Why Solid Edge remains so poorly marketed is a mystery to me. I can tell you this was a topic amongst users and VAR’s at SEU2012 and since then in private conversations I have had with these two groups. A common comment was why didn’t the dedication and planning evinced for SEU2012 bleed over into promoting Solid Edge to the MCAD software world in general?
Today I am reading over at Matt’s blog http://www.dezignstuff.com/blog/?p=8222#comment-3224672
some interesting comments upon Dassault and one reflects directly upon this lack of sales effort by Siemens or Solid Edge or just whoever is in charge of publicity. In part I quote “Our customers are calling with strange questions. It’s clear that the competition is taking advantage of the situation. If I were them, I’d be far more aggressive. Picking up another product to sell is not out of the question. DS has approached some of us with a new contract which looks like a bad business proposition for me in my position of uncertainty. I would not be surprised to see some resellers knuckle under and become essentially puppet organizations for DS. As a large value added reseller in the US, I can’t imagine that other channel organization owners are not thinking the same things that are going through my mind.”
So why is it that even competitors are asking why it is so quiet? We users ask this to with no answer and ponder the whole disconnect from reality. Here we believe in the software and the PR department does not and what is wrong with that picture? If it were me I would be finding out just who this is and chasing him and his customers down. This one disgruntled guy could be worth hundreds of seats and be a perfect referral to other VARS who are justifiably concerned for their future with Dassault. Instead here he sits evidently in a vacuum safe from the Siemens/SE PR department.
I am getting to the point where I believe these marketing whiz bangs with degrees need to return to reality and find out what appeals to users and make a plan. Then carry it out and then stay with it because once started it has to have longevity and frequency to be effective. Dassault has a bunch of 3DEXPERIENCE (never forget the all caps that is important) wonks who talk above the heads of their users and potential customers. Autodesk has guys that say dumb stuff like ”
“Autodesk approaches strategy in a two-part process: Strategic Intent (“where we want to go”) and Strategic Realization (“how we will execute against the intent”). We are focused on The Autodesk Experience — How do all of our products and services work together in the cloud? As part of this, we spent A Year of Learning Dangerously where we learned a great deal about broad disruptive changes impacting the industries we serve:”.
No user has a clue what this guy meant but he is convinced it was worthwhile. So these guys have fruit baskets and bowls of nuts for PR directors in many cases but at least they are getting name recognition out there. For some reason the Solid Edge/Siemens PR department thinks I guess that sales can work through osmosis or telepathy or something. Write the software and They Will Come I guess. Anything but what has proven to work else where in their target market.
Look guys, it is a New Year and time to step up to the plate and CRUSH Dassault like you ought to know you can. You do know this and believe this don’t you? Act like it then. Dassault is doing everything they can to self destruct and you guys do nothing meaningful with this golden opportunity. Even your competition wonders why Solid Edge is not interested enough to at least communicate with and offer deals to all the Solid Works user refugees looking for life rafts. I don’t get it and I don’t know one person who does but then I am not in charge of PR. Considering what I see with Dassault and Autodesk and Solid Edge I have to really wonder how these PR guys are picked.
I can guess that being a simple minded user who would consider utility and cost savings promotions and stability of the software’s future direction as paramount to a cohesive ad campaign I am most certainly not qualified to be there.
Look, can I say this, well I am not asking actually. This conquest of Dassault is a time limited offer. If you do not get busy someone else will and it is your own future you compromise with this stubborn refusal to get busy with PR in a meaningful way.
Time to go back to work and stop pondering the byzantine logic of PR specialists.
Machined Audio Horn Lens 
Dave,
Yeah, I don’t get it. It seems to me that Dassault is handing out mid-market share on a silver platter. They can’t seem to get anything right. The opportunity truly won’t last.
Yes and providing the catering too for anyone who shows up with an appetite.
Matt,
Thinking more about this I believe I would be inviting some SW and HSMWorks VARS to SEU2013. Find some who are interested, you have to know they are out there, and pay their way. SE will now have a complete manufacturing environment and they are crazy if they don’t push this in every way possible. And does it hurt to give a few seats away to people who if won over will be influential in getting gobs of customers for you? I sat down with a guy using a seat of Inventor recently and it was priceless to see the look on his face when I imported his Step assembly file, opened a part for editing and then proceeded to do so on his dumb solid quicker than he ever dreamed of doing it in Inventor. He knew nothing about SE until he was shown by me and I find this is typical. Marketing from Siemens/SE never gets to tons of these guys.
A machine shop close by has two seats of HSMWorks and they are hopping mad over how they are being treated. Promises are being made and then no return calls or emails to fulfill them. They need post processor work and support has been lousy since 10-1-12. I keep telling them what is coming down the pike with Autodesk and Dassault and the only one who mentions SE or “CamEdge” (whatever the integrated cam with SE will be called I don’t know) is me. They don’t hear a darned thing from Siemens or SE and neither do their customers who insist the machine shop be current with the latest version of SW.
Having followed this débâcle from the beginning as a SWx end user I can only wonder at quite how inept DS have been. What is to be shown at SWWorld had better be bloody compelling or I will be jumping ship along with at least one client, probably to SE (ADesk have ruled their products out through their nascent cloud-obsession). The comments on Matt’s blog aren’t at all reassuring.
We’ve both been using SW since 99 so not a decision we would be taking lightly.
I know the feeling. I have been using VX/ZW3d for CAM since 2005 and I have been shopping for a replacement for some time now. Promises get old after a while when the good things never happen.