Are You Using Homegrown Legacy PIM? It’s Time to Change It

Summary - A homegrown legacy system is quite difficult to enhance and update the solution to stay competitive with the changing market trends. Instead, you should consider a reliable PIM platform that allows you to build and implement the custom Product Information Management solution.

Have you already implemented a Product Information Management (PIM)? If yes, then it’s great.

How old is your PIM system? If your answer is more than a decade, then it’s really not great.

Because it’s an outdated solution that won’t help your business to grow. In fact, with the obsolete features, it will definitely hurt business.

How The Legacy PIM System Hurts Your Business?

If you have been using an in-house product information management system for more than ten years, your solution is obsolete in terms of technology. You can’t stay competitive as your rivals are using the PIM solutions that are developed using ultra-modern technologies.

Most probably, you are not connected with the developers who have developed the PIM solution for you. Also, you won’t have proper documentation of the system. Even you have the documentation, it won’t be easy for you to find the skillset that works with the ten years old technologies.

The functionality of your software is slow and primitive that impacts the productivity of your team.

Moreover, if you have ignored updating your PIM system, website, and eCommerce portal, then you are falling behind your competitors. You are losing brand presence, customer, market share, and profit continuously.

Let’s delve into the pain points associated with the obsolete PIM system.

Limited Functionality

Obsolete PIM systems do not consist of SEO elements in it. The result is your products rank lower in Google search. Your PIM cannot adopt and enforce the SEO practices to boost your product visibility on the search engines.

Your PIM might be a perfect platform to produce the print catalog. But, it barely supports your eCommerce platforms and addresses the changing needs of today’s dynamic market. It also has a lack of ability to send content to a mobile app for smartphone users.

During such a long time duration, your business must grow and you have increased the volume of SKUs you want to sell. Being a legacy system, your PIM is not capable enough to meet your dynamic needs of today and the future.

Multiple Patched in the Same System

You cannot make the improvement in your existing PIM system for such a long time. Your developers have already fixed so many issues in your original PIM throughout these years. Any further revisions would be cost-prohibitive. Moreover, you won’t get value for your money.

Outdated Content and Broken Links

With the legacy PIM, you will find out your eCommerce store is scattered with broken images and long discontinued products. The new products are displayed in your catalog but they are not featured on your website.

Imagine the frustration of customers when they go online to purchase a specific product and they cannot find it. Of course, they will leave your online store immediately with a great level of dissatisfaction. In such a case, you are losing your customers, brand reputation, and revenue too.

Security Risks

Before the decade, data security and privacy was not a burning issue. But, these days, a system without advanced protection can let hackers hack your data and spoil your business. Thus, if your original PIM fails to adequately protect the information, you risk the most important asset of your organization that is data.

Siloed Systems

Your legacy PIM works alone. It cannot be integrated with your other existing systems like ERP, CRM, eCommerce store, CMS, and more. Thus, you need to manage all these systems separately that perpetuate the inefficient workflow.

It will be quite difficult for you to import and export a large amount of data into and out of PIM. To analyze your data, you need to copy and paste the data from multiple spreadsheets to generate insightful reports.

Data Entry Bottleneck

Your original PIM system allows for a single user data entry, develops an unfortunate funnel and long queue to load new product information management.

But, in this competitive era, you need an advanced solution that enables you with multi-user functionality and accepts inputs from people across your organization. It should allow you to control what data they can update and access.

Hurdle to Progress

Your original PIM solution cannot be adapted. Thus, it is a powerful obstacle in the journey of your business growth and success. If your PIM system cannot help you stay competitive with the changing times, it is hampering your ability to thrive in the digital marketplace.

Can you connect your PIM solution with all the above-listed challenges?

It’s time to redefine your eCommerce strategies with an advanced PIM solution. It enables you with a set of features that allows you to do more than just product data management. Let's see what you can do with the latest PIM platforms.

What Are the Capabilities of New PIM Systems?

The latest PIM solutions enable organizations with product data management, data enrichment, and data distribution facilities. All these abilities of PIM help businesses to make well-informed business decisions.

Access Your Existing PIM Before Opting for the New One

As you are using a legacy PIM solution. You are falling a lot behind your competitors. First, you need to identify the strength and weaknesses of your existing solution. Analyze, what does it do well for your business? What does it prevent you from doing that is very essential for your business?

While you are exploring the market to choose the right PIM for your business, you should consider these details. Make sure the system had the ability to maintain your existing strength and address your weaknesses effectively.

The powerful PIM allows you to manage

Number of product attributes (product SKU level and family level)

Number of SKUs that you sell (outside and inside your PIM)

Number of Users

Languages

Output channels (web, mobile, print, and more)

Number of physical locations that will use the PIM

Number and types of digital assets (videos, images, and other visuals)

Define Your Vision

This is the time when you are allowed to dream big and achieve it. Discuss your vision with your executives, sales, marketing, IT, and end-users. Create a list of features that you want and prioritize the must-have and nice to have functionality. Also, define what kind of experience you want to deliver to your end-users.

Conduct Detailed Research

Before considering a PIM, you need to perform detailed research and explore different PIM systems along with their features and benefits. You can take the help of Ventana Research and Forrester Research to get information about the varied PIM solutions. You also need to learn about the latest trends in data management and information technology.

Define Your Budget

While considering a PIM, you need to consider the cost of the product and its implementation. Moreover, you need to consider the people and hours that you need to assign to the project.

Compare and Shop

Many PIM solutions are available in the market. You need to shortlist 4 -5 of them that you feel the best fit for your business vision and requirements. A product PIM is scalable and highly configurable. But, all the PIM is not the right for you.

First, define the specifications that you are looking for in PIM. Then, understand what features and functionality the base software contains and what add-ons are available.

Ask questions about the implementation timeline, ongoing support, and training to get an understanding of whether they handle these services on their own or through a third-party consultant.

Final Thoughts

Change is disruptive but inevitable. You have to consider the latest PIM solution if you are thriving and succeeding in this ever-changing digital space. Pimcore is one of the leading digital experiences that enable organizations with a powerful PIM solution.

You can leverage end to end product information management solution development to design a custom PIM solution as per your specific business needs. Harness the potential of skilled and certified developers to ensure the effective development and implementation of your PIM.

Sandeep, the Ceo of Credencys - iPhone App Development Company