How Companies Benefit By Creating New Products in PIM Before ERP?
Modern businesses are forced to handle their product information or data innovatively for gaining an advantage over their competitors in today’s marketplace. To manage and streamline business operations, the implementation of PIM (Product Information Management) and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems have become essential for modern businesses.
Though, a business using both systems introducing new product data in PIM before the ERP system will benefit a lot. This article elaborates on what benefits companies/businesses can get because of using PIM before ERP while introducing new products.
- What Is Product Information Management (PIM)?
- How Businesses Benefit from the PIM System?
- What Is Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)?
- Benefits of ERP System
- Why Should You Create New Products in PIM Before ERP?
- Advantages of generating new products in PIM before ERP
- How does PIM Solution Enhance ERP Operation?
- Importance of PIM in enhancing ERP operations
- Bottom Line
What Is Product Information Management (PIM)?
PIM (Product Information Management) allows businesses to manage all sorts of product information/data in a single place and optimize it before sharing with multiple channels.
To know more about product information management, do not miss to visit What is PIM? – An Ultimate Guide for Product Information Management.
How Businesses Benefit from the PIM System?
In recent years, the PIM system has become one of the essentials for running a business, especially in eCommerce platforms. PIM software eases all the hassles involved in communicating between departments and keeps your digital presence with updated optimized content.
Apart from that, here are a few more key benefits a company can avail of by implementing a PIM system.
1. Creates a Single Source of Truth (SSOT) Data
PIM helps companies to consolidate multiple systems and makes it a single point of location. This enables various departments of a company to access accurate product information stored in the location. This leads to SSOT.
SSOT data enables a company to utilize the product information fully and get full advantage of handling data with 100% accuracy. Companies that are using multiple channels and handle numerous product SKUs require a centralized location for easy accessing of data that the PIM solution provides.
2. Helps To Create Marketing Content Easily
Content marketing is always considered crucial for all businesses. To carry out efficient content marketing campaigns, a marketer needs up-to-date product information with more accuracy.
PIM software offers a centralized platform for creating product content/data/information and allows other departments/systems to access it easily and quickly. This ensures the workflow of marketers doesn’t get delayed due to product data. Instead of just offering a centralized platform to create content, PIM allows businesses to optimize the content and share those in multiple channels according to the need.
3. Provides Security To Content
As the product content becomes essential and plays a huge part in gaining a competitive edge in today’s competitive market it requires a high level of security. In general, businesses that store product information with a lack of security options will fail to deliver data with accuracy because of unauthorized editing.
Poor security leads to data inconsistency, data integrity, and low-quality data. However, by implementing the PIM system, companies can set rules, rights, roles, and authorization for users to access the database. Also, PIM allows companies to invite external users to view product information without revealing business/product sensitive data. Thus, the PIM solution provides an environment of data with more accountability and productivity.
4. Improves Customer Experience
PIM solution allows companies to provide accurate product information to customers consistently. The accuracy and highly optimized product information allow buyers to access and buy the right products. This eventually increases product experience and reduces product returns significantly. In addition, quality product data reduces buyers’ cart abandonment activity.
This leads to a better shopping experience for the buyers. Once buyers start experiencing such positivity with a store, they will keep coming back again and again.
5. Boosts Time Efficiency and Increase Productivity
A good PIM system reduces the business operational time and cuts the operational cost, especially in supply chain management. The data accuracy of a PIM system ensures companies enjoy time efficiency and reduced operational cost.
High-quality product information from the PIM system eliminates the risk and loss because of poor or bad product data.
What Is Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)?
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) allows businesses to carry out integrated management of the entire business operation in a single place and streamlines the business operation through proper management.
Benefits of ERP System
ERP systems act as a great asset to an organization or company. It ensures the business runs smoothly and is unified. Here are the lists of a few vital benefits an organization can avail through the ERP system.
1. Better Management
ERP system creates proper links between all the departments involved in business operations and allows business owners to manage all the activities involved in productivity easily. Also, with the help of modern technologies, business owners can enjoy the automated data handling features of ERP software that ensure data management is carried in a faster and effective manner.
2. Streamlines Business Process
ERP software specifically designed to assist businesses with best practices ensures businesses and organizations of all sizes get full benefits. The practices of ERP system increases business productivity and improves its efficiency by regulating the business processes through automation. With automated and regularized business operations, companies can reduce the risk of manual errors.
3. Improves Customer Support Services
ERP system offers a centralized data storage in which businesses can accumulate all the data which are pretty handy to maintain customer relationship management. With all information available in a single source, customer handling staff can easily access it and deliver accurate information to the customers.
4. Cost-Effective
Businesses can eliminate the paperwork and cut costs dramatically on data management on the administrative side. The automated data management process allows the business operation to run smoothly and reduces the risk of doing repetitive tasks.
5. Effective Supply Chain Management
An ERP system enables businesses to forecast the demands of consumers and act accordingly. The efficiency and automated management of the business process reduce the risk of getting bottleneck situations in the production department. This set of actions ensures business supply chain management runs transparent and efficient.
Why Should You Create New Products in PIM Before ERP?
For a product-based enterprise, the company should keep upgrading its products as per the needs of its customers. As the competition in the market is increasing, the company should provide new products to their customers.
The PIM system allows the organization to keep its product-related details updated and easily shared with all the members involved in the product supply chain. On launching the new series of products, the organization should enter its details into the ERP system.
Advantages of generating new products in PIM before ERP
The different advantages gained by creating the new product in product information management system before the ERP software system includes:
Time-saving
The traditional process of incorporating the new product in the PIM included creating the product initially in the ERP system. Now with the development in technology, the product can directly begin its life cycle in the PIM system.
The PIM system works centrally where all types of product-related data can be added, edited, deleted, from a centralized location. This PIM system is flexible and allows entering the details and is not limited to the predefined fields for data input.
This helps in incorporating all the necessary product specifications with ease. It allows creating the data field with ease if any additional data is available. The addition of data to the PIM does not require the presence of ERP.
Product ready for the buyers
Using the PIM system allows the addition of product-related details with ease. These include all the details related to the product that is essential for advanced marketing and has no effect on the ERP system.
Once the product details are uploaded on the PIM, the product is ready to attract buyers based on the details provided. Once all the data for the product is uploaded in the PIM, it is easy to transfer the data to the ERP system. The PIM system functions as a sandbox to place the products that are ready for selling.
Updating and changing product information
For making the product available over various channels, it is essential to provide vast details related to the product like its specifications, images, videos, etc. There might be some mistakes while updating or adding the details. The PIM system allows making changes in the data.
The changes made in the PIM system get updated universally due to the presence of its centralized location. The ERP system does not allow updating the product details universally. Changes in the ERP system need to be done manually thus making the process time-consuming. The PIM system helps in avoiding mistakes.
Removal of irrelevant data
In the case of the EPR system, it includes transactional data and does not allow the deletion of the data. The data remains while occupying the space. PIM allows data deletion thus creating space for the inclusion of newer products. Making use of the PIM system ensures keeping the ERP system free from storing irrelevant data.
Considering all the above-mentioned advantages, it is beneficial to create newer products in PIM before ERP. The different options available for creating these product details make the process self-sufficient while saving resources and time.
How does PIM Solution Enhance ERP Operation?
The product information management (PIM) system helps the product-based enterprise in collecting, managing, and providing all the necessary product-related information to all the teams involved in the product supply chain.
The enterprise resource planning (ERP) application allows the organization to collect the essential details from the various departments within the organization. A robust PIM system helps the ERP to work efficiently in collating all the important data.
To learn more about how to get benefits from both ERP and PIM, read How ERP Can Be Enhanced by PIM System.
Importance of PIM in enhancing ERP operations
An organization has the PIM system and the ERP application that work together and efficiently in maintaining the essential data and help in improving the product marketing efforts. The different ways in which the PIM enhances the ERP operations include:
Efficient data onboarding
The main task of the ERP application is to collect all the crucial data from the different departments within the organization that are important for proper functioning. Many companies use the ERP application for creating product details.
This application does not allow the removal of old obsolete data thus blocking space and also affecting the data-tracking activity. PIM allows removal of the data thus creating space and enhancing the ERP functioning.
Data integration
The PIM system contains in-built connectors that act as an interface for the different systems, spreadsheets, databases, programs, etc. This PIM system can harvest the datasheet, photos, videos, schematics, etc. that are essential for making the eCommerce product presentation.
PIM interfaces with the ERP system thus enabling data maintenance. PIM allows the smooth exchange of product information for sharing, analysis, and reporting. The ERP system uses manual data addition and integration. The use of the PIM makes the work easier for the ERP to compile the data.
Create a rich product experience
Using the PIM software provides insights to enhance the product’s performance and completeness. PIM helps to create a contextual, rewarding, and personalized product experience that improves the customer experience.
This enables the customers to locate the product of their choice. PIM allows adding language descriptors, benefits, specifications, etc. It allows conversation with the customers to understand their needs. PIM collects the details from the performance data to provide an overview of the product’s profitability. Based on this data the managers can adjust their tactics and strategies for enhancing business.
Data optimization
The quality of data available for the product on the various channels plays a crucial role in creating the customer’s confidence. It is the key factor that drives the eCommerce for the product. PIM helps the organization in setting up and maintaining the governance rules for data consistency.
The use of robust PIM software allows the content managers to have complete control and visibility for all the aspects related to the product data. PIM ensures that the data is complete, clean, and accurate and can attract customers to the product.
Bottom Line
Adopting the PIM system eases the data collection process thus enhancing the capabilities of the ERP application. The different tools provided by the PIM system ease the activities of data collection, creating, organizing, and maintaining the product information.
The design of the PIM is based on its users and allows them to handle it easily. PIM enables the organization to bring the product faster and efficiently into the market.
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