Driving User Adoption and Agility in PLM: A Data-Driven Approach to Change Management
Asthana, Richa (2025)
2025
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025051612503
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025051612503
Tiivistelmä
In large, product-driven organizations, systems like Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) promise structure, traceability, and collaboration. But as many teams quietly know, it’s often not the tool itself that’s the issue—it’s how people experience it. This study began with a simple but persistent observation: despite years of investment in PLM, many users still felt overwhelmed, under-trained, or disconnected from the system’s value. That disconnect became the starting point of this journey.
At its heart, this thesis is an inquiry into what helps—or hinders—people from meaningfully adopting PLM in their daily work. Drawing from both user experiences and system usage data within a large B2B company, the research unpacks the real, human side of adoption: how users perceive the system, what slows them down, and where they feel left out. Using a Mixed Methods Research (MMR) approach, survey results painted a broad picture of adoption patterns, while interviews with users added nuance and depth, bringing forward voices that don’t often make it into system reports. Underpinning the analysis is a mix of change management theories, stakeholder engagement frameworks, and real-world user feedback.
What takes shape through this research is a grounded, behavior-first approach to sustaining PLM adoption—not simply getting people through training sessions but genuinely keeping them engaged and supported over time. The framework introduced here is shaped by the realities of daily work and system use within the case company and is built around the PDSA (Plan–Do–Study–Act) cycle as a continuous improvement tool.
At its core, the framework weaves together structured support mechanisms, visible leadership advocacy, and engagement strategies that don’t just check boxes but create room for feedback to be heard and acted on. It offers a rhythm of small, intentional improvements anchored in user insight and evolving needs. The goal isn’t perfection; it’s progress that feels relevant and responsive.
By adopting these adaptive, user-informed change management strategies into the company’s way of working, PLM has the potential to shift its role from a rigid compliance requirement to a more intuitive, enabling tool that people trust and use with confidence. These recommendations are intentionally tailored to the company’s current landscape—its systems, its teams, and the way people already work. And if carried forward with care, they can help make PLM less about processes to follow, and more about people empowered to do their best work.
At its heart, this thesis is an inquiry into what helps—or hinders—people from meaningfully adopting PLM in their daily work. Drawing from both user experiences and system usage data within a large B2B company, the research unpacks the real, human side of adoption: how users perceive the system, what slows them down, and where they feel left out. Using a Mixed Methods Research (MMR) approach, survey results painted a broad picture of adoption patterns, while interviews with users added nuance and depth, bringing forward voices that don’t often make it into system reports. Underpinning the analysis is a mix of change management theories, stakeholder engagement frameworks, and real-world user feedback.
What takes shape through this research is a grounded, behavior-first approach to sustaining PLM adoption—not simply getting people through training sessions but genuinely keeping them engaged and supported over time. The framework introduced here is shaped by the realities of daily work and system use within the case company and is built around the PDSA (Plan–Do–Study–Act) cycle as a continuous improvement tool.
At its core, the framework weaves together structured support mechanisms, visible leadership advocacy, and engagement strategies that don’t just check boxes but create room for feedback to be heard and acted on. It offers a rhythm of small, intentional improvements anchored in user insight and evolving needs. The goal isn’t perfection; it’s progress that feels relevant and responsive.
By adopting these adaptive, user-informed change management strategies into the company’s way of working, PLM has the potential to shift its role from a rigid compliance requirement to a more intuitive, enabling tool that people trust and use with confidence. These recommendations are intentionally tailored to the company’s current landscape—its systems, its teams, and the way people already work. And if carried forward with care, they can help make PLM less about processes to follow, and more about people empowered to do their best work.