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| Product Information Management |
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| PIM's Postive Effects on Companies' Top and Bottom Lines |
Product Information Management (PIM) business processing software aggregates and standardizes product information from multiple enterprise data stores (applications throughout geographies, operating units and different departments such as marketing, manufacturing, and customer service, and in many disparate places such as departmental databases and commerce-enabled websites) into a central, continuously updated repository for use by employees and trading partners, significantly minimizing business problems caused by disparate product descriptions.
PIM is not another information silo. It is a business application infrastructure that helps you better collaborate internally and externally with your trading partners and any means of distribution of your products. While much attention has been around collaboration and external data synchronization, the real strategic value lies within your four walls.
Those companies with no enterprise product-centric master data management strategy are allowing the leader gap to widen around product data synchronization and other collaborative initiatives. The introduction of radio frequency identification (RFID) and electronic product codes (EPC) will further separate industry leaders and laggards.
Investing in PIM is low risk - high reward effort. The following chart from AMR Research shows how by internally synchronizing your product information, you positively effect your bottom line, on an on-going basis.
Product Information is good for your business because product knowledge is a critical management asset. It is the basis for strategic decisions such as new product development, channel penetration, and acquisition plans. The lack of a strategic approach to enterprise product information management hinders your ability to respond and lead the market.
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3-5% reduction in shelf out-of-stocks. |
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Two-week reduction in speed to market for new products. |
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7-13% reduction in sales force time communicating basic item information to customers, following up, resolving queries, etc. |
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For Retailers and distributors, benefits include:
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3-5% reduction in shelf out-of-stocks. |
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Two-week reduction in speed to market for new products. |
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10,000-30,000 hours saved in store and warehouse costs resulting from shelf-tag and scan errors. |
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1000, 2000 hours saved in finance time dealing with invoice disputes related to basic item information. |
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Reduction in invoice auditor fees |
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