Your Championship Winning PIM Team

My formative years were a good time for such teams. The Chicago Bulls dominated professional basketball, winning 5 championships in 7 years. Meanwhile, the New York Yankees set records for wins on their way to 4 Major League Baseball championships in 5 years, and the New England Patriots ruled American Football, winning an unprecedented 6 Super Bowls since 2002.

Each of those teams had their signature superstar — Michael Jordan was, and still is, considered the greatest basketball player to ever live, as is Tom Brady in football, and Derek Jeter was recently elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame. But what made those teams so dominant, what propelled them to title after title, was the deep, well-constructed roster each team boasted. Succeeding in omnichannel commerce is no different. You can’t build a championship team with just one person. You need to construct a deep roster of talent to come out on top in any industry. So, with that in mind, we thought we’d put the spotlight on the different members of a championship-winning PIM team.

Leadership teams 

When it comes to any major project, it’s crucial to get your leadership team on board, and PIM is no exception to that rule. In fact, because PIM requires you to get buy-in from a wide range of teams in your organization, it’s even more important that you have members of your company’s leadership team on board with your PIM project from the very beginning. That way, they can help ensure everyone leans into PIM and get the solution up and running quickly and efficiently. How do you get your leadership team on board? Start by demonstrating the value PIM can bring to an organization and the potential return on investment implementing PIM can bring, including lowered enrichment costs, higher conversion rates, and more.

IT teams 

At first glance, it may seem like the IT team is not directly invested in the business outcomes, meaning that they might not be primetime players on your PIM team. Think again — the IT team often does the heavy lifting when selecting a PIM, and just as importantly, making sure it integrates and plays nicely with the rest of your existing tech stack. They also typically play a role in implementing and maintaining the data governance and product information hygiene processes that allow you to get the most out of your PIM. Your IT team plays a significant role in just about every software implementation, and PIM is no different. So, make sure you have an IT specialist on your team to help you understand the ramifications a PIM can have for existing infrastructure and operations. They’ll also help ensure the continued good governance and use of PIM after it is rolled out.

Media managers 

In the omnichannel age, digital assets are king. Customers want, expect, and even demand to see your products in action via photos, videos, PDFs, and more. What’s more, they are much more likely to make a purchase if they do interact with these digital assets — 73% of consumers who saw a digital photo or video on an eCommerce site made a purchase, according to Hubspot. What’s more, they don’t expect only to see this information on your eCommerce website or in physical stores — they also expect to see it on mobile apps, via social media pages like Pinterest, Instagram, or Twitter, and many other channels. That means you need professionals dedicated to managing these vital assets in the form of media managers. Empower them to centralize your product images, videos, user guides, and more, stored both internally and externally, in one place, and use Akeneo PIM to enrich that information to ensure it is presented in the proper context for the channel you’re selling on. This will allow you to enhance your customer experience with compelling images and videos and cause conversion rates to climb by as much as 400%.

Translation and localization teams 

When you’re selling products across borders, you need to speak the local language — and so much more. Research indicates that consumers worldwide are increasingly buying products from international merchants, thanks mainly to the ease of buying from anywhere in the world online. But while they’re more than happy to do business with merchants in other countries, they expect those sellers to speak their language and provide product information in the proper context for the market they’re in. That includes everything from translating product descriptions to converting measurements into local units, even updating product collections or digital assets to fit the norm of a new market. That’s where your translation and localization teams come in. By getting them on your PIM team, you can make sure product information is prepared for every market you sell in — and with Akeneo PIM, they’ll be able to work more quickly than ever, accelerating time-to-market and lowering enrichment costs along the way.

Catalog managers AKA Julias 

We’ve saved perhaps the most essential member of your championship-winning starting lineup for last — the marketers, product managers, and commerce teammates who are responsible for managing your product catalogs, or Julia as we call that persona here at Akeneo. When it comes to managing product information, your catalog management teammates are your MVPs. The product collections they create, curate, update, and manage are the basis of any good PIM system. Without this foundation of accurate, consistent, and compelling product information, your product enrichment efforts would likely never get off the ground. What does all of this mean for your PIM project? It means that the project should center around the needs of Julia, with other concerns such as migration, integration, and customization, falling behind. Ensuring that catalog managers are the focal point of your team is how Akeneo customers have seen massive returns on investment, including 500% reductions in enrichment costs, and more.

A deep bench

Of course, it isn’t just about the big stars and starting players. For a team to be genuinely great, every member of the organization has to commit to the game plan and find a way to contribute. The same is true when it comes to PIM. For a PIM project to truly be successful, you’ll need everyone involved with using the software, from leadership teams and IT heads, to catalog and media managers to the many, many other departments that will use information and resources created and enriched in your PIM. This can include development teams, manufacturing teams, external groups like suppliers, and everyone in between. So, make sure you don’t underestimate the change that you are going to impose on your entire organization. Using a new tool requires understanding a new process and establishing new habits. Ensure your team has the proper functional and technical training they need to fully understand how to use the PIM and understand the benefits of fully adopting it for catalog management. That way, your team can take home the top product information prize! Want to find more tips on using PIM to take your team to the next level? Discover how Akeneo PIM can help you create a great employee experience on our blog, or download our PXM for Dummies eBook!