Simplify Complex PLM Information Analysis With Arena’s DataExtract and Analytics

How PLM Vendors Can Enable a Truly Data-Driven, Enterprise Approach

As more companies shift toward a data-driven product lifecycle management (PLM) model, software vendors need to consider what steps they should implement to help their customers unlock PLM’s full potential of capabilities. Embracing a truly information-driven approach requires more than just accumulating data; it’s about using it across the enterprise.

Here’s how software vendors can reposition their approach to building sustainable, value-driven PLM ecosystems anchored by information metrics:

1. Move Beyond Data Lock-In

Historically, many product development companies kept customer and PLM information tightly contained within their own applications, creating silos and limiting flexibility. In today’s world of interconnected systems, separating data from the application layer is essential. Software vendors need to provide customers with standardized, open access to their product records, regardless of whether they reside in the original PLM platform or get transferred to other analytics and business systems down the road. By treating information as an independent asset, software vendors can empower customers to drive innovation and collaboration beyond traditional application boundaries.

2. Leverage APIs and Integration Frameworks

Companies need to accelerate their business operations with a cohesive, always-on data-driven model. A strong model relies on a robust application programming interface (API) and secure integrations that enable real-time data exchange between systems such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), manufacturing execution systems (MES), analytics platforms, and even custom business intelligence (BI) workflows. Investing in these connections ensures that information flows where it’s needed, when it’s needed, without manual intervention or risky workarounds.

3. Prioritize Data Governance and Security

As information becomes more accessible across networks and systems, maintaining governance, ownership, and security is more critical than ever. Software vendors must help customers manage regulatory frameworks such as general data protection regulation (GDPR) and health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA). They also need to provide the technology and protocols to secure data, manage who can access it, and track its entire lifecycle to prove compliance.

4. Facilitate Automation and Insight Generation

By integrating automation for data processing, normalization, and scheduled extractions, software vendors can enable automatic, repeatable reporting that eliminates errors and accelerates business insight. From there, customers can use best-of-breed analytic software to uncover trends, remove bottlenecks, and create opportunities for process improvement. This leads to making smarter decisions, faster.

5. Support Flexible, Future-Proof Architectures

Software vendors should design an architecture that anticipates change: the useful life of business data and information often outlasts any single application. Building solutions with open standards, modular components, and well-documented APIs ensures that customers won’t be restricted by the latest tech trends as technology continues to quickly evolve. By embracing these strategies, PLM software vendors can help their customers make bold shifts toward data-driven operations.

Better Visibility and Faster Analysis With Arena DataExtract

Arena, by PTC is helping drive this narrative by delivering a modern, cloud-native PLM platform that prioritizes secure data access, scalable cloud infrastructure, and seamless integration across enterprise systems. With capabilities such as Arena DataExtract and a robust API framework, companies can easily connect product lifecycle data with analytics, business intelligence tools, and downstream applications. DataExtract enables customers to pull data changes, requests, quality, and projects in an automated fashion. This removes time-consuming, error-prone manual steps and ensures consistent, easy-to-use output through automated extraction. Using this information, customers can access the metrics to reduce costs and make better decisions.

How Integrating Analytics and Intelligence Unlocks New Value for Companies With Modern PLM

For many manufacturers, traditional systems of record (SOR) have long been the backbone of PLM. But as products, supply chains, and organizations become more complex, companies need the ability to analyze product information, share it, and use it to create better outcomes faster. Forward thinking companies are integrating analytics and systems of intelligence with their PLM system. This turns PLM from a closed engineering tool into a dynamic part of an enterprise-wide digital ecosystem.

Why Decoupling Data Matters

By decoupling PLM data from rigid legacy systems, companies can give teams across the business the freedom to access and use product information in new ways. Instead of locking insights inside engineering workflows, data becomes part of a broader, connected fabric fueling visibility, collaboration, and intelligent decision-making at every stage of the product lifecycle.

The payoff is significant:

• Faster, more informed decision-making
• Better collaboration across engineering, quality, operations, and suppliers
• Increased visibility across the product lifecycle
• A modern, adaptable PLM foundation ready for future technologies

PLM is no longer just a system of record; it becomes a system of insight, a central engine powering smarter, more connected product development.

Systems of Engagement: Bringing PLM Data to Life

Systems of engagement sit on top of your core PLM data, making it easier for users to interact with information through intuitive, familiar interfaces. Unlike traditional PLM interfaces, often optimized for engineering power users, systems of engagement help today’s cross-functional teams visualize, share, and interpret product data.

These tools enable teams to:

• Visualize product and quality data
• Build dashboards tailored to their workflows
• Share insights with stakeholders
• Collaborate in real time across departments

How Arena Analytics Expands Access to PLM and QMS Insights Across the Business

Arena Analytics is a great example. It gives companies a modern, accessible way to explore PLM and quality management system (QMS) insights without requiring expert-level PLM training. With customizable dashboards, intuitive filtering, and built-in collaboration features, Arena Analytics serves as a powerful engagement layer that expands the reach and usability of your product information across the business.

Other systems of engagement may include BI dashboards, CRM, visualization platforms, or any tool that improves how users consume and act on product information.

Systems of Intelligence: Turning Data Into Action

If systems of engagement help teams interact with information, systems of intelligence help them learn from it. These platforms apply advanced analytics to PLM data to uncover trends, predict risks, and identify opportunities. While the technology varies, common intelligence capabilities include:

• AI and machine learning models
• Predictive analytics
• Automated anomaly and nonconformance detection
• Advanced BI and pattern recognition tools

With systems of intelligence in place, raw PLM data can drive:

• Forecasts and predictive insights
• Optimization recommendations
• Early detection of quality or supply chain risks
• Trend analysis across engineering, operations, and suppliers

How Arena Supply Chain Intelligence Uses AI to Identify and Reduce Supply Risk

Arena Supply Chain Intelligence (SCI) demonstrates the power of using AI to identify and mitigate electronic component risk within the product development workflow. It helps teams proactively identify supply constraints, obsolescence signals, and compliance issues earlier, enabling informed sourcing decisions before they impact schedules or cost. Instead of reacting to issues, teams can stay ahead of them.

Data Standards and Data Locking: The Double-Edged Sword

Two PLM topics that generate ongoing discussion are data standards and data locking. Anyone who’s wrestled with PLM data knows that industry standards such as the Standard for the Exchange of Product model data (STEP) or initial graphics exchange specification (IGES) exist, but they mostly revolve around computer-aided design (CAD) and design file exchange. When it comes to general PLM data, each software vendor seems to have developed their own concept of proprietary models, making it more challenging to access or transfer information than it should be.

What Happens When PLM Data Is Locked in Legacy or Highly Customized Systems

What’s the consequence of doing this? Many companies using legacy systems or highly customized environments cannot easily access their information because it’s locked inside those systems and retrieving it requires complex IT work. The idea of exporting data from one PLM and importing it to another becomes complex.

Why Is PLM Data So Hard to Access? Understanding Vendor Lock-In

Why is the data so tightly guarded? It stems from a common enterprise strategy, vendor lock-in. By tightly coupling the data with their applications, software vendors make it difficult for customers to move or use information elsewhere, incentivizing upgrades and ongoing contracts. This approach isn’t unique to PLM; it’s a well-known move in enterprise software circles.

How Modern PLM Unlocks Data for Better Use

The challenge for modern PLM solutions is to move beyond these constraints. It’s about untangling business-critical data from restrictive platforms so companies can truly harness the value of their information, whether that means feeding analytics, populating dashboards, or connecting to downstream systems.

Turning PLM Information Into Actionable Intelligence

Access to PLM information is only the first step. What matters is how effectively organizations use it. Arena DataExtract and Arena Analytics bridge this gap by combining automated data access with intuitive analytics and visualization. The result is a more connected, insight-driven company where teams can quickly identify trends, collaborate across functions, and make smarter decisions with confidence.

Discover how Arena DataExtract and Arena Analytics can help you turn product data into actionable insights while accelerating decision-making and improving performance across your entire organization.