Applied Systems is excited to announce the launch of our new Product Advisory Community (commonly referred to as the PAC).  The PAC forum is an excellent place for customers to share new ideas and provide input on existing ideas that can influence the direction of Applied’s product development.

As we entered 2023, Applied wanted to make a more concerted effort to create more tangible value across our product portfolio while simultaneously providing our customers with more transparency around the priorities of our product development. These efforts include:

• Moving from an annual to a quarterly planning cycle to bring more focus to our efforts and confidence in our releases
• Focusing on better integration across our portfolio and aligning resources to the top initiatives addressing our customers’ biggest pain points
• Incorporating the voice of the customer into our new quarterly planning and development cycle

Our new PAC forum supports and aligns with this new approach. We had two key objectives with the new PAC:

1. Focusing user feedback on pre-defined strategic investment themes so that customer input can have an immediate impact on current development initiatives
2. Time-locking the window for idea submissions to allow for collaboration and closure on submitted ideas

Theme-based topics will be open for feedback during the second month of each quarter. As ideas are submitted, Applied’s product team will evaluate how they align with other customer feedback, consider current capacity and resources, and engage with the individual who submitted the idea. The ideas that look promising are then considered as part of our quarterly planning process. Other ideas may be deferred due to product roadmap fit. Once our quarterly plan is agreed to, we commit to delivery.  We repeat this process four times a year.

In addition to the Theme-based topics, there is an “Other Product Ideas” area open year-round for any idea submissions that fall outside the Thematic areas.  These ideas are reviewed in the same manner as theme related idea submissions. Depending on the ideas submitted, they may be tackled immediately, or they may inform future topical areas. It’s also important to know that all ideas submitted previously through the old PAC have been retained and categorized and will be leveraged as feedback for current and/or future development initiatives. To learn more about the new PAC, visit our website.

While the PAC is an excellent opportunity for you to share ideas, it is just one of many sources of feedback we use to prioritize initiatives on our product roadmaps. We leverage other important channels like your Applied account teams and Applied Client Network (ACN) meetings, webinars and forums to gather user feedback as well.

We are energized and optimistic about this new approach and appreciate the continued support and collaboration across our customer base as we work to drive more significant innovation in our products.