What is the biggest value of product information management (PIM) solutions? It’s a great question and it’s clear there may be different answers. The answer for some might depend on the role you hold in the organization or the type of use case the solution is used in. However, if there is a key takeaway from inriver’s US PIMpoint Chicago, it is that PIM solutions enable brands to leverage a single source of truth for their product information.
Full stop.
That is the biggest reason people buy PIM solutions. It is one of the fundamental challenges teams need to solve because it is imperative today to enable omnichannel experiences. A single source of truth for product information is not an easy goal without a PIM solution... just ask any product or ecommerce manager about the challenges of modern commerce. They will tell you how and why they rely on their PIM solution.
This is not your grandmother’s PIM. Product information management solutions are not new in the world of martech. They evolved from solutions designed to optimize production of print catalogs. However, in the last five to 10 years, the number of PIM solutions have skyrocketed and the ways in which PIM is used have taken some exciting turns.
Usage of PIM has changed. Ownership of PIM has changed. Not surprising, the level of product experience management responsibility now even includes the C-suite. Additionally, the line of business using PIM includes everyone from marketing to digital to product development and IT. The value of PIM keeps increasing and moving into different areas of the user experience and channels. As it should.
Product syndication is a perfect example of this. The value of being able to quickly and easily syndicate product information across different channels and platforms is significant. New channels are constantly being introduced and organizations need to be able to sell and market products where their buyers are quickly, or lose the opportunity.
Inriver's Syndicate Prime solution introduced at PIMpoint is a great example of how important syndication is to a PIM solution. Integrating syndication functionality into PIM just makes sense. Can you really have one without the other? Syndicate Prime provides a framework for companies to push their products to different retailers by implementing workflows within the company.
All in one solution.
This brings up the question around digital asset management (DAM) solutions and PIM. Do you need both? Can you get by with just one or the other? Again, it depends. However, in an ideal world, you need both.
Why? Workflows for PIMs and DAMs are very much like brothers and sisters. They are kind of a package deal and are part of the same family. The goal is to integrate DAM and PIM to gain the efficiencies needed across the business.
Integration, however, is one of the most challenging parts of increasing capabilities and getting the most out of PIM and DAM and the entire technology stack.
Leveraging the value of a PIM solution as a single source of truth for product information is essential. Integrating PIM, DAM, and other key solutions that power omnichannel experiences and commerce is critical for each solution to work as it should. “Integration creates a seamless flow of data and insights across tools, empowering marketing teams to make decisions that positively impact the bottom line,” according to a recent article titled, How strategic martech integration drives business growth.
The most effective and powerful way to ensure integration is with a solution like OneTeg. This no-code, integration solution helps speed time to value and optimize efficiencies between solutions like inriver PIM, DAM solutions, and just about anything else you might need in your tech stack. Without an integration strategy and the right solution, how can you ensure the technologies are working as they should?
You can’t. And, you definitely can’t do it without costly point-to-point integrations that are too hard to manage and won’t scale. Use PIM as a single source of truth to start, then build your tech stack to meet evolving needs to meet business objectives. Use an integration solution like OneTeg to simplify the entire process. Think of the poor end-user experience that results from a disjointed and loosely integrated tech stack. Think of the time and money it will cost you.
Learn more about integration with a OneTeg demo here.
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