Top Ten Questions to Ask Your 3D CAD Vendor
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1. Market share
How many 3D CAD licenses have been sold?
Of those licenses sold, how many were the result of an upgrade process?
How many customers are in production with the product?
Is your product the market leader? How do you validate this?
Is your product the industry standard? How do you validate this?
Is your product taught in educational institutions?
2. Revenues
Are your 3D CAD or design solutions product revenues growing?
What percentage of your revenue is coming from 3D design products?
What percentage is coming from other types of applications (applications not related to 3D MCAD)?
Are you profitable?
3. Product Maturity
How many major releases has the software gone through to date?
When was the product last upgraded?
How often are service pack/enhancements/extensions released?
4. Product Integration
Does the product integrate with third party applications?
How many applications?
Does your product have integrated applications for CAE? CAM? PDM? Fluid flow? Wire harness?
Electronic design? Rendering? Animation? Surfacing? Feature recognition?
Tolerance analysis? Mold design?
5. Product Innovation
Does the customer have input into product upgrades? How?
How innovative have product enhancements been?
Name five innovations in the product.
How many patents, or patents pending, do you have?
Have you been forced to discontinue products? Which ones and why?
6. Collaboration Can CAD files be easily shared with co-workers, partners, and customers?
Is collaboration cost-effective?
What quantitative benefits have customers achieved through design collaboration?
7. Customer Success
What benefits do customers realize from your product?
Can you provide an explicit example of return on investment?
Can you provide several references?
8. Complementary Products
What products do you offer to extend the capabilities of your core 3D CAD product?
How mature are the complementary products?
How many users are there?
9. CAD Integration
How well does your 3D CAD software integrate with other vendors’ CAD products? Does the product provide single-window integration?
Which file types can your product import and export? Is your CAD application OLE compliant, providing seamless data exchange with Microsoft® Office applications?
10. Training/Services
Are there extensive training programs available, regardless of geographic location?
Do you offer professional services and consulting to help implement the product?
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