Catalog Software In The Cloud
Imagine a scenario where the Sales Department just sent you a link to the company’s shared drive, for the final version of a proposal they submitted earlier today. As you click on the link and review the PDF file in the Product Specifications section of the bid, you realize something is not quite right: the client had asked for a product with a Blue outer case. So, based on the printed catalog you referred to, you quoted the code that said “Blue”. But the proposal, which uses Marketing Department’s catalog software system, has a different description for the product youquoted – “Dull Blue”. Even worse, when you check the company’s website, it shows yet another specification – “Light Blue”. Neither of these match what’s in your paper catalog or the catalog software PDF which was included in the bid.Fear not, you are not alone in this dilemma. Hundreds of companies find themselves in a similar situation when they maintain product information on disparate databases, websites and spreadsheets all across the company. Engineering believes the print catalog to be authentic. Sales swear by the website catalog. And Marketing vouches for its corporate intranet-based product catalog software. Each of these departments consider themselves rulers of their own little Fiefdoms. Unfortunately, in this age of multi-channel marketing, a unified, integrated cloud-based Product Information Management (PIM) system is the only way to synchronize product information across geographical and functional boundaries.Cloud-based Print Catalog Software is not just for BackupsA common misconception about Cloud-based PIM systems is that, because their infrastructure is hosted off-site from the company’s own IT environment, their only real benefit is persistent and redundant data backups. But high-availability and insurance against catastrophic hardware failure are only a couple facets of a Cloud-based solution. There’s plenty more to the Cloud than meets the eye.Since a Cloud-based PIM (Product Information Management) software enforces consistency from a central point of data capture, maintaining multiple versions of product specifications becomes redundant. The most recent updates will always reside in the Cloud and not on someone’s laptop or a flash drive in someone’s desk drawer.
But merely having centrally-updated product specifications is of no use if you have multiple people working across locations and time zones, and depend on others to provide you access to your product catalog software. A well-designed Cloud-based PIM is not just accessible to field staff, sales people, design engineers, shop floor engineers, and everyone else in between. It must be accessible to these people regardless of their location on the globe, at any time of the day.
Cloud-based Print Catalog Software Lets You Focus on Your Business
The core business of any cataloger is usually the production, sale and delivery of niche products and services—or some combination thereof. By using an external partner to host, manage and maintain their Cloud-based PIM systems, many companies are able to bring focus back to their core responsibilities. With locally-hosted enterprise-level PIM systems (such as SAP or Oracle), the onus to upgrade and maintain the software and database is on IT. When you move from locally-hosted to a SaaS (Software as a Service) model, your only responsibility is to maintain product specifications and related product content. In other words, you’re back to doing what you do best.
A Cloud-based PIM system lets the service provider to do what they do best – software development, infrastructure maintenance, backups, and regular upgrades. This leaves the corporate client to focus on timely and accurate updates to content and product specifications. But two very important benefits that cloud-based print catalog software environments deliverare high-availability and data security. Cloud-based service providers must therefore invest heavily in redundant technology, firewalls, antivirus software and user authentication protocols to make those two things happen at a level that meets professional expectations.
For geographically diverse companies, especially those with global footprints, these two functions (availability and security) can be a tremendous drain in terms of human hours and financial resources. Every new software release needs to be tested for compatibility with multiple operating systems and multiple browsers. Each new version of the software and database must be rolled out across geographic locations and multiple time zones. Cloud-based PIM systems relieve you of this burden by dealing with IT infrastructure upgrades and maintenance behind scenes “in the Cloud” and shielding you from such responsibilities.
If designed and implemented correctly, PIM systems can offer tremendous financial benefits for companies carrying multiple (but related) product or service offerings. Since the Cloud-based print catalog software will contain the latest content on every product or service, everyone that needs to know will be aware of the potentials that each product or service has. Such transparency of product specifications can create new revenue streams for the company. Product / Service-Line Managers can use that peer or supplementary product information to leverage each other’s products to cross-sell or up-sell their own offerings.
Disciplined Change Management is Key
Reading all this great information about Cloud-based PIM systems might give you the impression that you need not do anything more than select a reliable SaaS partner. However, nothing could be further from the truth. To fully reap the benefits of a well implemented Cloud-based PIM you need to enforce a new kind of discipline amongst your staff. Lack of strong change management is the biggest cause of failure within technology, and the adoption of Cloud-based product specifications and product content is no exception to that rule.
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