Google X, the special project division of Alphabet, was evaluating the needs for their Product Lifecycle Management systems to reduce the number of tools they were using and improve the quality of their products and processes during the development phases of their projects. This evaluation involved the Google Wing, Google Loon, Google Makani, and other project groups within GoogleX. Google needed to select the best solution for to meet the diverse demands of each project and unify the implementation and support structures across their organization.
A Request For Proposal (RFP) was sent out to several PLM system vendors and as part of the RFP process, a series of in depth demonstrations was to be performed by each vendor. This was a significant undertaking. After the initial
response from the vendors to the RFP document the number of vendors was 'down selected' to two of which Dassault Systemes was one. A series of demonstrations was requested from each vendor to address the extensive list of requirements
contained in the RFP. These demonstrations were to be executed by each vendor to an evaluation team comprised of members from each Google X project. The vendors would be 'scored' on each demonstration against the requirements
in the RFP. From these evaluations a response to a Request for Quote (RFQ) from Google for the proposed cost of the system to be implemented a single vendor would be selected to provide the PLM system for Google X.
By unifying the management tools used during the development phase of the Google X projects they would be able to increase the quality and reliability of their designs, ensure conformance to regulatory requirements and ensure that their businesses would be scalable as it grew rapidly in their chosen markets. To Dassault, winning this business represented a major endorsement for them in establishing the standard for 3DExperience technology in the High-Tech market.
I was the Technical Executive for this engagement responsible for the coordination of the technical resources needed to execute Dassault's response.
The overall activity was driven by Dassault's Account Team -
the Client Executive (Sales Manager) and the Technical Executive (Technical Program Manager). This demanded a high level of communication, and coordination of the Dassault Technical Sales team, Dassault Consulting team,
Product Management, R&D, Sales team, Senior Management Executives and partners.
The project management activity was also demanding as it required close communication and coordination with the Google Technical Project
Manager for this activity who, themselves, were communicating and coordinating with their own teams from the various business groups as well as coordinating with the other vendor in the evaluation.
I was also responsible for working closely with sales to craft the final proposal to GoogleX for the PLM Implementation.
The overall duration of the evaluation and proposals phases lasted eight months and in December of 2016 Google X awarded the contract to Dassault to provide their PLM systems across all projects. This was a multi-million dollar software deal and represented a successful conclusion of the Sales and Technical engagement.
