Joel Orr's World

Last September, software giant SAP announced they were acquiring one of the more innovative companies in PLM, Right Hemisphere: 

 

As part of its mission to help customers innovate the way they do business, SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) will acquire Right Hemisphere, a leading provider of visual enterprise solutions based in San Ramon, California, and Auckland, New Zealand. The 3-D model-based visualization and communications technologies from Right Hemisphere will enhance SAP® software andenable visual navigation and interrogation of an entire product or asset and all its associated data in one, unified environment.

 

Engineers are typically visually-oriented, and Right Hemisphere has worked hard to develop ways to optimize processes by visualizing them. In conjunction with the data management capabilities of SAP's extensive suite of enterprise products, Right Hemisphere is behind SAP's Visual Enterprise, that extends from Sales, through Engineering, Manufacturing, and Support functions.

I spoke with Michael Lynch, CEO of Right Hemisphere, in May of 2012. "We are delighted to be part of SAP. Our biggest challenge now is meeting the demand for more information coming from both SAP employees and the firm's customers," he told me.

Righ Hemisphere continues to offer integration with other firms' ERP and product management offerings, including those of Siemens (TeamCenter) and PTC (Windchill).

I view this acquisition as a good move for SAP--and also for Right Hemisphere. The product-management-data visibility that Visual Enterprise brings--literally--to SAP users is sure to enhance their productivity.