What is the role of a PIM for data management and distribution?

The amount of product data has grown explosively in a few years. A complete ecosystem of data has been created around a product or service: texts, images, product specifications, photos, videos, PDFs, technical drawings, certificates and much more. Central management of that data has, therefore, become a crucial issue.

Data management costs too much money. Logical, because many different employees are involved in the organization. Sales, IT, marketing and financial administration employees. If they do not work from one central source, inefficiency is lurking.

Managing data with multiple people is difficult to manage

Employees are working very hard to improve the data, but it is being overwritten by data from other sources or data from other colleagues or not even used. As a result, people work very inefficiently because many people think they have source data and the data can be found in many places, such as the marketing manager or e-commerce manager.

Data is not compliant with internal or external regulations

It is difficult to have the data comply with the legislation or requirements of the "warehouse" department because the knowledge here is usually only to be gained after various "detours".

Managers are unable to properly manage the data quality process

Usually, a manager has no knowledge of or insight into the content quality of data. There is also a lack of tools to properly manage the work process around data management and quality improvement. When managers enrich all their own data, they often see that their data is not always used as a source or that their work is not very effective and is less appreciated. This leads to a lot of miscommunication and dragging back and forth to get the data in order.

Manufacturers and importers cannot push the correct data to buyers in a short time

Often the manufacturer or importer does not use the standards of the market (GS1/ETIM) and they are unable to further automate the order process (EDI/OCI). It is also often not possible to distribute data in formats that customers, suppliers and other parties want. A consequence of this is that their competitive position is weakened.

Data distribution to documents and catalogs takes a lot of time

Employees need a lot of time to properly organize data. Without source data, this is a very inefficient process. The average marketer has no time or desire to do duplicate or "stupid" work, such as copying information from an XSL file or an ERP system. It also costs designers an unnecessary amount of time to prepare online and physical expressions. Creating customer-specific designs, leaflets and catalogs are only possible with a large investment in money and people. The time-to-market to get data to catalogs/leaflets is too long.

The approval process is not in order

Where different departments are closely intertwined, each department is responsible for the correctness of its own data. If that data is not correct, you have to move back and forth extensively. Often still with old school Excel documents that make editing very cumbersome.

Data is not kept consistently

The amount of data that is currently linked to products is huge. To completely organize all that data is a huge job. For every SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) an employee needs 14 minutes a year to keep that information in order.

Systems cannot handle updates

Systems are not designed to be massively updated.

Relating data is only possible manually

Upselling and cross-selling offer distributors and wholesalers the chance of more sales, but then it must be organized smartly: through a system that automatically generates cross-links. With the information that is spread over several sources, only manual sorting remains an option.

And if we have a PIM tool?

Then sending data to catalogs becomes much easier

Does a buyer or distributor like to make his own catalogs or product leaflets? No problem. You can now easily generate the data he needs for a publication with a PIM tool.

Then you are assured of rich data for your e-commerce environment

What presents better: a grainy product image with 44 half-full specs underneath, or a video that conveys the atmosphere of the product well with all specs and order information complete and a few reviews from other buyers. Whoever understands the importance of experience also sees why rich data is essential. Creating the right atmosphere around products has an image-raising effect. And that demonstrably leads to more conversion and higher average order value.

Then you make the ordering process a lot more efficient for your customers

Without involving even one employee, you can share that rich data with your customers at the right time and in the right format. That customer is then again able to complete his order via an EDI or OCI catalog. The result: the percentage of digital orders increases substantially, reducing order costs. And the added value to customers is also increasing.

Then you can also easily use other sales channels

Take a Google, eBay or Bol.com. Online sales channels that open their doors to other providers. With that, you get a lot of new consumers in one go. That is if you can offer the data according to the specifications that Google, eBay, and Bol.com require. The same applies to price comparison sites and social portals.

Then the translations for other countries are arranged right away

A translation manager is also part of the deal at PIM. Handy for distributors and wholesalers who focus on a wider market than the Netherlands alone. Descriptions and other texts are automatically translated.

Then I’m able to create new opportunities

Suppose a customer wants a shop-in-shop, then it becomes very easy to organize with PIM.

Then I comply with the legislation

Because you can continuously manage the quality and progress of the data, you are also constantly adequate with the latest legislation that prescribes what you absolutely must communicate.

Our advice about PIM

There are quite a few possibilities in the market for PIM systems. The best known major software players in this field are SAP (Hybris), Informatica (Heiler), Stibo and IBM Infosphere. There are also many less well-known players internationally who also offer solid omnichannel (evolved variant of multichannel) PIM-DAM systems (Product Information Management & Digital Asset Management).

Where do you start the search? What does your business case look like and does a new PIM system also take your growth into account? Is it internationally scalable? Many omnichannel projects fail or cannot be made profitable due to high operational costs. Our knowledge of omnichannel PIM systems guarantees that your system matches your ambitions and budget. Not only the investment in a new system is important, but also the amount of additional and hidden costs such as hosting, maintenance, updates, extensions, and efficient use possibilities are important indicators for our advice. Our experts are happy to introduce you to the efficient options and help you with the search for the best PIM-DAM system for your company.

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