If you are part of an organization that utilizes an Enterprise Resourcing Planning (ERP) system, then you probably already know the many reasons why it serves as such an essential component for your business. There are more ERP platform options today than ever before, and each system has its own collection of features and capabilities. Generally speaking, they are the work horses for managing and streamlining day-to-day business operations. This typically includes activities such as managing procurement processes, financing, supply chain and logistics, administrative services, among many other critical business orientated functions. However, when it comes specifically to the management of your product data, it’s likely your ERP is lacking in some key capabilities and not providing you with everything your organization really needs.
Sure, your ERP most likely stores some general product information like a unique Identifier, or some sort of SKU. Perhaps it even stores dimensions, pricing, or some barely discernable internal description for your products. These are all valid product data points and would typically be managed in your ERP, but have you considered all the other data that is associated with your product catalog that your ERP does not manage? Data such as product variants and colors, product attributes, long and short customer friendly marketing descriptions, SEO and search friendly content, compliance information, various product relationships, product images and assets, not to mention your customer facing taxonomy structures.
By offering only the basic product attributes from your ERP, you are severely limiting the information your customers have to make an educated and informed buying decision. This ultimately reduces the effectiveness of the overall experience they have while interacting with the products you sell and how they engage with your brand. In todays’ environment customers are increasingly looking for more and more information and want to be confident and educated before purchasing a product. They want an experience that is meaningful, accurate and trustworthy. A well thought out and deliberate product data strategy can be a true differenciator in that regard.
PIM (Product Information Management) systems are built specifically to help you achieve exceptional customer product experiences and enable you to manage many facets of your customers’ product data journey.  Unlike an ERP, a PIM can and should serve as the one true source of product data within your organization that can be easily accessible to multiple groups within your organization. This allows for collaboration with consistency, accuracy and governance established through defined user roles and workflows.  No more managing data in scattered spreadsheets or in separate systems or in areas where only your IT team should roam.
A quality PIM solution (like the ones offered by Perficient’s PIM vendor partners) come loaded with built in features and functionalities which address key components that help solve organizational product data challenges. Some such features include bulk product data loads and updates, vendor data onboarding and management, the ability to easily and efficiently restructure data for specific outbound channels (ie. Syndication), digital shelf analytics and of course the ability to enrich data collaboratively across multiple groups without the need to worry about overwrites or repeated processes. A PIM system is also ideal for managing the localization of your data and for managing translated product data.
In summary, while an ERP is a key component to your technology stack and plays a vital role within your organization it is typically used to handle the big picture organizational functions, whereas a PIM exists to specialize specifically in the product data journey and management of processes related to your product content. Both can be complimentary to each other and when used in tandem can produce optimal results and great customer experiences.
Perficient’s dedicated PIM practice has well over a decade of experience implementing complex enterprise PIM solutions with experience in industries such as Manufacturing, Warehouse and Distribution, Automotive, Home Goods, Retail & CPG, Healthcare, Outdoor Landscape & Equipment and many more. With our extensive expertise in leading technologies and our ability to offer tailored engagement options, Perficient is an excellent partner choice for helping achieve your digital objectives. If you have questions or if you want to learn more about how PIM can be an asset to your organization, please reach out to our team of friendly experts.
