PIM ROI as a Business Critical Solution: How PIM Saves Money in Product Development and Logistics
Brand manufacturers use product data to keep every aspect of their businesses running. Product data is a must-have asset for operational efficiency from product development through marketing, logistics, and customer service.
When it comes to managing product data, some brands think first of their ERP software. An ERP acts as a repository for product-related data plus customer information, vendor data, and more. It's where warehouses audit their inventory, and it’s where order histories are stored.
What an ERP is not designed to do, though, is store product marketing information and enriched product data. Product information like product descriptions, images, videos, and supporting PDF files (like installation guides, assembly instructions, etc.) is stored elsewhere.
So, what happens? Behind the scenes of day-to-day operations, whole departments slog through brutally slow and manual processes because product data isn't stored in one place. What product data is stored in spreadsheets is filled with errors and omissions. The problem snowballs into hours (and weeks, and months) of unnecessary work.
Anything less than the most accurate, complete, and consistent product data will permeate through the cracks of every poor process to impact every department. Product development and logistics are hit with operational efficiencies that isolate them in silos, despite their need to collaborate with other departments.
Cue: the next-gen PIM (product information management) software. Keep reading to learn how product data maintains its integrity throughout the product cycle to build operational efficiency as it flows from product development to supplier to sale.
PIM at the Center of Your Software Ecosystem
A PIM replaces the dozen (or more) spreadsheets and repositories that brand manufacturers have to "manage" product data with a workflow-based repository.
Starting with the aggregation of all a brand’s product data, the first workflow in a PIM is one that enables quick and easy mapping to chart what data that brand has. Once charted, the same PIM can score the quality of product data (measuring its completeness and accuracy) based on parameters specific to the brand.
All your catalog data is then easy to improve. Blanks are filled in, bad data is corrected, and new attributes are added as brands group products by every taxonomy under the sun. Which products go to which vendor, which are sold by which partner, which belong to which product family, and which are pushed out during which launch can easily be tagged and sorted.
All these new attributes can be applied to your catalog without creating more spreadsheets. The PIM enables brands to quickly and easily sort, export, and syndicate product data everywhere it needs to go, including all the audio-visual rich data like product photos and video.
Because every department needs access to product data at some point in the product cycle, the PIM acts as the single source of truth that can be organized and filtered by custom attributes and taxonomies (using both dynamic and static lists).
Other software like ERPs is still used by brands for direct insights into orders and the warehouse. A CRM is still used by brands, too, to manage customer information. A PIM sits at the center of this software ecosystem to speed up the processing of product data.
What does a PIM do for product development and logistics?
1: Gets the right information to the right people at the right time
Managing product data in a supply chain is a challenge. The number of departments involved is matched (if not exceeded) by the number of endpoints where the product data is needed, whether sales channels or sales partners.
When changes are made to product data early in manufacturing that alter the final product specifications, if those changes aren't collected in a PIM, they often lead to product data errors for marketing, customer services, and logistics departments down the line.
The confusion and infinite number of rabbit holes to go down when product data is later collected hits operational efficiency hard with greater overhead costs (due to the manual research) and a higher number of customer returns (when buyers feel misled).
The only method to get consistent product information to the right people internally at the right time is to update it in one master repository: the PIM. A sound product development strategy includes timely updates to that system.
2: Improves internal collaboration
One of the greatest advantages of a next-gen PIM is that it improves internal processes across the board. No department has to wait around on another to make "their updates" to multiple Excel sheets. Each player in the product cycle can retrieve the necessary product information directly from the living catalog stored in a cloud-based PIM.
A PIM offers greater transparency and control. Even when certain players are assigned with entering or updating key product information, the PIM allows for user-specific permissions to ensure that only the data each player is responsible for can be edited. The PIM also provides histories of what information was changed, when, and by whom.
Collaboration is easier for all players using a PIM because it removes bottlenecks, yes, but also because the product data stored there is more dependable. Cross-team collaboration is nothing new, but the demands today are higher as product launches take off continually faster.
Product development can more easily support today’s marketing efforts, in particular, because the data is always updated and accurate for marketing teams to work their magic communicating product specifications and benefits to potential customers.
3: Optimizes logistics with the power to prioritize
Logistics depends on product information because the department works with segmented customer and product groups. Segmenting allows supply chain managers to prioritize deliveries because different segments will have different logistical requirements.
For example:
- Orders by VIP clients (if a brand has any membership or subscription) are prioritized
- Pre-orders on new products are prioritized (and often have hard due dates)
- Product exchanges for qualified returns are also prioritized
Product information has to be accurate and up-to-date for supply chain managers to identify these priorities. That product information is stored in a PIM to provide overall better experiences for the end customers by making logistics teams’ jobs easier.
Better-quality product data means product information that is up-to-date. It's also product information that's reliable and consistent for all players involved. The next-gen PIM meets this requirement with cloud-based, highly-personalizable product catalog taxonomy. In the next-gen PIM, you can organize your product data for all your internal requirements—from product development to logistics and everything in between.
The impact of quality product data on your bottom line makes the total value of PIM technology clear for brands today. The time spent by each team member in preparing and optimizing data is reduced; product development teams collaborate smoothly with all other departments; logistics teams are empowered to make the smartest optimizations; and, it goes without saying, the product information that the customer sees is more compelling, gains more sales, and ensures fewer returns.
Keep reading to learn more about 4 key ways that product data delights customers today.