Dassault has made many acquisitions, but most to acquire key technologies, not necessarily to plant a stake in a specific vertical market. PLM is widely entrenched in key industries like automotive and aerospace, but it's also gained some significant ground in the CPG industry, shipbuilding, and even apparel. I think it's part of many PLM vendors' strategies to seek out fresh markets and this one is perfect for Dassault's lineup, given its strong focus on visualization and simulation technology.
The acquisition of Gemcomm by Dassualt seems very unsual and unexpected, Beth. Has Dassault made other, similar, vertical industry acquisitions in the past, or this a first?
@Naperlou: I know, this posts covers moves by Dassault that are at opposite ends of the spectrum. I'm not sure what to say about the Gemcom acquisiton except that it really does fit with their focus on simulatios and as you note, the mining industry has been slow to move towards software automation so there seems like a good new market opportunity.
As for the social experience stuff, I hear what you're saying about only trusted and knowledgeable people having access or giving input to future product directions, but I suppose Dassault is taking a page from the broader consumer markets where this is happening on a frenetic basis under the moniker of the "customer experience" concept. I'm not sure where it will go, but at least it shows vendors are not sitting still.
Beth, this is an interesting combination of features. In the mining area, where there are lots of liability issues, the industry tends to be somewhat static becuase of the need to certify and guarntee. I expect that is why GEMCOM has such a wide reach in their industry.
As for the social enterprise applications, I wonder how useful this will be. In working in large product companies we typically had a database of requested product improvements and issues. Access to this database was restricted to those who were trusted by the development team. This seems to be essential to maintain some level of quality. Unfiltered information from random stakeholders can be a problem. When developing products it is typically experienced product managers who are required to ensure that product direction is viable and meets the widest set of user needs.
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