I really enjoyed the Aras ACE 2024 user conference this year. The event gave me the opportunity to hear and learn from Aras leadership, specialists, partners, and users to gain a deeper perspective on the future of Aras. I’ll share my takeaways, but I’ll start with my summary and the advice I give to manufacturers about Aras Innovator. I always tell people that if they’re looking for a PLM system, they should include Aras in their research, not because they are necessarily a better offering but because they are a very different offering. I’ll talk more about that in this post, but I talked about it in my recap of ACE 2023 as the “Aras Difference.” They aren’t the right fit for every organization, but their approach is compelling and high value for the right companies.
Business is Sunny
Let’s start with the business. CEO Roque Martin started by sharing some positive growth statistics, specifically a 61% subscriber growth since his arrival in late 2021 and 77% year-over-year growth in SaaS deployments. The SaaS growth is very important as Aras transitions to a cloud business while helping manufacturers modernize their PLM systems.
Business is Cloudy
Forgive the “cloudy” pun but I think it’s important. Most enterprise systems vendors, including PLM, provide some form of cloud offering. What I’ve seen from Aras is more than just a shift in their technology deployment approach. Aras is acting like a cloud business. They’ve adopted a more agile software development cycle and moved to smaller, more frequent releases. They’re thinking more along the lines of web services, delivering more granular, purpose-built APIs to allow Aras Innovator to fit more openly into their customers’ heterogeneous systems ecosystems in the cloud. They’ve reorganized themselves, and their solutions, around a robust DevOps approach for both internal operations and customer deployments. The transition is more than a facade or the ability to run in a cloud environment, it’s a move toward the future way solution providers deliver value.
Crystalizing their Unique Position
Aras has always been unique. From their “open systems” offering to their low-code architecture, there has always been a pride in being unique. They now have a name and a better definition of what differentiates Aras from other solution providers. It’s “the Aras Effect.” The Aras Effect is the new way they explain their basic principles of openness, support for the digital thread, adaptability, scalability, and community.
I’ll touch on each of these based on my experience at ACE. I already mentioned openness due to open, granular interfaces that allow companies to execute and embed Aras capabilities in their cloud ecosystem. Scalability is thanks to the support Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform. I’m going to touch on the others directly.
Digital Thread
While I said Aras Innovator may not be the best system, it may be. Their PLM capabilities are extensive. The digital thread is the representation of broad PLM capabilities Aras has built into Aras Innovator to support the product lifecycle. Aras Innovator’s scope starts with requirements and creates traceability throughout the product lifecycle. Although Aras focuses on adaptability, they offer core capabilities as a starting point and announced continued investment in enhancing the standard offering. Aras SVP of Product Management John Sperling announced significant current and planned enhancements to both the low-code capabilities and to functionality. For example, he shared details on important PLM needs like maturing variant management including variant 3D Design with visualization. It’s just one example of Aras continuing to invest in become a more complete digital thread platform.
Another significant announcement related to the digital thread was the announcement of a new product to optimize supplier connectivity and collaboration, Supplier Management Solutions and the associated Aras Portal. The new application provides secure, remote access to controlled select digital thread and PLM information through configurable, mobile-optimized web applications. It’s not intended to replace a procurement or logistics system, but it offers direct connectivity in the integrated with data from Aras Innovator. Aras understands that the digital thread doesn’t exist in a single enterprise, but extends out into the value chain.
Adaptability
The ability to adapt Aras Innovator to customer needs has long been a key difference between Aras Innovator and the others. Whether it was called a “model-based architecture” as it was when I first started following Aras or more commonly known as “low-code,” the key point is that the operating infrastructure is separated from the data model and the logic. This decoupling allows the solution to change independently from the core underpinnings of the system.
The result is more important than the details, and Aras has leveraged that difference to offer customers more than a “cookie cutter” solution, but instead encourage customization. That’s about as different as you can get from the advice from other vendors. For any given company, “different” might not be better. But what it allows Aras to do is promise customers that they can upgrade their Aras software without disturbing their customizations.
Their low-code-enabled agility also allows them to tackle non-traditional PLM needs like what they’ve done in the process industries, most notably with Red Bull for CPG / batch process and Renesas for semiconductor manufacturing. For these companies that where there are fewer mature PLM offerings, they can modify the solution needs – including the data model – to meet unique industry without creating a dead-end resulting from their customization. It also allows Aras the ability to offer their platform as a service, but I’ll cover that next in community.
Community
Aras also works differently within the software community. That’s true for customers, but also for partners. As I mentioned, Aras offers their platform as a service for other vendors to build solutions based on their core capabilities. Some significant examples include Ansys’s Minerva Simulation Process and Management (SPDM) system and AVEVA’s Asset Lifecycle Management (ALM) offerings that are both built on, “powered by,” the Aras platform. I spoke about those in last year’s coverage as well.
There is a direct relationship between their agility differentiator and their community aspect. The ability for other providers to build on top of Aras is unique. Another new example was uncovered at ACE this year as the result of a partnership with SAIC. I won’t go into detail about the offering, but SAIC announced their ReadyOne offering which is a Digital Engineering solution configured for the specific requirements of the Department of Defense. A quick look at their architecture is very telling, showing Aras platform services, modeling engine, and platform features serving as the underpinning for the SAIC data model and ReadyOne Digital Thread.
The ability to customize Aras Innovator is now crystalized as the ability to “build with Aras.” The capability not entirely new, but Aras is bringing more to the table including a planned app marketplace. I expect to learn more about that over time.
From a customer community perspective, Aras has always fostered an environment where customers share with each other, even sharing customizations. Another example of doing things differently is Aras in the Round. This final session at ACE opens up the floor to all participants to ask anything as VP Leon Lauritsen tosses foam cubes with microphones to the audience. There were some challenging questions, and Roque Martin and Rob McAveney shared candid answers. It’s a unique experience.
Final Notes
There is always too much to cover at these events. As expected, Aras also discussed their continued investment in AI. In their case, it’s to support Industry 5.0 where systems augment and automate human capabilities. They are bullish on the potential, as Rob McAveney shared in a very interesting panel. As Rob explained, they are “expecting a giant leap forward in how products are designed and manufactured.” They shared some tangible examples, including requirements as a service, syndication of digital twins, and continuous design streams, AI-infused engineering, and an AI-driven chatbox hooked up to Aras Innovator. I expect a lot more from this in the coming months.
Summing Up ACE 2024
Aras is unique and comparing Aras Innovator to other PLM systems is comparing apples to oranges. They offer broad capabilities to support the digital thread, but that’s not the end of the story. Manufacturers looking to implement or upgrade PLM should take a look at Aras, if nothing else to understand the difference the “Aras Effect” delivers.
Thank you to Jason Kasper and Kylie Ochab for organizing my visit and setting up some interesting conversations.