Print Catalog Software Provider
Don’t Sign That Form Just Yet!
We discussed elsewhere how a well-designed PIM system is one that efficiently and logically helps you store, manage, and present product information. However, picking a print catalog software provider requires a bit of research. With just a little bit of effort in the beginning, you can save a lot of future headaches and expenses. In our previous article, we discussed the power of a discovery analysis. However, before signing there are still a few crucial things you need to review.
Are You As Ready As You Think You Are?
Catalogs have a voracious appetite for great-looking images, well-written copy and accurate data. In most cases, multiple people need to go into the product information system and make changes on short notice. The print catalog software that you implement needs to be powerful enough to handle your performance requirements. It also needs to be able to effortlessly handle entire teams of people working in multiple areas across multiple catalog channels…at the same time.
From the infrastructural perspective you need to make sure your computer hardware is beefy enough to run the software and its various processes quickly enough to be efficient. If a PIM system is slow enough that managing image files and excel sheets manually is quicker to deal with than using the print catalog software, it will be hard to convince the rest of the office to adopt the new system.
When the print catalog software is hosted in the Cloud, the headache of hardware compatibility is a much smaller issue. However, you still have to make sure that whoever is hosting your product information system can provide the network bandwidth and processing power to address your business needs.
Consider the case of one company that adopted a very versatile custom-built web catalog solution. The product information was already managed by their own proprietary software. The custom-built catalog creation software was developed to tie in with the existing content and present the catalog pages on the web. The software was extremely versatile but the implementation managers failed to thoroughly analyze the product requirements before proceeding with the roll out. In the end, the company was forced to upgrade the computers of 30 web developers, and performance was still inadequate because the content management software was designed for only 10 simultaneous users. The company has been working on the project for over a year already and they are 2 months behind schedule. This is, unfortunately, an all-too-familiar tale.
I’m Trapped for How Long?
Many Cloud-based product information system providers will try to lock you into a long term commitment. To a certain extent, this is makes good business sense because the effort and costs of setting up a new client would be extremely unprofitable if the client decides to end their service within a few months. To these companies, setting up a contract ensures that their onboarding costs are covered.
Having said that, the very best Cloud-based PIM services do not use long lock-in periods. These services can rely on the quality of their product and support services to retain customers, rather than an enforced lock-in period or by the threat of making your precious data inaccessible. When shopping for a PIM system, you could take less risk by choosing a provider with no lock-in period or a short lock-in period instead of a provider with a long one. In fact, you can use contractual lock-in as one of the rough indicators of quality.
How Flexible is my Catalog Software?
Catalogs are constantly evolving. The perfect layout for your catalog today may not appear to be as sleek and modern in just a few short years. Because of this, a good catalog creation software needs to be scalable, flexible, and versatile. Are you satisfied with how your print catalog software provider would address the following questions?
- What would happen if I needed more people to access the system simultaneously? How long would it take, and what would it cost to set up?
- How quickly could I offer twice as many products? How quickly could I offer four times as many products?
- Can I add new custom fields for all my data? If yes, what is the limit on the number of custom fields, and what data types are supported (i.e., string only, numeric, currency, picklist)?
- How would I to go about trying a new layout? What other layout options do you have?
- How could I present my product information in a new way?
Ensuring that all of these can be done quickly, reliably, and cost-effectively will help you select a PIM solution that is flexible and versatile.
How Does Catalog Software fit into my IT infrastructure?
Along the lines of flexibility, ask about the print catalog software’s API functionality. Each company has a variety ofinterconnected applications (e.g., Eclipse, SAP) that help employees manage and serve information. Choosing a PIM system with a powerful and easy-to-use API could save your company from massive development costs or the cost of manually massaging and uploading data files manually on a daily basis.
Even for a small operation where this is not immediately relevant, ensuring this API functionality is available will allow your business to be easily scalable for the future.
Can Somebody Please Help Me?
High-performance, cool features and flexibility is important, but don’t get too distracted by the bells and whistles. At the end of the day, you are looking for a simple product that makes your life easier, helps your company increase efficiency, and allows you to sell more product. The right software is only one piece of the product management system. The other crucial side is the support that the PIM system provider offers. Consider the following questions before implementing any PIM system:
- What is your guaranteed uptime %? When was your last service downtime and how long did it last?
- Do you have backup servers, alternate site hosts, and disaster recovery plans?
- How easy is it to reach product support and billing support? Is there a long wait time?
- How knowledgeable is support?
Pick a PIM system provider who has a proven track record of working with companies that use your catalog layout software. For example, if your company uses Adobe InDesign for your catalog layout, how experienced is the PIM system provider at implementing a compatible solution? The more experience a provider has with the layout software you’re already using, the better able they are to support bugs and issues you have integrating the print catalog software into your IT infrastructure.
How Will I Convert My Product Data?
One final important piece that you should never overlook is the company’s ability to help you digitize your data and thus populate your database. Transitioning from a collection of Excels, PDF’s, and other digital formats into a massive and organized database is a daunting task, or at least it feels that way while the process is happening. Some solid assistance bringing your precious data into the new system will help jumpstart the entire process.
Like any piece of technology, the PIM system isn’t the star of the show: it is only really useful if it’s being used to maintain good, valuable data. Data in the product information management system needs to reach a “critical mass” before employees can use it to increase their productivity. Until there is enough data—enough good data— in the new system, employees will continue to rely on the old system and resist switching over.
Signing up with a PIM developer with good conversion support offers two sorts of benefits. First, they can ensure that your data’s integrity is fully respected and that you are able to minimize the number of “adjustments” and “compromises” in order to get your data to work with the system. Secondly, a provider that offers excellent data digitization support allows you to formulate an effective conversion plan. In turn, an effective plan ensures that your implementation will be a success and you will benefit from the new PIM more quickly.
Summing it All Up…
Signing a contact with a new print catalog software provider is a critical step to ensuring that you have a powerful, scalable PIM system. However, remember that your ultimate goal isn’t to simply add tools. If it doesn’t result in your company’s catalog development being easier to manage and far more efficient, then it is a failure. Consider the issues discussed in this article before signing any agreement and you can ensure that your new system will be implemented as quickly and successfully as possible.
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