The importance of supporting office tools in Apparel & Retail product development

Let’s face it: the reality is Microsoft tools are used in every industry to support communication and collaboration among the product development team, and their extended value chain. It has become a necessity for PLM systems to integrate seamlessly with the likes of outlook, excel, and sharepoint.  It’s why Teamcenter, including Teamcenter for Softlines, Hardlines, & Footwear (SH&F), was built with this paradigm in mind.  The biggest challenge to adopting a software system into the enterprise is getting people to use the system, and training them on effectively using it to increase productivity.  We have alleviated that challenge considerably in Teamcenter for SH&F through an easy-to-use interface that has integration to MS tools we use every day, like Outlook and Excel.  Imagine being able to take information offline into an excel spreadsheet, and having your changes update in real time within Teamcenter while your security privileges are maintained; or signing off on a task on your smartphone while traveling, to keep a line plan on target to meet your in store date.  All is a reality with Teamcenter for SH&F.

If you get a chance, take a look at Tec Evaluation Center’s blog piece on this topic.