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​​How To Use PIM Integration To Advance Your ERP System

DynamicWeb

Looking to complement your existing ERP solution and get a handle on product information management? Read on to learn all about integrating PIM and ERP.

Most eCommerce businesses rely on an ERP system to manage their core business operations. However, one thing that ERP solutions don’t often handle well is complex product information and related digital assets. If you can barely crack the acronym of PIM, chances are you are using many Excel spreadsheets and spending countless hours trying to manage product information across your website, catalogs, marketplaces or anywhere else your products are exposed.  Thankfully there is product information management (PIM) a purpose-built solution to enrich and manage your product information in one place, and distribute it to all your channelss


DOWNLOAD NOW: THE CASE FOR INTEGRATED PIM (FREE WHITE PAPER)

What is an ERP solution?

An ERP solution stands for Enterprise Resource Planning, a system used to manage daily operations that connects sales orders, accounting, fulfillment and more. In fact, it is often considered the backbone of an eCommerce business. As such, an ERP solution oversees an organization’s supply chain, manufacturing information, finance operations, human resources, risk management and compliance, and other necessary logistics. It is a central location for data collection and serves as an enterprise’s single source of truth; however, its scope does not pertain much to customer-facing content, like product images and specs.

What is a PIM solution?

A PIM solution stands for Product Information Management, a solution for making it easier and more efficient to manage, validate and distribute product information, all from one place. It houses all of your product information, which can be brought in from various sources, to consolidate all the information needed to bring the product to market.

A PIM also enables companies to connect their products to different channels through feeds; all products are managed in one place. Products are managed in PIM and then fed to their eCommerce store, marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, or Walmart, digital or print product catalogs, sales assets, social media marketplaces, etc.

PIM also includes workflows that make it easier for the entire organization to collaborate and enrich product information. These workflows include sales and marketing information, technical specifications, language versioning, and more. With an enterprise, different departments and team members can design and fulfill complete their designated workflows in the PIM.

How PIM and ERP Complement Each Other

The shift from in-store to eCommerce products has made digitalization and optimization of product information a must for every business. Today businesses need to do more than create product SKUs and price products. eCommerce businesses must manage rich product data and intelligently automate data flow throughout different channels and systems. 

The ERP solution provides businesses with core, master data and the structure to manage and automate core business processes. A PIM uses an ERP as the single source of truth and master data foundation for all products for details like product number, and sometimes pricing.. A PIM also extends the capabilities of ERP by enriching product information beyond what an ERP allows. 

While ERP solutions provide high security around product information to prevent the wrong roles from making edits to critical categories like price, the necessary and robust structure limits collaboration. With a PIM, enterprises can achieve additional workflows that make it easier for the entire organization to collaborate and enrich product information. 

Integrating PIM and ERP

When integrating your PIM and ERP, the best practice is always to use core, master data from the ERP whenever possible and enrich it in PIM from there. While your ERP may have products, the included attributes are usually limited to details like product number, name, description, and price. When a PIM integrates with the ERP, it pulls in information like:

  • Product ID
  • Product Number
  • Product Name
  • Product Description
  • Pricing

And enriches that data with unlimited fields for product details and product-related digital assets like images, videos, PDFs, and more. 

Integrating your PIM and ERP can reduce headaches, streamline your processes, and ensure data quality, all while reducing costs. 

Integration is complex and requires deep knowledge and experience to succeed and build scalable solution architecture. With more than 4,000 customers, DynamicWeb has the expertise and experience to successfully integrated PIM with your ERP and eCommerce store for a holistic product strategy.

The DynamicWeb eCommerce suite includes a built-in Product Information Management (PIM) solution encompassing all the capabilities you need in handling product information from getting the 360-degree overview, having a flexible data structure, ensuring data quality, exploiting product relationships, inclusion of digital assets to being true multi-lingual. It is a part of our all-in-one, composable eCommerce suite that includes PIM, eCommerce, Marketing, and CMS, featuring standard integrations to Microsoft Dynamics ERP. 

To learn more about integrating PIM and ERP, download our free white paper, THE CASE FOR INTEGRATED PIM

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