PIM - Product Information Management System
The main purpose of a PIM system is to help your company manage the product information of your products and articles, and to efficiently and individually publish it on the desired channels.
Such a system adds a central, authoritative data source (single Source of Truth). This is a central system to which every authorized employee throughout the company can access with the appropriate authorization level.
All available product information of your articles and products (master data, marketing data, supply chain information, etc.) can be viewed, modified, and further processed. Data enrichment usually takes place as a mixture of automated imports and manual maintenance. For example, master data is often obtained from the ERP and enriched in the PIM with marketing texts, media, etc.
This bundled information can then be transferred to all required channels, such as webshop, website, marketplaces, etc., and used there. But also classic printed media such as catalogs, data sheets and brochures can then in future be based on the specific information from the PIM.
Here you have the choice whether you want to fall back on very efficient Web2Print processes, or create the print products "classically" in a design software such as InDesign and link them to the and link them to the data from the PIM.
Why PIM?
Get rid of "management by Excel" and divergent product data on different channels
Historically, product data at most companies has been managed within an ERP system managed.
Due to the increasing demands on the complexity of the data that needs to be assigned to products in today's need to be assigned, ERP systems can reach their limits. Rigid architectures, unwieldy maintenance screens, limited access and lack of media management are just some of the common hurdles in digital advancement.
As a stopgap solution, companies often use parallel Excel spreadsheets and detached databases, which are not infrequently stored locally and structured in an unclear manner. This circumstance makes it even more difficult to find the right information and disseminate it quickly via important marketing channels. In addition, the potential for error is enormous in such settings.
A PIM system, on the other hand, is a centralized structure that collects all available product information available on a product and can make it available on a channel-specific basis. The system is designed to be can be connected to all of the company's workflows and systems. It is interconnected between the sources of product data of the company (ERP, PLM, supplier data, etc.) on the one hand and the external channels for the dissemination of the data (webshop, CMS, catalogs, datasheets, etc.) on the other.
System Choice
Found recommendation from our experts
In the market for PIM systems, the choice is not always easy, as the basic Features are offered by many providers.
In order to be able to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of individual systems, one must, in case of doubt, first first work with them to experience strengths and weaknesses. Based on our expertise we evaluated several systems and ultimately focused on two very powerful focused on.
One is the digital experience platform Pimcore, which is available as an open source and Enterprise version and, in addition to a very mature PIM component, covers other covers other application scenarios.
On the other hand, the license-based standard solution PERFION, which is due to ready developed modules enables very short project runtimes.
For a recommendation, we will take enough time to clearly outline the Pros and cons of the options. As a first point of reference, you can use the following Questions to prepare for an initial exchange:
- Do the output channels that work with the product data already exist?
- Is the role of a PIM system already considered in a digital roadmap?
- What project duration would be reasonable for you?
Contact
We would be happy to talk to you about your requirements and wishes and outline corresponding possible applications.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Frank Trimborn
Digital Strategy Director
Tel. +49 211 87393 281
Wahid Said Azari
Account Director & Consulting
Tel. +49 211 87393 283
Malkastenstraße 2
40211 Düsseldorf