SCOT KLOCKE, SENIOR IT MANAGER

I would like to take the opportunity to offer a formal recommendation for Mark Harrop and his outstanding team at WhichPLM. As the Senior T Manager of Go-To-Market Applications at Columbia Sportswear, have had direct responsibility for the global, enterprise-wide applications that Support our Sales, Marketing, and Production Creation departments of this 1.7 billion dollar Apparel and Footwear Corporation. With roughly 1,000 users of our existing Matrix One product development management (PDM/PLM) system, and thousands of styles/colors developed in this system, it is critical that we have a stable, scalable, and sustainable solution, as well as a vision for the future. I am happy to report that Mark and his team have been instrumental in assessing both our existing system(s) and future needs of our complex global enterprise surrounding the vast product lifecycle management process for multiple brands, regions, and product types.

NOEMI MOLTO, PLM PROJECT DIRECTOR

Mark Harrop, as a PLM expert, can give an objective and based- experience feedback of each of the PLM solutions available in the market. His experience and knowledge can be really helpful. His really objective feedback, doing a wide benchmark on all possible solutions can help a lot in order to get to the last short list on a PLM selection project. His knowledge of all strengths and weaknesses of all the different PLM solutions and his ability to match them with the specific business needs can make the selection project more structured and consistent.

DONALD BROWNE, PRODUCTION DIRECTOR

As the Production Director at Ted Baker I am always looking to make our processes more efficient, and through reading many articles I believed we needed a PLM system. In my quest to find the right one we sat through many presentations ending up more confused than when we started. It was at this point we were introduced to Mark Harrop as ‘the man who knows everything about PLM systems.’ We asked Mark if he could offer us any advice and he kindly agreed to spend the day with us. That was one of the most interesting and fruitiul days I have spent in my many years in the business.

TANYA FRASER, PROJECT MANAGER

Black Mik Clothing is an online retailer and a manufacturer, so we cover a lot of the supply chain within our business. We were looking at our options for improving Our general business management, stock management and manufacturing processes through good software. I would have been lost without WhichPLM to guide me through the multitude of solutions out there. There are dozens of companies, all proffering differing solutions (best of breed, Enterprise systems etc) and all promising that they could solve our problems. WhichPLM provided a short cut to a shortlist and I couldn’t be more grateful. Thanks to them I was able to reduce our options to a realistic shortlist, with a good guide on what I should expect to get from the software.

FREDRIK ANDERSON, SOURCING MANAGER

I have known Mark and the WhichPLM team since we started Out on our PLM search back in 2007. Initially, we got to know the WhichPLM business from their PDP & WhichPLM websites. Since meeting the PDP team, I can confim that the WhichPLM team have a very deep understanding of the Apparel & Retail market and of the PLM suppliers that serve the industry, to the extent that they continually cary out evaluations of PLM suppliers software. Once we decided to select our PLM vendor we decided to use the services of WhichPLM to help implement the solution based on their extensive experience, shown during earlier meetings with the Voice business process experts and more recently during the implementation. The WhichPLM team worked with Voice to help design the implementation plan linked to key milestones deliverables.

JEFF FEDOR CEO

As a newcomer to the industry, I was looking for market insight and began working with Mark Harrop. He quickly brought me up to speed on the market, its segments and trends, and the competitive landscape. Mark’s encyclopedic knowledge and razor-sharp analysis have benefited not only me but the rest of the Backbone team. I’ve worked with many analysts before, but Mark is different, and his advisory services have proven invaluable. He’s a strategic sounding board and trusted confidante who offers a unique viewpoint as an industry pioneer and luminary. I wholeheartedly recommend Mark to anyone in our industry making strategic decisions around technology.

GLENN LITTLEWOOD – Account Director

I have had the opportunity to work with Mark and his team across 4 different technology vendors during my career, and he’s been my regular port of call when looking for GTM insights and technology trends in recent years I’ve been consistently impressed by his breadth of knowledge and level of detail across multiple functional areas (beyond PLM), particularly around newer and innovative technologies. Additionally, Mark is able to bring his unrivalled industry experience, and network to the fore, and always combines a good degree of pragmatism with insights and suggestions. No hesitation whatsoever in recommending and applauding Mark and the extended team for all that they do.

Akash Shah, Managing Director, Coats Digital

As a trusted advisor to many, Mark’s relationships spread wide across the industry. Mark is exceptionally proactive in exploring these connections, to bring industry experts together to support industry-wide collaboration in the name of driving disruptive and positive change. We have engaged with Mark and the WhichPLM Team at an advisory level on several projects in recent years. Utilising both their industry experience and trend insights as a sounding board to support the validation of our strategic direction across our product portfolio. Our working relationship is professional, respectful, impartial but immensely enjoyable, there’s always great energy in our discussions! Together we create a safe environment for our team to challenge current thinking, enable innovation and deliver successful outcomes.

Peter Bambridge | Senior Director COE Global PMO – Strategic Client Group Oracle

Mark is well respected across the industry as an independent expert in the use of advanced technology to address leading business challenges. Whether it is the optimal method to adopt and exploit fashion Product Lifecycle Management, the realisation of the potential for 3D models, visualization and digital printing to optimise best practices, or investigating opportunities for advanced technologies such as AI and Blockchain to impact the entire supply chain. Having reviewed many leading solutions over the years with a critical eye, and consistently reviewed vendors and the industry progress through the annual report, Mark has established himself as the ultimate reference source. In addition to his immense experience in the field, Mark and his backup team, have also developed a wide range of tools and accelerators to ensure rapid, reliable, and high-quality outcomes regardless of the start point. Mark has evolved to become the ideal industry arbiter where project expectations are not realised, for whatever reason. Leveraging his unique combination of industry understanding, business process optimisation, and best practices in facilitating technology-enabled business change, Mark has often helped resolve critical incidents and turned friction into alignment. I am writing these comments as someone who has had the pleasure to work with Mark on a variety of customer and vendor opportunities in recent decades, through my experience as an independent Industry analyst, as a Gartner Industry Analyst Director, an industry consultant, and having worked for three different leading Fashion PLM vendors in multiple leadership roles.

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