What to Expect When Applying for a SuperNova Award: Selecting a Category

This is the second in a series of posts designed to help you submit your best SuperNova Award application.

In this post I'll define the SuperNova Award categories so you can submit your application to the most relevant category. 

SuperNova Award Categories

• ?Consumerization of IT & The New C-Suite: an examination of the policies, technologies, and collaboration frameworks required to balance the speed of technology adoption with the security and scalability requirements of enterprise IT. Sample technologies (not limited to): mobile, BYOD, cloud storage, gamification, video. 
• Data to Decisions: solutions that enable data-driven decisions across the entire organization. Sample technologies (not limited to): big data, master data, data quality, analytics, reporting, visualization tools, cognitive applications
• Digital Marketing Transformation: how organizations will make the shift from analog to digital marketing. Sample technologies (not limited to): ad tech, marketing automation, promotions, creative technology, social business, marketing cloud
• Future of Work: solutions that address confluence of technological, demographic and cultural trends challenging the traditional work paradigm. Sample technologies (not limited to):  collaboration, hr tech, learning and management, talent, space design, unified communications, video, productivity
• Matrix Commerce: analysis of the disruptive pressures influencing the commerce paradigm. Commerce faces rapidly changing business models and new payment options that are often misunderstood and poorly integrated. Sample technologies (not limited to):  ecommerce, mcommerce, supply chain, digital signatures, payment technologies, billing
• Next Generation Customer Experience: the technologies transforming traditional 'customer service' into a next generation customer experience where social, mobile, and analog channels meld to provide streamlined customer service.  Sample technologies (not limited to): CRM, customer service, customer experience, loyalty, gamification, social, communications, video, community, marketing cloud
• Technology Optimization & Innovation: solutions and strategies that optimize the cost of ongoing support thereby enabling investment in innovation & strategic advantage. Sample technologies: ERP, apps strategy, IT budgeting, IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, cloud technology.

Now get started on that application! Navigate to the SuperNova Award application, and log in or create a Constellation account. http://constellationr.com/node/2108/apply

If you have any questions about the Awards, feel free to contact me directly: Courtney[at]ConstellationR[dot]com. 

?Previous post:
Explaining the SuperNova Awards Application and Application Checklist

Resources:

SuperNova Award Application checklist

SuperNova Award application

2013 SuperNova Award winners

The IoT of your supply chain – the rise of the machines

pending

Guy Courtin was formerly Vice President and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research covering Matrix Commerce and how the Internet of Things drives the evolution of commerce.  Guy has over 15 years experience in the technology space and specifically in the supply chain space. Most recently he was the Vice President of Research at SCM World. Where he focused on the service providers that empowered supply chains. Prior to SCM World, Guy held numerous senior positions. He was responsible for product marketing at RSi, a retail supply chain solution provider. There managed RSi’s go to market strategy around their leading cloud based supply chain solutions. He also spear headed Progress Software’s supply chain group. Where he was responsible for driving revenue and market share as well…...

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I wrote a post a few months ago about IoT (internet of things) and how it was “big data” with a new suit. I also read a tweet that gave me pause for thought by Simon Jacobson that raised the question about IoT use cases -

how soon till we see #IoT use cases beyond remote monitoring and maintenance? asset reliability important but more uses needed #rsteched

It is an interesting comment. IoT right now, much like Big Data, is all about the ability to collect data from more and more “things” in our universe. The ability to collect the data is becoming increasingly powerful. Whereas in the past you would rely on your plant supervisor to visually monitor the performance of a printing press, now you have hundreds or thousands of sensors that can communicate in real time with monitoring software to ensure the health of that machine. Companies like Caterpillar are putting sensors on a greater number of their products, allowing consumers and Caterpillar, to monitor their earth movers, trucks and other machinery.  For a more current example of how IoT is everywhere, all one has to do is look at the tragedy of Malaysia Air flight 370 – it was the GE produced engines that were constantly pinging the maintenance servers that gave investigators a better sense of the direction of the plane’s flight. But these examples reinforce with Simon was saying – these are all about remote monitoring.

When will our supply chains see IoT moving beyond “just” remote monitoring and asset management examples? That is where M2M (Machine to Machine) will begin to play a larger role. I spoke earlier this year with Toolsgroup, a supply chain solution vendor, and they spoke to me about their working with Costa coffee and their coffee distribution machines. So how does a coffee vending machine have a role in all this? Initially this story is all about improved monitoring for improved inventory management. How Costa Coffee dispensers are being “smarter” in how they communicate to ensure more efficient fulfillment. Up to this point it is really about monitoring. But let’s take it to the next level.

With greater machine learning, could the dispensers become smarter with marketing to the individual consumer? You purchase a soy milk latte from the machine. That machine can now learn your preferences if that is what you have been purchasing at other machines. Could you imagine that their is data being exchanged between other systems? Maybe where Costa coffee materials are sold or maybe partner goods are offered. Machine to machine learning, could lead to greater machine to machine communications. Now the machines could communicate and proactively push coupons or deals to your mobile device about a soy milk and coffee bean bogo offer. Yes there is some big brother aspects to this…but get used to more of that with IoT.

We are just beginning to see how IoT will impact supply chains. What we know it is doing is bringing a greater amount of information from a larger number of sources that we otherwise had access to. What we are still determining is what kind of data we will be getting and how we can use the data – for more than simply monitoring.

Have a disruptive technology implementation story? Get recognized for your leadership. Apply for the SuperNova Awards for leaders in disruptive technology.

What Does a Silicon Valley Immersion Trip Look Like?

Terri Griffith

Professor/Author/Speaker
Simon Fraser University

Terri Griffith holds the Keith Beedie Chair in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business. She spent two decades in the Silicon Valley and, in 2012 was honored as a Woman of Influence by the Silicon Valley Business Journal. Terri helps her students and their organizations accelerate performance and prepare for the futures of work. Through her speaking, writing, teaching, and research, she brings evidence-based leadership and innovation to high-tech, education, and global agribusiness organizations. She inspires and coaches groups on negotiating change and uniquely mixing existing and new capabilities. Her most recent work uses a “bottom-up” approach to automation, including artificial intelligence. Her award-winning book, The Plugged-In Manager:…...

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Thank You ESADE 2014!

What Does It Look Like?

Some of Our Guest Speakers

• Jordi Argente, Spain California Chamber of Commerce
• Dr. Kate Berzukova, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Santa Clara University
• Dave Blakely, Senior Director, IDEO
• Gabriel Broner, Vice President, Software Development and Product Innovation at SGI
• Dr. Kumar Sarangee, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Santa Clara University
• Tad Milbourn, CEO and Co-Founder, TiempoApp
• Dr. George Mohler, Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science, Santa Clara University and Chief Scientist, PredPol
• Dr. James Spohrer, IBM, Director IBM Global University Programs and leads IBM’s Cognitive Systems Institute

How Can You Be Involved?

Have a disruptive technology implementation story? Get recognized for your leadership. Apply for the SuperNova Awards for leaders in disruptive technology.

Monday's Musings: Insights From GE's Global Innovation Barometer Show Executives Need To Be Disruption Ready

R "Ray" Wang

Principal Analyst and Founder
Constellation Research

R “Ray” Wang is the CEO of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research Inc. He co-hosts DisrupTV, a weekly enterprise tech and leadership webcast that averages 50,000 views per episode and blogs at www.raywang.org. His ground-breaking best-selling book on digital transformation, Disrupting Digital Business, was published by Harvard Business Review Press in 2015. Ray's new book about Digital Giants and the future of business, titled, Everybody Wants to Rule The World was released in July 2021. Wang is well-quoted and frequently interviewed by media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Fox Business, CNBC, Yahoo Finance, Cheddar, and Bloomberg. Short Bio R “Ray” Wang (pronounced WAHNG) is the Founder, Chairman, and Principal Analyst of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research Inc. He…...

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Disruption, Collaboration, and The Future Of Work Highlighted In Latest Edition

Last week, June 16, 2014, GE unveiled the 2014 results for its “Global Innovation Barometer“. In the 4th annual survey, the GE team commissioned Edelman Berland to phone interview 3209 senior business executives between April 2, 2014 and May 30, 2014.  Interviewees represented VP level and higher respondents from twenty-six countries including Algeria, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Turkey, UAE, UK and USA.  The average age of respondents was 44 years old and 31% represented C-Level decision makers.   Four key areas of findings focused on:

1. Macro trends show how essential innovation is to overall strategy. The study showed that 80% of respondents believe that people in their coutnry live better today than 10 years ago because of the impact of innovation on their life and on their country.  However, 47% felt that technological innovation will increase inequalities.  Collaboration (47%), convergence of technology (32%), big data (25%), and industrial internet (25%) show some mindshare gains in terms of companies with a strategy or process to make the most of these new technology trends (See Figure 1).

   Figure 1.  Businesses Embrace New Trends In stages
   

2. Glocalization emerges as a key requirement for successful innovation. 82% of organizations interviewed believe that innovation is a global game.  Meanwhile 73% believed that innovation needs to be locatized to serve specific market needs (See Figure 2).  This leads to the need to “Think Glocal”  Survey results also show that Mexico, Singapore, Indonesia, Sweden, Brazil, South Africa, and South Korea lead the perceptions that constraints create innovation opportunities for those willing to invest.

   Figure 2. Organizations must think glocal in order to deliver on innovation
   

3. Delivering on new business models creates challenges on successful innovation projects.  Over 60% of respondents found it difficult to define an effective business model to support new ideas and make them profitable, creating a challenge killing the ability to innovate.  In addition, understanding customers and anticipating market evolutions (84%),  attracting and retaining the most talented and skilled individuals (79%), and adapting and implementing emerging technologies (67%) rose to the top three critical requirements for innovation (see Figure 3). Figure 3. Customer Understanding And War For Talent Remain key Critical Requirements For Innovation
   
4. Speed and agility to innovate better is more mantra than reality at most organizations.  The survey showed 67% of respondents agreed that success in innovation requires companies to quickly adapt and implement emerging technologies (see Figure 4).  Concurrently, 57% consider the internal inertia and the incapacity to be nimble, failing at rapidly converting ideas into actions is a challenge limiting their business’s ability to innovate efficiently.

   Figure 4. Organizations Find It Hard To Deliver on Agility Despite The Benefits

The Bottom Line: GE’s Global Innovation Barometer Highlights Growing Sophistication Among Executives To Embrace Or Prepare For Business Model Disruption

The latest GE Global Innovation Barometer is a must read for all executives. As organizations enter a world of digital business and digital transformation, the findings show that most leaders realize that unless they disrupt, they will be disrupted.  Moreover, a growing sense for co-creation, co-innovation highlights the benefits of collaboration.  This trend correlates with increasing requests from market leaders and fast followers to identify startups and other forward thinking organizations to partner with.  With 70% of respondents identifying big data as a critical foundation for digital business and digital transformation, organizations expect to not only optimize business efficiency, but also 69% of respondents expect to use big data to improve the innovation process.   Finally, organizations strangely expect their governments to provide a framework to support top drivers of innovation either by fighting bureaucracy and cutting red tape (87%), ensuring business confidentiality and trade secrets are adequately protected (86%), and better aligning student curriculum with the needs of business (85%).

Constellation sees the overall findings as positive for innovation in the enterprise.  As organizations enter the next phase of business model disruption via digital, the attraction and retention of key talent, the internal agility of new business models, the adoption of new technologies, and real leadership amidst change are key success factors for this digital transformation.  The GE Global Innovation Barometer does a great job of quantifying the sentiment leading into 2014.  The hard work of getting the job done is ahead but at least it’s no longer unknown.

Have a disruptive technology implementation story? Get recognized for your leadership. Apply for the 2014 SuperNova Awards for leaders in disruptive technology.

Your POV.

How are you preparing for innovation and business model disruption? Is your organization ready for digital? What do you think of the GE Report? Let us know how you are getting there and what first steps have worked.  Add your comments to the blog or reach me via email: R (at) ConstellationR (dot) com or R (at) SoftwareInsider (dot) org.

Lead by Letting Go: Women of the Channel Keynote

Terri Griffith

Professor/Author/Speaker
Simon Fraser University

Terri Griffith holds the Keith Beedie Chair in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business. She spent two decades in the Silicon Valley and, in 2012 was honored as a Woman of Influence by the Silicon Valley Business Journal. Terri helps her students and their organizations accelerate performance and prepare for the futures of work. Through her speaking, writing, teaching, and research, she brings evidence-based leadership and innovation to high-tech, education, and global agribusiness organizations. She inspires and coaches groups on negotiating change and uniquely mixing existing and new capabilities. Her most recent work uses a “bottom-up” approach to automation, including artificial intelligence. Her award-winning book, The Plugged-In Manager:…...

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Last week I had the honor of opening Women of the Channel West. This conference focuses on women in the information technology channel community -- some of our top technology sales strategy leaders. The San Francisco event was the first time this conference had come to the west coast and I think we did a great job hosting. Here is a gracious summary of my keynote by Kari Hamanaka,  including quotes from the audience. It thrills me that they found the ideas actionable and that they plan to put them into use.

My slides are here and I’m happy to talk with anyone about the meat behind the images. I had the chance to push the limits of how we might "lead by letting go" across work, leadership, education, and mentoring.

The full speaker list is here (click for abstracts), including the amazing closing keynote by Holly Green on being “elite.” The workshops were also standouts and I especially enjoyed connecting with Luanne Tierney as she is part of the growing Santa Clara University women in business network. Her 12 strategies for for success in the future world of work are dead on.

The Big Picture

Kari Hamanaka also did a great job summarizing the sessions by Riverbed’s Michele Hayes and Avnet’s Therese Bassett. Keys: Be willing to be afraid, promote your wins, and understand your employees’ needs and goals. Some of my favorite moments:

• Hayes’ story of her escape from Alcatraz swim and the perspective that puts on work.
• Bassett speaking the truth of, "There is no greater buzzkill than to say we want you to be engaged so that you can pound out more work.”

Don’t stop with my snippets, take a look at Hamanaka’s summary and the full list of the talks and workshops. Let me know if you'd like to know more about how you can lead by letting go. 

Progress Report - IBM BigData and Analytics have a lot of product potential, time to show it

Holger Mueller

Vice President and Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Holger Mueller is VP and Principal Analyst for Constellation Research for the fundamental enablers of the cloud, IaaS, PaaS and next generation Applications, with forays up the tech stack into BigData and Analytics, HR Tech, and sometimes SaaS. Holger provides strategy and counsel to key clients, including Chief Information Officers, Chief Technology Officers, Chief Product Officers, Chief HR Officers, investment analysts, venture capitalists, sell-side firms, and technology buyers.  Coverage Areas: Future of Work Tech Optimization & Innovation  Background: Before joining Constellation Research, Mueller was VP of Products for NorthgateArinso, a KKR company. There, he led the transformation of products to the cloud and laid the foundation for new Business Process as a…...

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We had the opportunity to attend IBM’s BigData & Analytics Summit 2014 held in June 11th and 12th in New York. Needless to say, that IBM has a staggering portfolio of Analytics and BigData products and services, just consider 15000 employees in the Strategy and Analytics practice. And the good news is that when IBM talks about analytics, it’s the ‘true’ analytics – the one that take an action, or at least suggest one (more on ‘true’ analytics here).

From many insights and learning points, here is the distillation of my top 3 takeaways:

• Transformative Power of Analytics – While there is almost no vendor not talking about analytics today, there are fewer that understand ‘true’ analytics like IBM. What sets IBM apart is the understanding that analytics are truly transformational, and not just in one business dimension, but spanning all professions and business processes. Smith had a great slide representing the transformation for the C-Suite which illustrates well what impact BigData and Analytics have on enterprises and their care takers. And she delivered the punchline that executives that do not understand these key trends we be challenged in their careers and are likely going to trouble the success of their enterprise.

• Speed matters – It was also good to see that IBM realizes there is a limited time window for the opportunity to be one of the key players to leverage the transformation enabled by BigData and Analytics, so speed is of the essence. And IBM has certainly gained even more speed in 2013 as the below chart illustrates both trough internal R&D and acquisitions. 

• Watson is the differentiator – As previously stated, the cognitive capabilities of Watson are a key differentiator for IBM’s products and services. With the Watson Foundations IBM is betting on an ecosystem of consultants, developers, startups and mature ISVs to build cognitive applications on top of Watson Foundations. With BlueMix there is now a modern PaaS platform available that should help the adoption of next generation applications (in general, but also in the BigData and Analytics) space. 

MyPOV

IBM has a very attractive portfolio of capabilities across its analytical and BigData capabilities. Complemented with Watson, SoftLayer and BlueMix this becomes an even higher potential combination, as next generation applications can be built in a modern PaaS (BlueMix), leverage cutting edge cognitive insights (Watson) and can be deployed efficiently and flexibly through SoftLayer datacenters.

IBM now needs to make all these products work together, create value for IBM customers and partners and deliver more next generation application showcases. We know that IBM can build and deliver these with the help of GBS – but the real yardstick is to see them delivered as true cloud products, that create insights and spontaneous benefits to business users with no (or very little) involvement of consultants and IT professionals.

IBM’s massive GBS business in these regards is both a blessing and a curse. It’s is a blessing, that allows IBM to go further than any of its competitors and allows IBM to gain valuable insights from customer engagement. E.g. the transformative nature for the C-Suite is not as well understood in the market by competitors – and most likely the result of deep, cross project harvested, consulting insights delivered courtesy of GBS. The curse for IBM is, that it may fall short in regards of aggressive standardization, mass adoption based on viral distribution of its products, as well as the “holy grail” of analytics, the self-service setup and enablement of analytical applications by business (end) users. But that is still a few years out, realistically – so plenty of time for IBM to address and handle this challenge.

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Have a disruptive technology implementation story? Get recognized for your leadership. Apply for the 2014 SuperNova Awards for leaders in disruptive technology.

Resources

Latest reports by Holger Mueller

How ARCA Re-Organized Sales and Put Revenue Growth into High Gear

Globalization, HR, and Business Model Success

More on IBM by Holger Mueller:

• Event Report - What a difference a year makes - and off to a good start - read here

• First Take - 3 Key Takeaways from IBM's Impact Conference - Day 1 Keynote - read here

• Another week and another Billion - this week it's a BlueMix Paas - read here

• First take - IBM makes Connection - introduces the TalentSuite at IBM Connect - read here

• IBM kicks of cloud data center race in 2014 - read here

• First Take - IBM Software Group's Analyst Insights - read here

• Are we witnessing one of the largest cloud moves - so far? Read here

• Why IBM acquired Softlayer - read here

Big Privacy Webinar Recording

With powerful big data analytics tools, digital businesses are scooping up data from consumers and archiving it until they can determine how they should analyze it. While there’s huge potential in analyzing this data, businesses need to respect the privacy of their customers and provide their customers fair value in exchange for their data. This means entering into a pact with customers, Constellation has termed, ‘Big Privacy’. 'Big Privacy’ calls on companies to practice restraint, transparency and provide customers fair value in exchange for personal data. Big privacy is designed to be an open conversation between business and consumers, and will play an essential role in ensuring we make progress toward realizing the benefits of big data analytics.

"Big Privacy": The New Big Data Privacy Pact with Steve Wilson

Resources:

Big Privacy Rises to the Challenges of Big Data - by Steve Wilson

The Case for the Chief Digital Officer

I’ve just published a new report focusing on the role of the Chief Digital Officer (CDO). CDO is a relatively new role and many organizations desperately need them to help build capabilities and competitiveness.

Making the Case for the Chief Digital Officer

In summary:

Digital disruption has affected every industry around the globe, bar none. Emerging technology has shifted the balance of power from long-standing institutions to newly formed entities that have been designed to capitalize specifically on the contemporary operating environment.

Constellation’s PESTEL (political, economic, societal, technological, environmental, and legislative) framework helps identify the major elements of the shift to digital, but today’s brands are not staffed or structured properly to succeed in this transformation.

A Chief Digital Officer is the leader to help companies navigate successfully through the current era of digital disruption. The CDO charter includes formulating digital business strategy, activating operational initiatives, and managing organizational transformation.

But the roles of CDOs are not one-size-fits-all; brands should hire and focus this executive on a critical set of industry-specific challenges.

The responsibilities of a Chief Digital Officer vary based on industry and company need; I’ve identified three major types of CDO segmented by business model and customer value proposition.

For additional perspective, see Beyond the CIO/CMO – The Rise of the Chief Digital Officer from my former colleague Dion Hinchcliffe.

Event Report: #PowerPlex At The Crux Of The New Manufacturing Renaissance

R "Ray" Wang

Principal Analyst and Founder
Constellation Research

R “Ray” Wang is the CEO of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research Inc. He co-hosts DisrupTV, a weekly enterprise tech and leadership webcast that averages 50,000 views per episode and blogs at www.raywang.org. His ground-breaking best-selling book on digital transformation, Disrupting Digital Business, was published by Harvard Business Review Press in 2015. Ray's new book about Digital Giants and the future of business, titled, Everybody Wants to Rule The World was released in July 2021. Wang is well-quoted and frequently interviewed by media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Fox Business, CNBC, Yahoo Finance, Cheddar, and Bloomberg. Short Bio R “Ray” Wang (pronounced WAHNG) is the Founder, Chairman, and Principal Analyst of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research Inc. He…...

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Plex Plays A Key Role In The Digitalization Of Manufacturing

Over 900 customers, partners, and Plex Systems gathered at the DeVVos Plae on Michigan’s West Coast of Grand Rapids for the 13th annual Plex Systems user event.  New features and a significant funding round book end the major announcements from the June 10th, 2014 Day 1 keynote:

• New funding round accelerates sales expansion and market awareness. T. Rowe Price, Accel Partners and Francisco partners join to invest $50M in new financing.  The $50M adds to the original $6M from Apax Partners November 2009 and the $30M from Accel Partners in December 2012
  
  Point of View (POV): The round led by T.Rowe Price provides another validation point on the success of Plex in riding the manufacturing renaissance wave.  Customers can expect a continued influx of enterprise software talent and product investment.  Constellation expects greater sales and marketing coverage and improved business development and alliances.

• Enterprise Edition adds to up market capabilities. New financials and supply chain applications expand the reach of the Manufacturing Cloud.  Accounting now includes general ledger structures, enterprise chart of account management, inter-entity journal accounting, inventory transfers and consolidated financial reporting.  Cash management solves key banking requirements such as receipts, account reconciliation, and centralized payments.  Supply chain adds sales order management and purchasing.  The latest release also includes new multi-site manufacturing requirements
  
  (POV): New Enterprise Edition makes it easier to consider Plex as part of a two-tier ERP/Manufacturing strategy.  New financial features make the product more CFO friendly.  Meanwhile, the supply chain features such as centralized sales order and billing, and purchasing functions set the stage for future commerce capabilities as manufacturers explore direct sales versus distributor models.  A key win is the ability to complete automated inter-entity billing as part of the distributed order fulfillment process.

• New features and enhancements build on the core Manufacturing Cloud. SmartPlex Mobile is delivered on both Android and iOS.  Manufacturers can now access key reports and analytic dashboards.  Plex Finite Scheduling helps customers plan and manage availability and utilization of employees, tools, fixtures, work-center space, and other resources.  Key features include capable to promise analysis, dynamic calendars, forecasting, and complex job scheduling. Global capabilities also include VAT calculation for EMEA, Brazil tax calculations, and nine languages.
  
  (POV): Customers at PowerPlex raved about the role based library of IntelliPlex dashboards and reports.  They applauded the ability to access a full view at any point in time with the new mobile capabilities.   Finite scheduling also received a warm welcome as the dynamic calendar user experience showed how easy it would be to run a job schedule. Plex has improved its globalization capabilities as new customers across 1,100 facilities in 20 countries, and nine languages add requirements to each release.

• Improved user experience takes a role-based approach and supports augmented reality. New role based user experiences cover from the shop floor to executives in the top floor.   User experience transcends device and deployment options.  The Google Glass integration enables operators to see and act on live data and shop floor transactions.
  
  (POV): The new user experience serves up contextual information by role which is a best practcie.  If properly designed, Constellation believes this should improve relevancy and relieve operators of information overload.  Roles include manufacturing but also financial and administrative leaders.  The integration with Google Glass improves the human to machine interaction and also keeps hands free for work and safety.

The Flickr Feed From PowerPlex 2014

The Bottom Line: Manufacturing System Replacement Cycles Have Woken Up From Their Dormancy

In the past three years, Constellation has seen an increase in inquiries and vendor selections for manufacturing ERP.  The shift to local based manufacturing, cheaper domestic energy, and more automated complex manufacturing has created a new manufacturing renaissance in North America.  While Plex is often in short lists, Plex is not a newcomer in the market.  In fact the company began in 1995 as a client/server shop built on Progress.  In 2001, the company moved to a cloud based approach.  Still early in the market for manufacturing system replacement cycles, the company plowed ahead.  As cloud adoption increased, interest increased in cloud based manufacturing solutions as an opportunity to replace aging systems.

Plex has done a great job moving beyond it’s initial automobile OEM roots for discrete manufacturing.  Plex’s signature features are the rigorous traceability, quality, and safety capabilities and has expanded its market share in aerospace, food and beverage, life sciences, and medical manufacturing.  In addition, the product is well positioned for sensor and analytical ecosystems critical to the Internet of Things.  At PowerPlex, Constellation had the opportunity to interview craft beer manufacturers, small batch food manufacturers, and small A&D shops.  Constellation sees this space as an emerging growth category given the estimated $50B manufacturing and tier two ERP replacement market over the next 20 years.

Have a disruptive technology implementation story? Get recognized for your leadership. Apply for the 2014 SuperNova Awards for leaders in disruptive technology.