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PTC and ITC Infotech on Friday announced an agreement to accelerate customer digital transformation initiatives, focused on the adoption of PTC's industry-leading Windchill product lifecycle management (PLM) software as a service (SaaS).

ITC Infotech will acquire a portion of PTC's PLM implementation services business and create a new business unit of ITC Infotech, called DxP Services, that will combine PLM professional services experts from both companies.

Together, the two companies will work together to deliver "in-flight" Windchill implementation services for a broad set of existing PTC customers while also enabling a growing number of customers to move from their existing, sometimes highly-customised on-premises implementation of Windchill to next-generation, best-practice SaaS.

Across all aspects of business, digital transformation and SaaS adoption have gone mainstream, with more than half of all commercial software expected to be sold as SaaS this year.

In the manufacturing industry, the SaaS adoption curve is accelerating, driven in part by the COVID pandemic.

To meet this fast-emerging market need, PTC is investing heavily to bring its entire product portfolio to the cloud via its PTC Atlas SaaS Platform.

With this new agreement, PTC and ITC Infotech will bring together professionals from both companies into a unified team dedicated to creating, and jointly offering, the tooling and methodologies required to expedite a smooth transition to SaaS.

"As a global technology services and solution provider, ITC Infotech shares a common goal with our partner PTC - to enable customers to embrace SaaS as a cornerstone of their digital transformation strategies," said Sudip Singh, Managing Director and CEO, ITC Infotech.

"PTC and ITC Infotech have a proven and trusting alliance formed over 20 years working together for the benefit of our mutual customers. The creation of DxP Services will take our relationship to a whole new level and will enable PTC customers to transform the way they adopt technology in the distributed, secure, and agile workplace of the future."

ITC Infotech has successfully partnered with customers and helped them transform the way they consumer technology, including embracing SaaS. The firm's deep understanding of the innovation and value which is realised at the intersection of technology, domain, and industry, makes them the partner of choice to their customers.

Increasingly considered the backbone of digital transformation, PLM implementation for industrial companies is one of ITC Infotech's core competencies, with the firm having successfully delivered hundreds of global PLM engagements.

Such depth of domain expertise, the longevity of collaboration between the two companies, and the fact that many PTC PLM implementation experts will be joining DxP Services will help provide a smooth transition for customers as the new business unit commences operations. Over time, DxP Services expects to expand the range of services it provides.

"It has long been PTC's strategy to build a partner ecosystem that brings to bear the expertise and capacity of systems integrators to drive business transformation and technology adoption across our global customer base," said Jim Heppelmann, President & CEO, PTC.

"Together with ITC Infotech, we are creating a specialised team to unlock the potential of our Windchill services business and accelerate manufacturers' ability to realise the benefits of SaaS, such as accessibility, security, and a lower total cost of ownership."

Further accelerating PTC's embrace of SaaS as a business paradigm, the company will focus its own services professionals on thought leadership related to digital thread value realisation.

PTC's services experts are unique in their understanding of the value that can be created at the intersection of the technologies that drive an enterprise digital thread strategy - CAD, PLM, Internet of Things (IoT), and Augmented Reality (AR).

PTC will apply that expertise to continue driving digital transformation across the manufacturing landscape.

PTC will continue to lead implementation services for customers with unique requirements, such as U.S. federal government security protocols, while also continuing to collaborate with its global partner ecosystem to drive digital thread initiatives and enable more customers to benefit from PTC's next generation SaaS solutions across the company's technology portfolio.

"This new agreement with ITC Infotech will allow PTC to realign its own professional services experts to a unique thought leadership role in the industry in enabling digital transformation for industrial companies across engineering, manufacturing, and service," added Heppelmann.

"PTC is investing heavily in next-generation SaaS solutions across our portfolio, and this expert team will develop the roadmaps our customers need to increase the value they realize from technology, and enable them to completely redefine the way work gets done."

Subject to applicable closing conditions, the transaction is expected to be completed in PTC's fiscal Q3.

Management plans to discuss the expected impact of the agreement on PTC's financial and operating metrics during its fiscal Q2 quarterly earnings call on April 27.