Depending on whom you ask, a PLM client in the SMB category can be revenue-less startup still developing its first product, an established enterprise generating $1 billion a year or anything in between. Expert’s points out that such a client might also turn out to be an autonomous business division, because large enterprises often have independent departments that operate with their own sets of objectives, their own budgets and their own suppliers.

Based on a provider's background, a buyer can expect strong expertise and support in certain areas of the lifecycle. Those deeply rooted in the design culture, like Dassault Systemes consider content-creation tools a critical part of the lifecycle, so their PLM tools are tightly integrated with CAD, CAM and CAE tools. Products from SAP and others steeped in the business culture, on the other hand, are better known for managing enterprise assets, procurement operations and post-sale transactions.

With the lowest entry cost, on-demand solutions represent the most economic option for small startups, but it's difficult to tell who would have the tenacity to cope with PLM's crossing from puberty to maturity.

"PLM is nothing new. People have always created products, People have always collaborated with people and have been archiving drawings. Earlier it was done around conference tables, inside file cabinets-It wasn’t done too well, by today's standards. But the acronym conveys the mistaken idea that the need for PLM is something new.”

"A high percentage of SMBs have not yet fully embraced 3D. Even among those who have, they are not fully taking advantage of the built-in capabilities-for instance, the QA functions and design optimization tools that come with PLM programs like CATIA, ENOVIA and SMARTEAM. For some, Windows Explorer is their data-management tool. They use creative naming conventions. The burden is on the engineers to tag the files properly, to keep track of what's going on, to know who made the last update, and to avoid overwriting one another's work."

Here's an example of the technology consumption habits of SMBs shared by both vendors and analysts. The incremental approach, or the modular approach, makes PLM easier for them to digest. Gartner analyst Halpern says his idea of a best-of-class PLM solution is "where you have a common platform, and, as you encounter a particular business need, you can adopt a suite or a library of specialized applications to address it."

What makes PLM even more palatable to the SMBs is the availability of on-demand solutions, sometimes called hosted solutions.

Industry Experts believe the proliferation of on-demand solutions can do for PLM what the advent of affordable PCs has done for computing. "It's PLM for the masses," quote the experts in today’s scenario.

It is also a common norm that companies need the option to adopt PLM in stages-basic, intermediate and advanced-based on where their business is.

Consider this, "When you own the license to, say, PDM software, even if the vendor goes out of business, you still own the software. You may not get any more enhancements or support, but you can continue to be productive. But what would happen if a hosting company goes out of business? If one day the hosting company disappears, you can lose access to your intellectual asset and the ability to manage it internally. So you want to feel confident that the on-demand service provider can stay in business"

"This doesn't always equate to revenue or employee size," It has been observed over the last few years that even some of the smallest startups require advanced functionality because they are a virtual manufacturer relying heavily on outsourcing." Everyone should also be warned that buyers should make a distinction between vendors who simply offer hosting services and those who are focused on delivering the PLM infrastructure: "On-demand is a business model-not a delivery model."

Uninitiated SMBs can start out on a pilot program with basic PLM solutions and when these organisations become comfortable enough with PLM routines, they should consider migrating to a more dedicated setup-bringing the solutions in-house.

Gartner analysts gave their assessment on the risk involved in using hosted solutions to handle proprietary data. These environments are generally pretty secure. There's no convincing evidence that there's a gross security risk with those solutions." The viability of the solution provider, on the other hand, is a legitimate concern.