Customers' demands for product information are growing rapidly. Companies' own needs are changing faster than before. In terms of companies' competitiveness, it is essential that they are able to react quickly and efficiently to their own changes and changes in the business environment. In this expert article, we discuss the importance of the PIM (Product Information Management) system as a master of commercial product information and its effects on business efficiency.
A paradigm shift in product information management
Traditionally, product information has been spread over several systems, of which the ERP system (Enterprise Resource Planning) has held most of the business-related information. In addition to this, product information is in various documents on network disks, while images and other media are in different folders. However, as business becomes more complex and demands grow, it has become apparent that such a decentralized approach can lead to inefficiencies and, through manual work, human errors. This is where PIM enters the picture.
One source and one truth
In recent years, we have implemented Adeona PIM more and more often so that the PIM system acts as a central place for product information management. With PIM acting as the master of product information, new products are opened directly into the PIM system. There they can be enriched and supplemented with the necessary information before they are further transferred to the enterprise resource planning system (ERP). This model makes it easier and faster to open new products. It significantly reduces the amount of information in the ERP and thus eases the maintenance of the ERP. Importing product information into the PIM system is easy to automate, as even the different excel templates of different managers can be mass-exported to Adeona PIM.
Adeona PIM stands out with its infinitely flexible structure. Its hierarchies, product categories and attributes are easy to manage, and when needs change, maintenance is effortless. If necessary, there can be several product hierarchies: for example, separate ones for the internal hierarchy in the ERP, and one for the desired hierarchy for, say, an online store.
The model also opens up new possibilities. When new products are opened in PIM, marketing can already enrich the product information, even if the product is not yet commercially available. At the time of launch, the product is opened in ERP and published for sale. This speeds up product launches and going to market. Test marketing of completely new products can be carried out in the same way. In PIM, the products are enriched and trial marketing is done to the selected target segment. The products are opened in ERP only when demand has been detected in the market and the actual productization decision has been made.
Consider the roles of systems
The PIM system has entered the forefront of modern product information management. Its ability to act as a product information master combined with flexibility, versatility and data quality management makes it an invaluable tool in modern multi-channel product information publishing. PIM brings data quality management to a new level. Varying terminology from different vendors can cause difficulties, but PIM can normalize data to ensure consistency. This directly affects publications on websites and online stores. It also affects the customer's shopping experience and product experience (PXM). Of course, PIM can synchronize the data back to the ERP system, which enables synergistic utilization of both tools.
The companies' excellent practical experiences have shown how PIM changes the way product information is managed and utilized. The achievable business benefits and competitive advantages are significant. Before Starting an ERP project or in connection with a PIM implementation project it is worth carefully considering the roles of different systems and which system masters which data. If PIM is set as the master of product information when changing ERP, it will bring direct cost savings to the project.
