Speed Through the Product Launch Obstacle Course with PIM

Propel Software’s Jill Mueller offers insights on how product managers avoid delays using PIM to share accurate info with downstream commercial teams. This article originally appeared on Solutions Review’s Insight Jam, an enterprise IT community enabling the human conversation on AI.

Launching a product is like running a race for product managers – and dollars are on the line. The faster products cross the finish line to be available in the market, the bigger the payout. Nothing can stand in the way of reaching customers.

However, customers are demanding more than ever of their product experiences. Product managers need to constantly clear new hurdles in the data they provide to sales and marketing to meet these expectations.

At every turn, product managers are asked for “just one more” attribute, image, or proof point to activate enriched experiences across sales channels. Each one is an obstacle on the way to a product launch, as product managers dig back through emails, spreadsheets, and supplier data to find the right answer. While each request is seemingly small, the cumulative effect of these delays make the difference between product success and product failure.

But there is a better way, and it starts with Product Information Management (PIM).

Why Product Managers Need to Advocate for PIM

Product managers are responsible for consolidating information across multiple teams, including engineering, compliance, supply chain, packaging, and marketing. They ensure that error-proof product content is shared among these teams so that products can get out to market in a timely fashion. Without a digital system in place, data is scattered across spreadsheets and emails, leading to errors and inefficiencies. PIM solves that, delivering accuracy and speed to market.

Product managers can leverage PIM, a system that helps brands and manufacturers centralize product data so that they can create compelling customer content, such as product descriptions, images, and user guides. PIM transforms the way commercial teams engage customers with enriched product experiences by leveraging a single, trusted source of product information from design concept through to customer delivery. This helps deliver omnichannel customer experiences that do not disappoint.

Trusted and Accurate Data: The Foundation of PIM

Most product managers are familiar with using systems to manage product data, like Product Lifecycle Management (PLM). The connection between PLM and PIM is critical to get a complete, accurate view of the product including design, supply chain, and marketing attributes. However, each system serves a distinct purpose as products are readied for market.

For example, let’s look at a high-tech electronics manufacturing company. PLM focuses on how the product is designed and made, with users collaborating across the supply chain. Data is organized around the hardware the company produces, and it includes design specs, material components, and assembly instructions. On the other hand, PIM focuses on how the product is sold – the customer-facing presentation of the product. It includes attributes on performance benefits, digital images, videos, and user documentation that is ready to be distributed to a wide variety of customer touchpoints. Information is organized by sellable variants of the product, like subscription bundles of hardware, software, and services.

Product managers work closely with product teams in PLM, but need a tool like PIM to manage and prepare that product content for marketing and sale of the product. PIM empowers product managers to make informed decisions earlier about marketing content incorporating important elements from PLM like compliance or regulatory claims that are essential to buyers.

Streamlined Workflows for Maximum Efficiency

In order to have the most reliable, updated information, data needs to come directly from the source. Product managers need to gather this information from data owners and authors across the enterprise directly. Having to coordinate who contributes what and when, can be chaos using more traditional workflow tools like spreadsheets and email. PIM eliminates that confusion.

With PLM and PIM connected in one platform, product managers can assign attributes as a task to its particular owner, across the entire enterprise team. For instance, engineers and quality teams can fill in a product field themselves so product managers know it’s 100% accurate. Gone are the days of continuously chasing employees to fill out information in the system. PIM allows product managers to assign tasks to specific data owners ensuring data accuracy and accountability. With PIM only the designated owner of the product information can update specific fields. This ensures data integrity without delaying the launch process.

Business Benefits: Insights and Advanced Analytics

PIM unlocks advanced analytics and insights that help product managers make smarter decisions. By having all product data centralized in a PIM system, businesses can analyze trends, track product lifecycles, and plan more effectively for inventory or end-of-life product decisions.

For instance, say you are an industrial technology company that offers products in addition to services. Having access to real-time product data enables you to make more informed decisions about when to discontinue products based on trends you uncover in the field. When you can anticipate what lies ahead, in addition to what is bought and sold in the field, you can run more advanced data analytics rather than relying on an inclination. You’re able to replace instinct with insights, using accurate, real-time data to predict and plan for the future more effectively.

The Holistic View: End-to-End Visibility

Product managers that expand their visibility across the enterprise with PIM will have essential product information at their fingertips. The integration of PLM and PIM gives product managers the ability to develop product assets faster, ensure quicker time to market, and gain a competitive edge over competitors. When PIM is combined with systems like PLM and quality management systems (QMS), product managers are equipped with the information needed for smarter, more strategic decision-making.

In today’s competitive landscape, product managers need an edge. They can’t afford to be slowed down by outdated legacy systems. By implementing PIM, product managers can achieve data accuracy, efficient workflows, and powerful business insights that push them ahead of the competition in the product launch obstacle course.