CIMdata Report Shows Dassault Systèmes is a PLM Revenue Leader in 2015

Which software vendors make the most money selling PLM solutions?

PLM consultancy and analysis firm CIMdata offered an answer to this question in its annual summary report of the world's overall PLM investments, released in July of this year. 

The figures in the voluminous report cover the year before publication, which means that the 2016 report covers the events of 2015.

An interesting part of the report covers how the direct revenues of the dominant players developed. In 2015, CIMdata statistics show that French developer Dassault Systèmes took home the largest direct revenues (meaning that partner revenues are not included in these figures).

The company offers solutions including PLM suite 3DEXPERIENCE and apps such as CATIA (CAD), SolidWorks (mainstream CAD), SIMULIA (CAE, simulation) and ENOVIA (PDM), and sold a total of $3.1 billion in 2015, resulting in a market share of just over 13 percent.

The silver medal went to Siemens, which, with PLM platform Teamcenter, CAx software NX and Solid Edge (mainstream CAD) and Tecnomatix (digital manufacturing), raked in over $2.3 billion -- a sum that gave the company a market share of nearly 10 percent.

Autodesk took the third spot with PLM revenues of $2.3 billion. While most of its PLM-related revenue comes from MCAD solutions Autodesk Inventor and AutoCAD, the company has also made significant investments designed to increase revenue from its cPDM segment, through cloud solution Fusion Lifecycle (previously known as PLM 360).

Further down the list is PTC, with the PLM suite Windchill, CAD software CREO and IoT software ThingWorx making the most. The company grossed nearly $1.27 billion, which was enough comprise a market share of about 5.4 percent.

It can be noted that last year was not great for PTC in terms of revenue. The company’s massive investments in IoT solutions and its links to PLM software induced a phenomenon not uncommon for companies who clear the way in the market for new solutions: revenues decreased during the year, down to the $1.27 billion figure mentioned above, from the 2014 total direct revenue of 1.36 billion.

PLM Market "Mindshare Leaders"

This is CIMdata’s accounting of revenues for what it calls the PLM "Mindshare Leaders," a name intended to convey that these developers offer virtually the entire breadth of PLM-related tools, from CAD and simulation tools, to solutions for PDM, databases and digital manufacturing. It should also be noted that these lists incorporate figures from both software and services.

1) Dassault Systèmes, $3.113 billion

2) Siemens PLM, $2.31 billion

3) Autodesk, $2.3 billion

4) PTC, $1.27 billion

5) SAP PLM, $1.122 billion

6) Oracle PLM, $619 million

Direct and Indirect Revenues in 2015

CIMdata also presents a table which also includes the revenues from these companies’ PLM developer partners. From this perspective, things look slightly different. Autodesk in particular jumps up to second place in the list, due to its very large partner network.

1) Dassault Systèmes, $4.87 billion

2) Autodesk, $3.84 billion

3) Siemens PLM, $3.7 billion

4) PTC, $1.95 billion

5) SAP PLM, $1.58 billion

6) Oracle, $804 million

Oracle Acquires Autodesk ERP Partner NetSuite

A big player in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and database solutions, Oracle has been looking to expand its footprint in the PLM market for a long time. When the software giant signed the final agreement to acquire NetSuite for $9.3 billion late July this summer, the main objective was to grow Oracle’s footprint in the cloud.

What it got was one of the fastest-growing cloud based ERP solutions on the market, but also a foot into the mid-market PLM world. 

The reason for this is that NetSuite, which mainly develops cloud-based financial, accounting, resource planning and CRM solutions, signed a strategic partnership with Autodesk to create close links between its solutions and Autodesk’s PLM 360 suite.

The exact roadmap for Netsuite is still uncertain, but Oracle’s mission statement seems to be to continue developing competitive, cloud-based complements to the large-scale ERP solutions already in the Oracle portfolio. 

Important points from Oracle's perspective are that NetSuite’s ERP solutions are represented in more industries and countries where Oracle lacks the same presence, while also having a strikingly large proportion of small and medium-sized customers.

The value of getting this type of broad solution on track is great, especially when you consider that about half of the product costs are controlled by things that happen during the early stages of product development. As previously mentioned, one of the interesting things about NetSuite’s solutions is the focus on connecting the PLM and ERP parts. 

This connection increases the possibility - especially for smaller companies - to gain better control over all aspects of the product development and distribution processes.

Tying Together Product Development, Manufacturing and Distribution

This specific development mimics the general trend towards integration. Where developers and consultants previously created integrations, often based on individually customized solutions between PLM and ERP systems, developers are now delivering ready-made templates and integration systems.

At the fundamental level, this is about knitting together IT components that relate both to product development (PLM), and to production and aftermarket (ERP). 

The successful implementation of these solutions would certainly be a step in the right direction for the modern manufacturing industry. These combined solutions would not only be able to handle product lifecycle from a design perspective, but also manufacturing and distribution.

After paying more than nine billion dollars for the company and the solution, there’s no doubt that Oracle will keep investing in the solution. In a comment regarding the acquisition, Mark Hurd noted that, “Oracle and NetSuite cloud applications are complementary, and will coexist in the marketplace forever.” He added that, “We intend to invest heavily in both products–engineering and distribution.”

What remains to be seen is whether the acquisition becomes a boon to small and medium sized companies using the software to connect their PLM to their ERP in the cloud.