The role of data-driven PLM
Defensive technologies, tools and tactics are changing rapidly. As noted by research firm Deloitte in their recent whitepaper, Defense Trends 2020: Investing in a Digital Future, “digital technology is reshaping the nature of combat and the nature of business, and defence companies need to transform nearly every aspect of how they operate in order to compete.
What does this mean for defence agencies? No longer is a plane just a plane or a ship just a ship. Instead, they now exist as hybrid resources — physical/digital nodes that contain vast amounts of usable data, so long as defence organisations can access it. For example, an aircraft on patrol isn’t simply evaluating potential threats and assessing current conditions; connected onboard sensors are automatically collecting relevant data and routing it back to command installations for further analysis.
Commensurate with the evolution of these technologies, however, is their increasing cost. Combined with emerging budgetary constraints and expectations around spending transparency, government defence agencies must justify purchasing decisions in part by demonstrating the ability of these assets to deliver significant value over time — and it all starts with robust product lifecycle management (PLM).
