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Still Using Spreadsheets? It’s Time to Switch to PLM

3 MIN READ

Did you know that 90% of spreadsheets have errors? And it’s near impossible to find and fix them all. If you still rely on spreadsheets to manage your product lifecycle, it’s time for an upgrade. Constant change, rising costs and new tariffs make it tough to compete with organizations that benefit from a PLM solution. In fact, you’re likely losing market share as a result.

What’s the risk of sticking with spreadsheets? Consider the implications in the following scenarios.

(Skip to Scenario Two if you’re tired of the spreadsheet drama.)

Scenario One: Sticking with spreadsheets

A geopolitical conflict erupts where several of your suppliers and manufacturers operate. They anticipate lengthy delays. Your team scrambles to find and vet alternate suppliers in other regions to keep your go-to-market plan on track. Luckily, they find alternative sources, but premium material pricing and expedited shipping need to be factored in. By this time, your product time-to-market is at jeopardy while costs continue to escalate. Then you discover the new supplier doesn’t meet your sustainability standards and your customers begin to lose trust in your brand.

Your up at night concerned about unacceptable increases in Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) and eroding margins. Your processes rely on data scattered in spreadsheets, so you lack visibility to find the root causes. Manual spreadsheet updates cause data entry errors that take extra time to discover and correct. Errors and delays lead to product delays, further diminishing your brand identity. Then, overworked and siloed teams cut corners that lead to compliance issues. Now you face costly legal issues.

Finally, you have concerns of intellectual property theft due to unsecure emails and files sent to overseas partners and manufacturers. Unlike a secure, cloud-based PLM solution, email transmits your spreadsheets as plain, readable text.

As your margins shrink and your COGS grow, you examine your manual and error-prone processes. The lack of real-time, data visibility and analytics keeps you in a reactive cycle. You examine the catastrophic threats to the wellbeing of your people and the health of your brand. There has to be a better way. 

Scenario Two: Transforming your operations with Centric PLM

Your company replaces your spreadsheet product management workflow with an AI-Powered solution – Centric PLM™. Now, your global product teams share a “single source of truth.” Since talent retention and challenges continue, you expand the platform across the organization. This enables you to reduce tedious manual spreadsheet data entry and improve collaboration. Job satisfaction improves tremendously. Additionally, Centric PLM enables real time collaboration across geographies and time zones. The intelligent product data and insight tools drive quicker pivots and scaling. Now, these teams actively protect and enhance your company’s bottom line. As a result, more products launch on time. In fact, on-time product launches hit a new high as costs decrease. Digital benchmarking and financial targeting tools maximize insights not possible with spreadsheets. Your employee engagement skyrockets as teams gain recognition for new value delivered to your bottom line.

After a brief time, you notice a dramatic shift in other KPIs. First, you confirm a significant reduction in BOM data errors. Then, product quality improves by almost 15%. The built-in supplier self-assessment and alerting features makes it easy to pivot fast. Innovative dashboards fuel better decision-making. You discover so much cost reduction and improved efficiency that you double your product lines.

Centric PLM completely transforms your operations and you are informed. New insights protect margins. AI-driven insights surface new savings opportunities and risks. Powerful collaborative workflows boost time to market and fuel business growth. Your teams find more time for strategic work and your Centric PLM platform attracts new talent to your organization. It’s a revolutionary shift that sets your forward-thinking organization on a new path to success. 

Select the right PLM solution

When you’re ready to switch from spreadsheets to a PLM, ask these questions while doing your research. Selecting the wrong partner can cause as many problems as sticking with spreadsheets.

  • Which brands and retailers use the platform?  
  • Does the platform integrate well with your current systems?  
  • How long does it take to implement and how easy is it to use?  
  • Is the company innovative? Can the solution scale along with your business? 

Centric Software® offers an award-winning PLM solution. In fact, we’re trusted by some of the world’s most prestigious brands. Our customers thrive in fashion, retail, footwear, luxury, outdoor and consumer goods industries. They rely on our merchandise planning, product development, sourcing, quality and collection management. Our flexible, scalable and user-friendly AI-driven digital foundation grows along with your company. Partner with us to optimize your planning, pricing, design, product development, sourcing and production. Together, we’ll help you streamline your processes, empower your people, reduce your costs, maximize your profitability and realize your sustainability goals