When visiting nature, you sometimes have to sharpen your eye to recognize the details. Just like in everyday business.
I am interested in the people and their tasks in the area of products and marketing and the associated workload and daily challenges.
In his last article, my partner Rico Hänel wrote about “Redrawing the IT application landscape with the heartpiece”. And I would like to pick up on this.
The question that arises every day in many companies:
Where do I put all the information about my product?
A large number of companies already have PIM systems, often referred to as PXM systems (Product Experience Management, DAM or Web Content Management), so storing, processing and transforming them should not really be a challenge. The reality is different.
Product data is only moved from the ERP system to additional, new applications with considerable additional effort and complex IT projects.
This again leads to data silos, potential sources of error and, above all, a large number of interfaces; which will expand the perfect world of PXM, PIM and DAM with applications and APIs so that the target channels can be served.
In short, a lot of time and money is invested in an apparently perfect world that does not keep this promise in day-to-day use.
And this is just the system perspective; we are not taking into account the suffering and the resulting increasing unacceptance of those who have to work with and on the data in different silos on a daily basis. Our employees.
It is already difficult for employees in their various roles to work with and process all relevant product data in the different software applications. In many companies, it is impossible to have complete transparency of the product to be sold with all the information.
The bitter reality is as follows
Contrary to the product promise of PIM/PXM and DAM, the cost of data management is increasing again, leading to considerably higher costs in some cases and extending the “time to market”.
The impact on process costs, which urgently need to be optimized in the face of increasing competition from Asia and deteriorating economic indicators, is enormous and is often no longer considered for fear of making a bad investment.
Yet it must be our wish and goal that we as European companies remain competitive in the long term.
And this is only possible if we take a self-critical look at what we have established so far!
Our heartpiece solution approach
All additional individual information on the products is transferred to a new software application to be established.
However, to ensure that not just any additional system is introduced, the IT landscape must be rethought (see also: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/mit-dem-heartpiece-die-it-applikationslandschaft-neu-zeichnen-hänel-23rae/), restructured and optimized.
The often re-established silo mentality of the departments must also be put to the test, and this applies all the more to existing software applications for product and master data maintenance, which are often established in companies today.
You have to think across departments again, develop and creatively design holistic visions and target images and, above all, put the previous ones to the test in order to bring your company back to the top.
One key principle remains the same:
Data quality decreases when the holistic view is missing.
It is time to break down silos and implement modern processes.
What companies need in the future
From my point of view and discussions with company managers, what is needed in the future is a platform that combines all information across all departments.
This platform should integrate product information, images, channel-specific marketing texts, translations, AI applications and everything else that a manufacturer or retailer needs to get their products to specialist retailers and consumers quickly.
In other words, the evolution of what PXM systems should be.
Employees should have access to all relevant product data for all channels and be able to process and deliver them with little effort. The often undesirable transparent overall picture of a product with all its facets is the future.
Employees have access to the information they need via their respective roles, functions and tasks and can edit it, but at the same time they also have the opportunity to see the overall picture and the associated information about the product in order to better provide the product to the respective sales channel thanks to this holistic transparency.
The exchange of ERP data with product channels
The standardized exchange of ERP data to the respective products or channels, customers and back is also an important part of this strategy.
The respective suppliers for the products are given the opportunity to maintain their required supplier products themselves with any necessary data updates, or to supply these via interfaces. The respective product manager in the company is part of the workflow and controls it.
The supply of all sales-relevant peripheral systems and channels with the specific information required must also be part of the solution. This must take place via easy-to-configure, dynamic interfaces. The optimum is achieved when the respective interface and data quality are tested directly and automatically documented in the software.
Quality gates ensure transparency in product information maturity and good delivery quality. The search for information from other specialist departments ceases and employees work together across departments. Coordination cycles and workflows are finally faster and so is the time to market.
Quality gates also help to identify the sustainability status of products.
Has all the necessary data been supplied for my product? If the supply chain is fully certified and the supply tranches can be assigned, I can generate the product passport.
The long-term benefits are
The benefits of the new heartpiece of infrastructure and processes may not be clear at first, but on closer inspection you will be surprised!
The ROI becomes visible and measurable after a short time.
With MSP AG, we have been developing and implementing such applications in the enterprise sector for retailers very successfully for 20 years now.
Also individualized, no question, but still as standard software.
Bringing together product data, presenting it transparently to all employees and then aggregating, channeling and then transporting it in a targeted manner - that is our core competence.
In our new tech stack @heartpiece, we want to help medium-sized companies streamline their processes with simple “API-first software”. This reduces IT and system costs and helps to present products more quickly in the respective sales channel.
Helping companies and employees to become faster and better is a matter close to our hearts. The real digital transformation should help to increase the motivation of each individual employee and help the company to achieve greater sales success.
With our solution, we want to make a decisive contribution to increasing the added value and security of companies in the SME sector.
Michael Ehlers
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