UGS/Siemens support

[PLMan]

I'm investigating several PLM software providers, and am curious if anyone knows if UGS/Siemens has a premium maintenance support option, or just one flat support package? I see others like Dassault and PTC have various levels of support at various prices. Thanks!

 

[hudson888]

In all honesty if we must comment on these things then I would differentiate between hardware support and software maintenance in a couple of ways. Certainly paying extra for prompt site attendance isn't required in the same way for software as it might be for hardware. Secondly the maintenance dollar goes in some part towards what you get in software upgrades on an ongoing basis. That development cost is probably the lion's share of what you're paying for. Of later releases installation has been reliable, in most cases hardware compatibility issues have been relatively low and most sites I've dealt with don't rely heavily on helpdesk responses to issues that they're dealing with. Not that the majority of users convey that the sun shines out of PLMS or proclaim the excellence of the investment that their maintenance dollar buys. If fact I suspect that most would want to pay less rather than extra and expect more for it rather than volunteer to pay extra for services that they may imagine to be premium at the risk of finding that no matter how much you pay it would still be impractical to weight software engineering solutions in favour of who pays most wins.

 

[Xwheelguy]

Since I've been the sole user of NX here, we've also used Pro/E and Catia v5 and out of the 3, Siemens has offered us the best support over the years, by far.

By support, I mean tech support over the phone as well as contacting someone to get questions answered immediately....not really coming on-site to address any isses. I'm not sure if PTC or Dassault offer user input, but I know that Siemens works with the NX user group to try and enhance the software to their needs via Customer Improvement Process (CIP, which is voting on software enhancements) and the PLM World user group (which compiles the CIP ballot items).

Tim Flater
Senior Designer
Enkei America, Inc.

http://www.enkei.com

Some people are like slinkies....they don't really have a purpose, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.

 

[PLMan]

Thank you both for the information. It's encouraging to hear that UGS/Siemens' support is of such high quality. We've used PTC and Dassault in the past, and have investigated their options to pay more for "premium" (enterprise or platinum) support. I'm aware that PTC has 2 levels of support (Gold and Platinum) and Dassault has 3 levels (Secure, Advantage, and Enterprise). Any idea if UGS/Siemens offers the same, or just one catch-all package?

 

[Xwheelguy]

I am fairly certain it's one catch-all package for Siemens.

Tim Flater
Senior Designer
Enkei America, Inc.

http://www.enkei.com

Some people are like slinkies....they don't really have a purpose, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.

 

[PLMan]

Thanks Tim!

 

[Xwheelguy]

PLMan,

No problem....and just to be clear, the maintenance isn't a set fee, it's based upon your licensing (what you purchase). It can be cheaper to bundle modules together rather than purchase each module separately.

Tim Flater
Senior Designer
Enkei America, Inc.

http://www.enkei.com

Some people are like slinkies....they don't really have a purpose, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.