Product Information Management (PIM) has entered the minds of business leaders and is considered a top initiative for strategic technology and best practices. Product information, a subset of master data management, has become the focus of many organizations. These organizations are enthusiastically looking to product information as a key to cut costs, meet customer demands, enhance marketing and sales performance, and find new revenue opportunities.

Enterprises face significant pains as they continuously push the limits of capabilities within available resources to meet the growing rigorous demands across the value chain ‘Doing more, with less’ is a common mindset among business leaders and is a necessary approach in today’s survival. Organizations must deal with the rising volume and complexity of product information relating to day-to-day operations.

PIM systems have evolved into a combination of technology and process which far exceed the capabilities of standard product repositories found in ERP and legacy platforms and is designed to support or supplement services for these systems. It has developed beyond a vertical application into a horizontal solution across the enterprise and extended enterprise. Companies can expect a fast return on investment (less than 12 months) in areas such as reduction in cost for gathering and processing the product data and an increase in revenue through reaching new markets with more products and better quality information, faster.

PIM delivers an incredible competitive advantage that is vital.

Definition – Enterprise Product Information Management
Enterprise Product Information Management or PIM refers to processes and technologies focused on centrally managing product information, with emphasis on the data required to market and sell the products. PIM provides the combination of processes and technology to manage product data in one central hub and then synchronize it across the organization and supply chain. The goal of PIM is to streamline the data acquisition process from supplier and internal organizations, centrally manage and enrich that data, and then communicate consistent, accurate, and up-to-date information to all required distribution and sales channels. These channels include web sites, print catalogs and flyers, ERP systems, and electronic data feeds to trading partners all of which enhance marketing products and generating sales.