Top Ten Questions to Ask Your 3D CAD Vendor

Case Studies Product Information Top Ten Questions to Ask Your CAD Vendor

1.  Market share

• How many 3D CAD licenses have been sold?
• Of those licenses sold, how many were the result of an upgrade process?
• How many customers are in production with the product?
• Is your product the market leader? How do you validate this?
• Is your product the industry standard? How do you validate this?
• Is your product taught in educational institutions?

2.  Revenues

• Are your 3D CAD or design solutions product revenues growing?
• What percentage of your revenue is coming from 3D design products? What percentage is coming from other types of applications (applications not related to 3D MCAD)?
• Are you profitable?

3.  Product Maturity

• How many major releases has the software gone through to date?
• When was the product last upgraded?
• How often are service pack/enhancements/extensions released?

4.  Product Integration

• Does the product integrate with third party applications?
• How many applications?  
• Does your product have integrated applications for CAE? CAM? PDM? Fluid flow? Wire harness? Electronic design? Rendering? Animation? Surfacing? Feature recognition? Tolerance analysis? Mold design?

5.  Product Innovation

• Does the customer have input into product upgrades?  How?
• How innovative have product enhancements been?
• Name five innovations in the product.
• How many patents, or patents pending, do you have?
• Have you been forced to discontinue products? Which ones and why?

6.  Collaboration

• Can CAD files be easily shared with co-workers, partners, and customers?
• Is collaboration cost-effective?
• What quantitative benefits have customers achieved through design collaboration?

7.  Customer Success

• What benefits do customers realize from your product?
• Can you provide an explicit example of return on investment?
• Can you provide several references?

8.  Complementary Products

• What products do you offer to extend the capabilities of your core 3D CAD product?
• How mature are the complementary products?
• How many users are there?

9.   CAD Integration

• How well does your 3D CAD software integrate with other vendors’ CAD products?   Does the product provide single-window integration?
• Which file types can your product import and export? Is your CAD application OLE compliant, providing seamless data exchange with Microsoft ® Office applications?

10.  Training/Services

• Are there extensive training programs available, regardless of geographic location?
• Do you offer professional services and consulting to help implement the product?