarketplace.com) to discover the current discounts available and ask your VAR for more details!

2010 will be a year of new challenges and maybe, for some of us, of a new start. We want to remind you that we are here to help you find the best way to develop your activity, your business, meet your challenges,…

Consequently, whatever (well… almost )you need, feel free to contact us and ask, we’ll do our utmost to help you.

Customers, resellers, solutions providers, this program is yours and we are open to make it change the way you think it will help you. This is our challenge for 2010.

On behalf of Jacques and Alexandre, I wish you all the best for 2010!

Anthony

We are almost at the end of 2009 and I take a short break before tonight's Christmas celebration to have a look at how the PLM MarketPlace program evolved this year...

First, many new Referenced Partners joined bringing along a lot of new, innovative and comprehensive solution one click away from customers:
- Elsys, with CATELECTRE, ELECTRE and SMARTELECTRE in the field of electrical harness design;
- Icona Solutions, with the aesthetica product range helping you to face perceived quality challenges;
- Magestic and its Truenest and Truelaser View solutions for the composite manufacturing process;
- Mecamaster, with Mecamaster Analysis (Tolerance analysis);
- Noomeo, offering handheld 3D-scanners.
Take a look at what they offer and don't hesitate to drop their solutions in your shopping cart if need a quote or simply just more information!

We had also dozens of Value Added Resellers joining the program. They are now almost 100 all over the world able to deliver all the solutions listed on the PLM MarketPlace catalog to their customers.

The motto of the PLM MarketPlace has always been "Connecting Partners". Thus, we wanted to go a step ahead and open new channels where Referenced Partners, VARs and Customers would have the opportunity to interact:
- We launched a Twitter in April and today, more than 600 people (mostly users, partners, and 3D enthusiasts) follow us and discuss! Join them for free on Twitter!
- "See what you mean" is Dassault Systèmes' motto. This is why we gathered all the videos of our Referenced Partners on a dedicated channel on YouTube. People can now see for real what their software do, ask questions and share the videos in an easy way.
- Last but not least, something we are very proud of: the PLM MarketPlace application for iPhone. Thanks to it, bring all the PLM MarketPlace (RSS news, blog and, above all, the catalog, including product datasheets, videos and images) whereever you go! This application is free and can be downloaded from Apple's App Store.

This was all the exciting stuff we did in 2009! But we've been working on even more cool things for 2010! Next year, PLM MarketPlace will bring you even more opportunities. Want to know what? I suggest you to come back here next week...

I would like also to thank all our PLM MarketPlace partners all over the world for helping our customers every day with their solutions and knowledge.

On behalf of all the PLM MarketPlace Team, I wish everyone a merry Christmas.

Anthony

Our aim has always been to deliver you the value of our PLM MarketPlace solutions providers as fast and accurate as possible. We know that time is money and customers need the right information regarding the right product no matter when, no matter where.

Based on these facts, we are proud to announce today that the PLM MarketPlace is now available for iPhone! You can download the application from Apple iTunes' App Store FOR FREE!

With the PLM MarketPlace application for iPhone, you have access to our solution providers' latest news and blogposts but also, and this is the core value, to more than 145 solutions! All this right in your pocket!

Browse our catalog, discover product datasheets, videos, screenshots and share all this information with customers, colleagues, partners,... in just one click!

Also, keep in touch with our ecosystem thanks to a direct access to our LinkedIn business group, Twitter and YouTube channel.

In a few words, PLM MarketPlace application for iPhone is the latest and ultimate way to discover, share and connect around CATIA, DELMIA, ENOVIA, SIMULIA and 3DVIA complimentary solutions! Business, technology, knowledge and communities have never been so mobile!

Feel free to download the PLM MarketPlace application for iPhone and share your impressions with us by leaving your comments below!

Stay connected!

The PLM MarketPlace Team

PS: for other devices and PDAs, our generic mobile version is still available!

Summer time is always a good period to explore new areas and discover new things. This is true for the place you’ll visit this year, the new people you’ll meet but also for new areas on the Web. If, like me, you can’t really disconnect from work even during holidays (), remember to have a look to the different PLM MarketPlace channels all over the Web.

If you’re the lucky owner of a smartphone, remember to bookmark the mobile version of PLM MarketPlace to receive our Partners’ latest news right on your phone by the swimmingpool! You can also bookmark our RSS feed.

To keep aware of the latest business discussions around PLM MarketPlace’s referenced solutions, join, read and react on the PLM MarketPlace LinkedIn group. Have also a look at the members list to find new business contacts. By the way, we are close to reach our 1000th member, you maybe?

If you really can’t disconnect from work and your smartphone/laptop and want to chat with other PLM users/professionals/experts/partners, then PLM MarketPlace Twitter is made for you! Like LinkedIn, it is totally free. Just sign up and start discussing in less than 140 characters (it’s not always easy but an interesting exercise that definitely shows you how much a 3D drawing helps you to express an idea ).

Finally, after dinner and a walk by the marina, you might want to see a great TV show. What about the PLM MarketPlace TV shows introducing the program’s latest improvements and benefits? These are really great and made on TVnima! We would be very proud to count you among our audience!

Well… I hope everybody will find here the content he/she is looking for! Time for me to wish you a good holiday time and see you back in September with new and exciting announcements on PLM MarketPlace!

Anthony

As you may know, I’m here at the PLM Forum in Manheim, Germany to represent the PLM MarketPlace.

Yesterday, I was exchanging on our “online shopping” experiences with a few colleagues from DS and some of our Partners. It appeared to me that online shopping is not “natural” for everybody, maybe because I’m a “digital native” as Jacques says! As we were talking, the discussion came to the PLM MarketPlace and some people asked me how it is possible today to sell PLM software online?

Well, my answer was simple: “we do it like eBay or Amazon sell books, CDs, DVD,…”. As a matter of fact, it is not 100% true, of course! PLM is much more complex than the latest book of Tom Clancy. But if we focus on the online shopping process, this is exactly the same!

Have a look at this video to see how Amazon and PLM MarketPlace are close:

See the similarities?:
- Intuitive search
- Product data sheets
- Add to cart button
- Check out
- Contact form

Only five key and quick steps to get the most appropriate product! Of course, the purpose of PLM MarketPlace is not to allow you to pay online but to find a solution you need and then to be assisted by a VAR to get an appropriate price and the knowledge to implement and use it. Connecting Partners in fact!

So, in a nutshell, as I told to my folks yesterday: “PLM MarketPlace is a kind of Amazon for PLM”: browse, find, be contacted, buy!

Ready to shop?

Anthony

On October 2008, we launched a group on LinkedIn. To be honest, neither Jacques nor me hoped it would be so successful. It was kind of a new experience at DS but we thought it could be a good way to connect, not only our Partners, but also with our users and all those interested in PLM and DS products' complimentary offers.

So, almost 5 months later here we are: we have just welcomed our 700th member and became (as of to today) the first PLM-related branded group on LinkedIn! As a matter of fact, even though we are more looking for quality rather than quantity, I must confess that the DS Alliances Team is quite proud of it! Customers, prospects, engineers, software/hardware/services partners, resellers, students, DS people... are part of the group! Even our competitors want to be part of it (using sometimes the craziest stratagemes to fool us )!

Many topics are discussed by all those people: info requests on DS Partners' products or (including products, releases, events,...), the future of CAA V5, specific usages of PLM in particular industries, and also job offers all over the world. We are proud to see that some of our members managed to establish a business relationship thanks to our LinkedIn group. It was (and still definitly is) our primary goal!

I really think this is a unique place that gives you a wide range of opportunities in terms of business and knowledge. And, guess what: it is completly free! You just need to create a (free) profile on www.linkedin.com and ask for joining the group PLM MarketPlace!

Now it's your turn!

Anthony

We’re pretty sure that most of you know LinkedIn.com. Not only it provides a lot of professional and business opportunities, it is also a wonderful way to connect and share experiences in a private or business point of view.

We launched the PLM MarketPlace group on LinkedIn last week. Already more than 50 people part of the PLM MarketPlace (VAR Sales Reps, Referenced Partners people, DS staff…) joined. We noticed an impressive buzz effect! For those of you still not part of it, you should join very quickly (before we reach the limit of 10 000 members .

I must clarify something: the aim of this LinkedIn group is only to allow enthusiasts of the PLM MarketPlace including some customers to share experiences and to eventually get connected with new (business) partners. In the near future, we do not exclude to promote it actively to final customers… but it depends on the shape we (you) give to this group!

Remember that www.plmmarketplace.com is THE place where you do business, log opportunities, get special offers, talk about business privately with Referenced Partners, monitor your sales, etc… All this is covered by the Channel Partner Agreement you have signed.
So, ready for this new “2.0 adventure”?

Anthony

In this enhanced version of PLM MarketPlace we want to make business easier for all Sales Representatives and Application Engineers from our VAR Community, as well as reach new Customers with our DS VARs.

As an example, we are introducing here a visual navigation in order to easily find offers from our Partners. The benefit is that without knowing anything about the Solution or Software Company you are looking for, you are able to describe it in terms of usage by a user profile in a specific industry.

The same approach is even more fruitfull for customers and prospects not familiar with our ecosystem Solutions. We are going in the short term to communicate to potential customers via online-marketing, in order to generate customer awareness about Partner Solutions. More important, this will also guide prospects to leave their coordinates and provide leads to you. Of course, these leads will be managed via the geography CMP organizations in order to smoothly support all local particularities.

This user-centric approach is supported by many web2.0 technologies like Partner-ranking by VARs, blog, tag-cloud, RSS and so on. But for us this is not a goal in itself. Our goal with PLM Marketplace is always to leverage these technologies so that our Partners (DS VARs and Referenced Partners) make money. With this blog approach, we want also to get your feedback on many domains while concentrating on domains that generate revenue.

In the coming days there will be more about usage guidelines for this blog, processes to secure your commissions, presentations of the new business management tools and many more.
We hope this new release will be a valuable business enabler, don't miss this opportunity to secure your quarterly targets.

Jacques.