CONTACT Elements includes IoT functionalities that support service and shopfloor management.
CONTACT’s modular Elements platform follows expert recommendations for PLM solutions, including AI, IoT integration, and sustainability. PLM software is widely used by industrial companies as a digital system connecting people, processes, and data throughout the product lifecycle. CONTACT has been identified as a Representative Vendor in Gartner’s 2025 Market Guide for PLM Software in discrete manufacturing industries.
When it comes to selecting a PLM platform, Gartner recommends choosing “a PLM solution that provides prepackaged functionalities, while also being highly configurable and built on modern system architectures.” This philosophy is ideally reflected in CONTACT Elements. According to Gartner, “CONTACT Software provides a composable PLM platform, CONTACT Elements, which consists of configurable stand-alone functional modules.”
The experts point out that PLM solutions increasingly expand beyond traditional functionalities like product data management, for example, by integrating the Internet of Things (IoT): “IoT enhances PLM by creating connected products and digital twins, providing traceability and input for complex simulations and product improvements, and enhancing the monitoring, analysis and improvement of product performance throughout its life cycle.”
CONTACT Elements includes IoT functionalities that support service and shopfloor management. These features integrate with the platform’s PLM modules to allow closed-loop engineering and data exchange through the Asset Administration Shell (AAS).
Sustainability is another emerging PLM area highlighted in the report. Respective functionalities “support sustainable product development by defining and meeting sustainability requirements, managing sustainable materials data and connecting with databases to assess environmental impacts during the design phase”.
CONTACT Elements supports companies in developing sustainable products in line with regulations. The platform is ideal for integrating environmental data from suppliers or external databases. Specialist modules help companies select sustainable materials, calculate the Product Carbon Footprint (PCF), and optimize energy-efficiency in production.
The market guide also sheds light on the future role of AI in industry. Gartner predicts that “By 2026, more than 80% of PLM vendors will have incorporated AI capabilities in their platforms for key functional areas, compared with less than 40% in 2025.”
CONTACT is systematically integrating AI into its Elements platform. This enables companies to search for information using natural language, quickly find similar CAD components, create structures through generative AI, or rapidly predict simulation results.
For more information, visit contact-software.com.
