PIM Report

 

As a Director of CSPECS and working with the CSPECS Technology Team to develop real solutions for the building product manufacturing industry, Ken Hall has become a sought out industry expert.  As an integral part of CSPECS, we have worked hand and hand with Ken and have seen exactly why the industry sees him as a voice for the market. 

Below is a market research report Ken compiled for his blog.  He allowed CSPECS to share the report also for our clients and potential clients that view our site.

 

The CSPECS Team

 

PIM: Product Information Management

 

Opportunity for business growth

 

PIM focuses on the management and synchronization of product information from multiple data sources.

 

The promise of PIM is to create  the single source of product-related information sharing and synchronization that will improve the sales, customer, and marketing processes.

 

Product information has become more relevant in more ways to more users across more boundaries than ever before. Your good, validated product information is returning more and more value every day, and your bad product information is becoming toxic, viral, distracting, and negatively impacting your business, every day, every year, every time it is used.

 

.............Bad data is a disease to business. 

 

So what is good product information and what is bad product information?

 

Your customers the AEC community including architects, engineers, specifiers and contractors determine the specific product information they need from you. Each AEC customer functions differently and uses product information differently. The idea is to provide the right information to the right customer at the right time

 

Look at the relevance of a product information management system for your business. PIM systems are used to manage product information, as well as other master data types. 

 

PIM benefits to you:

 

First of all, PIM systems contribute to paper reduction. With machine to machine (M2M) data transfer, no printing and re-keying of data is required, reducing error conditions.  In addition, all access to the product information is through a web browser, so no paper is passed around when adding or editing data. Each user, depending on their role in the organization, has the appropriate access level to allow them to add, edit, review or approve product information, providing governance to the data. Sustainability information, including product packaging, fair trade & corporate information can be changed quickly and synchronized within the enterprise or externally with trading partners.

 

PIM systems can help to streamline workflows, as part of the PIM solution for customers, which govern the specific types of data needed and business processes related to the life cycle of product data. And as business processes or condition change, the data can easily be changed accordingly.

 

In PIM, data is aggregated from current product information located on web sites,  office hard drives and locations spread throughout a business. It all comes together in the PIM system and is validated against industry standards and company-specific business rules, to become your master data. From there you ca now provide customer productivity tools which allow your customers to select your products easier ad with more efficiency within their workflow requirements.

 

Synchronize — comply with customer and channel mandates and requirements  by synchronizing product information across internal  channels and external channels.

Adjust — respond to product information events by establishing a single, global repository for product information where changes and additions are automatically updated and synchronized across multiple channels.

Automate — centrally manage, automate and streamline the process of aggregating, creating and managing product information across multiple functions, people and tasks. Develop continuous monitoring, notification, filtering, cleansing and automatic processing of product information events.

Optimize — consistently deliver product information that is accurate, complete and on-time. Continuously improve product information and optimize the process of delivering it to the market.

 

 

Summary

 

You see, once data is validated, it can be shared between suppliers and customers, ensuring consistency of data which facilitates supply chain operations and customer satisfaction. One of the ways that this data is exchanged is through the AEC Product Synchronization Network (PSN). The PSN is a method of sharing one source of standardized data between the supply side and demand side.

It is time to begin thinking about implications, impact, costs, and how these are affecting your competitiveness when the global economy has become so intertwined.

Think of your data as fuel for your business, and your business processes as the engine, and management as the driver - without good fuel, you won't go far. If your competition has high octane fuel, and an F-1 super car engine, he will beat you to the finish line. Even the best drivers in the world cannot win races with bad fuel or bad engines.

Good, clean, relevant, complete, correct, current data is the new "Holy Grail" of business. Your business is (or may be) ready for success, but is your data?

 

 

Industry Research:

 

In a recent pilot, data synchronization was credited with:

 

A 75 percent reduction in invoice change orders and deductions

A 30 percent improvement in accurate purchase orders and sales

An 80 percent improvement in ―speed to project for new items, price changes and promotions

 

The organizational impact of PM systems is significant because it goes beyond the sales channel. Companies can also leverage this product information capability to:

 

Provide better customer service

Reduce the high costs of data management across multiple channels

Improve creation/syndication of product catalogs, brochures and collateral materials

Manage pricing & promotions campaigns more effectively