Companies using solutions to provide accurate data for supply chain
Wayne, PA — March 2, 2005 — The key business driver behind efforts to create a centralized internal product information management (PIM) repository is the need to resolve data discrepancies caused by islands of information across an enterprise in order to facilitate error-free product information exchange, according to the 2005 Industry Survey on Product Information Management Trends from FullTilt Soltuions Inc.
When asked to list all factors that had sparked their interest in PIM solutions, respondents cited:
* Need for a single version of product truth (59 percent)
* Key component in efforts to reduce costs (41 percent)
* Improvement in customer service offerings (38 percent)
* Desire to reduce time to market for new products (35 percent)
* UCCnet/EPCglobal initiative (24 percent)
* Radio frequency identification (RFID) initiative (22 percent)
Other factors driving the PIM decision included a desire to provide customer-specific catalogs (16 percent), customer mandates that have exposed bad data (14 percent), and improved trade promotion management capabilities (8 percent).
The survey also revealed that:
* Eighty-eight percent of respondents believe their company recognizes the benefits of a centralized internal product information management repository.
* Ninety-five percent believe they must develop more effective systems to better support collaboration efforts internally as well with their trading partners.
* Eighty-five percent believe their department could perform better if they had access to accurate product information from other internal company groups.
* Eighty-two percent are currently working aggressively to break down "islands of automation" to better share product information across departments.
"The analyst community has written extensively about product information management in the past 12 months, including a recent report from The Yankee Group validating the top- and bottom-line benefits of PIM solutions," said Scott Deutsch, vice president, Marketing, FullTilt Solutions. "Our industry survey confirms that companies are looking closely at product information management systems to reduce the costs associated with incorrect product data and thereby gain the best returns out of their enterprise resource planning (ERP), product lifecycle management (PLM) and customer relationship management (CRM) investments."
FullTilt's survey covered retailers, consumer product goods (CPG) companies, distributors, healthcare and life sciences firms, and a variety of other industries.
