When selecting technology to manage product lifecycles, businesses often face a critical choice: opt for highly flexible and customizable tools like Asana or Airtable, or adopt a more rigid Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system. While extreme flexibility allows for tailored solutions, it often requires extensive setup and ongoing management. On the other hand, a rigid system may lack the adaptability needed to support your brand’s unique processes.
The ideal solution lies somewhere in between—providing structure where necessary while maintaining flexibility in key areas. This is precisely the philosophy behind SupplyScope, an agile and adaptable modern PLM with features built specifically for fashion SMEs.
The Challenge: Too Much Flexibility vs. Too Much Rigidity
Traditional PLM systems were initially designed to standardise operations, making them ideal for large enterprises that prioritize consistency. However, many of these systems rely on legacy architectures that struggle to accommodate the fast-paced changes in the fashion industry, including flexible design iterations, dynamic supply chain management, and evolving compliance requirements. As a result, their rigidity can hinder creativity, making it difficult for businesses to adapt quickly and rely on multiple applications to manage their product development.
Conversely, flexible tools such as Monday.com, Asana, and Airtable give brands control over their workflows, offering high adaptability. These platforms offer immediate usability and customization, ensuring that teams can work in ways that feel natural to them. However, this extreme flexibility can become a double-edged sword. Setting up frameworks from scratch can be time-consuming, and a lack of standardised processes can lead to inconsistencies (BCG, 2015). When different teams or partners use varying structures, confusion ensues, increasing the risk of errors and inefficiencies.
Finding the Balance: A Hybrid Approach
A well-designed PLM should provide a structured framework while allowing for customization where needed. SupplyScope strikes this balance by offering:
- Fashion-Specific Features – Tailored to the industry’s needs without the rigidity of traditional PLMs. This includes things like tech packs, moodboards and manufacturer management and communications.
- User-Friendly Experience – Designed to be intuitive, reducing onboarding time and making adoption seamless. Forego the clunky architecture of enterprise systems.
- Collaborative Workspaces – Ensuring consistency across teams and external partners, reducing the need for multiple, conflicting frameworks. Communications and documents can be centralised on the platform, allowing the whole team to be across updates and discussions.
Overcoming Implementation Hurdles
For many brands, adopting a new PLM system feels like an uphill battle. A study by Deloitte found that 70% of digital transformation projects fail, often due to poor implementation strategies, underscoring the need for intuitive and user-friendly solutions. The term “implementation” alone can bring up memories of previous failed attempts—long, costly, and frustrating transitions that often left teams disillusioned.
Recognizing these challenges, modern PLM solutions are prioritizing ease of use and streamlined implementation. SupplyScope, for instance, employs a “Mum Test” to ensure even non-experts can navigate the platform effortlessly. This means that if someone outside the fashion industry—such as a parent unfamiliar with the field—can navigate and understand the system effortlessly, then the design has succeeded. This approach ensures that factories, new employees, and external collaborators can quickly find what they need without extensive training.
SupplyScope: A Future-Ready PLM for SMEs
Fashion brands need technology that evolves with them—structured enough to enhance operational efficiency, while remaining adaptable to the dynamic needs of designers, manufacturers, and suppliers. SupplyScope provides an agile Fashion PLM solution that eliminates the struggles of both extreme rigidity and overwhelming customization. The platform includes a range of features from:
- Centralised Communication – receive and send emails through SupplyScope, allowing you to keep track of what has been sent.
- Reusable Card Frameworks for fabrics, packaging and labels. Easily update across your product range.
- Ready made templates – hit the ground running with SupplyScope whether you’re launching your brand, or expanding your product range.
With an intuitive interface and effortless implementation, we empower fashion SMEs to streamline operations and scale with ease. Our agile PLM strikes the perfect balance between structure and flexibility, keeping brands competitive in a fast-evolving industry.
