Technology innovator PTC is at the cutting edge of providing solutions to their customer but was faced with a big problem; attracting and retaining millennial developers from a very small pool (and shrinking) by providing technology and services which matched their lifestyle was not possible based on the old tools they had. On top of that, being a publicly traded company that operates in 30 different countries demanded that they had to meet all of the compliance requirements necessary in all of the countries that they operate in. Something had to happen but faced with stringent budget constraints it wasn’t going to be easy.

Obtaining budget and selecting a technology partner is dependent on aligning the needs and concerns of key internal stakeholders across the globe. Learn how one company (PTC) overcame these obstacles and how it answered the tough questions.

Background
PTC was founded in 1985 and employs approximately 6,500 Employees in 30 countries. PTC has the most robust Internet of Things technology in the world. In 1986 they revolutionized digital 3D design, and in 1998 we were first to market with Internet-based PLM. Now their leading IoT and AR platform and field-proven solutions bring together the physical and digital worlds to reinvent the way companies create, manufacture, operate and service products.

Being a company made up highly skilled engineers they felt that they could manage their own technology systems without the need for outside help but they soon realized that perhaps they were missing the mark because the systems weren’t talking with each other which made them very dysfunctional and was handcuffing the organization in terms of moving forward.  Their CIO recognized that they needed someone with field experience to help take care of their own house to ensure that a new system matched with their need to be competitive in the fast moving high tech industry.

At a time when IT budgets were shrinking they were stuck with disparate systems and outdated technology they knew that they needed something modern and needed a fresh set of eyes to look at what they were doing so they brought back one of their outside customer facing employees (Ankur Gupta) to help them identify the requirements for a new modern system that would help them accomplish their goals.



“Our biggest issue was our systems were orientated from a systems perspective, not a people perspective,” said Ankur Gupta Director, Global Business Services at PTC.

Step 1 – Taking Stock
They spent the first 6 months interviewing people and exploring the backend infrastructure.  They found that they had 19 different data centers and their skills inventory was in 21 different systems and multiple versions of applications. The existing systems they were using were a mix of many different solutions from a multitude of vendors and in the backend, nothing talked to each other. They were using an old version of eBusiness Suite (which hadn’t had an update or patch in over 6 years) and were also using Salesforce, Brass Ring, SAP SuccessFactors, Saba and Benefit Focus and more.  Although they updated some of their software applications, they couldn’t really take advantage of the new features because of the outdated backend.

Ankur showed the CIO how disjointed everything was and began to build a 5-year roadmap of how they would strategically align themselves.

Uh Oh – No Money
This plan design took 18 months to build and it was designed as a journey into the cloud with one of the leading cloud based vendors, the problem was, they had no money so Ankur looked at their existing systems, processes and more to see what applications, hardware costs they could take out of the system to generate money and what financial opportunities they could improve with productivity gains and so on.  The 5-year model was to include ERP, HCM, Compliance, Order to Cash and Procure to Pay components.

ROI vs. Business Benefit
Ankur shifted the focus from ROI to business benefit. He said focussing on ROI on its own is very difficult as an HCM and ERP are a basic requirements of a business, therefore, a cost of doing business but he did point out that if something stopped working, like they missed a payroll or some other basic function then there would be high litigation costs for example. So he built his plan not on ROI (he did say that you can’t just go crazy and not do any ROI) but on business benefits. The benefits he looked at were:

• Provide a modern system that would encourage the brightest minds to work for PTC allowing them to remain a top innovator
• Remain compliant in all countries that they operate to avoid any possible litigation
• Maximize the usefulness of the existing technologies in house by providing full integration into all systems

 “The cloud allows us to tippy-toe into the future of the technology at a much lower rate and much lower cost and what it does is it releases the power of better and more futuristic technology in bite sized amounts – "My investment in technology is much less, and I’m constantly able to upgrade my technology without a huge amount of investment” said Ankur,“I don’t have to run data centers now – with a very small skeleton staff, we can run a lot of systems now.”

Step 2 – Vendor Evaluation
They had 7 major goals in mind:

• They require a Cloud solution as they didn’t have the financial means to upgrade their technology on premise.
• They wanted to work with a single vendor because they felt that integrating multiple vendor clouds would be a technological and communication issue otherwise.
• They needed an integrated system - PTC didn’t want the new system that was not able to talk to their existing systems.  They wanted to ensure all systems could talk to each other.
• The system had to have a system that employees would find familiar as a way to attract and retain talent (especially millennials) in the IT space.  They wanted a platform that offered consumer like experiences.
• They also wanted the system to be agile and secure. That agility has to map and mirror the robustness and security provided on the back end.
• Robust cloud technology had to be there.  Scaling to the cloud as well as the speed of implementation were also critical factors.
• They needed to understand that the winning vendor’s roadmap aligned with PTC’s.

Ankur did an extensive analysis of Oracle vs. Workday to understand what product was better for them.  He built different models to show the cost differential and make sure it was aligned with executive goals and company vision. 

After an extensive analysis, they felt that Oracle mapped better to their company vision and needs. They also felt that Oracle also provided the expertise they needed to implement the system. Although Oracle came last to the market PTC felt that they were building a much more robust model so they can scale better.  Oracle seemed easier and quicker to get on.

In the end, they elected to build out their new model with Oracle HCM Cloud.

Step 3 - Implementation
So far they have done their mapping for Core HR and Compensation and go live should be some time late summer. After that, they will do Talent Management (Performance, Talent Acquisition, Absence Management and then Benefits).

Final Benefits
After a thorough almost 3 year process Ankur feels that they have discovered the right solution for their business needs. To recap, they needed a solution that would:

• Help them with their ultimate goal to attract and retain millennial developers as it is a very small pool and shrinking by providing a technology and a service which matches their lifestyle.
• Match the compliance requirements required by a public company on the backend.
• Provide full Integration into their current systems.
• Offer the most robust possible cloud architecture that had to be.