CIO, Innovation Manager
Needs consistent, centralized data to support the digital transformation strategy; wants to decrease time-to-market and omnichannel data distribution.
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
PIM: what does it mean?
PIM stands for Product Information Management
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What is a PIM?
PIM, an acronym for Product Information Management, is a system that can group and organize product information in a consistent manner, manage its enrichment with different levels of access, and serve it to the various distribution channels: website with product catalog, e-commerce, mobile applications, print, marketplace, and more.
NEED
Managing a lot of products and variants is a long and complicated process.
One of the main problems in many companies is collecting and unifying information deployed and managed by different parties: sales department, purchasing department, marketing, external suppliers, and even management systems. Once the updating of product sheets is completed, it is necessary to send information to many different channels of communication, in which product details needs to always be up-to-date, to enable an effective and consistent omnichannel experience.
PIM simplifies product information management, reducing time and costs.
OPERATION
How does a PIM work?
By receiving and centralizing information from different input channels, within the PIM it is possible to check, organize and enrich the data to shape complete product sheets, which can then be distributed to the different output channels.
01
Input channels
Product information can come from a variety of sources, from ERP to external suppliers but frequently from areas within the company itself such as the product office and marketing department. The data are all imported within the PIM, which then becomes the one and true repository.
02
Products / Objects
The product or object we are going to manage is enriched by several attributes. To simplify the process, it is possible to duplicate products/objects and share elements between one and another.
03
Product attributes
These are all the characteristics that help shape the individual product, such as color, size, brand, or price.
04
Workflows
Within the PIM, workflows can be set up to support the enrichment of product information, including translation and localization of content.
05
References
Cross-references are always automatically verified avoiding unpleasant inconveniences, for example in updating an item shared by several product sheets.
06
Output channels
Through rule definition and customized flow management, organized and enriched product information is sent directly from the PIM to all communication channels, making content distribution immediate and consistent.
ROLES
Who needs a PIM?
CTO, IT Manager
It needs a set of tools that are easy to deploy, scalable, performant, and compatible with major Cloud Computing services (Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud).
CMO, Marketing Director
He wants to create personalized, engaging and satisfying digital and online shopping experiences through effective and efficient content delivery.
A PIM is a collaborative platform.
A Product Information Management system facilitates operations and collaboration between departments. In fact, it facilitates information retrieval among the various business areas by centralizing data in a single system. All departments of the company involved in the product creation will be able to refer to the same repository in which to find the correct and up-to-date information, which will then be distributed consistently across the desired channels.
Differentiated access
With a PIM, customized levels of access can be assigned to all parties involved in operations, with roles and permissions of different levels (read, edit or create data), allowing participation in the management of product information in a secure and calibrated manner.
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The advantages
Process efficiency
Increased productivity and quality in workflows that require product content.
Rich content
Aggregation of different content (images, text, video) to enhance product presentation.
Automatic updates
Sending the updated information in real time to all communication channels.
Omnichannel consistency
Increased consistency and uniformity of product information in any channel, offline and online.
Error reduction
Improved information quality and reduced errors in product sheets.
Unique repository
Single source of enterprise information for product data with managed access permissions.
A PIM streamlines workflows and improves the customer experience.
It arrives where email, folders and spreadsheets are no longer enough, ensuring a great omnichannel experience for the end customer.
To implement a PIM system in-house you can rely on our expertise: Extera is Gold Partner of Pimcore and Bronze Partner of Akeneo, two outstanding Product Information Management solutions. Let's get in touch to figure out together which solution is right for you.
Contacts
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