As part of a global reorganization and harmonization process around IT, the management of product information at Electrolux Group was put to the test. The system landscape used in Europe was very fragmented and relied on isolated components, including an outdated PIM system that was no longer supported and countless Excel spreadsheets to manage and provide product information for marketing and sales. It was clear that a change needed to take place.
After carefully considering various options, Contentserv’s cloud solution was finally selected. Not only because the U.S. branch had previously chosen the leading provider but because of the system’s comprehensive integration capabilities. After all, the company’s biggest challenge was to connect the PIM solution as seamlessly and efficiently as possible with its extremely complex system landscape and to anchor it as a central source of reliable product information. To achieve this, various data models, isolated key systems, distributed data, and processes must be integrated and synchronized.
This, in turn, serves as the basis for future standardization of all workflows associated with product information management. The focus is on a clearly defined goal: to reduce the workload in product data management by at least 20%.
The situation
- Due to the outdated PIM software, a system upgrade is required to ensure that the company is able to effectively handle product information and set up future-proof processes
- Many processes are still based on the use of Excel lists and e-mail before data entry actually takes place. Errors and delays are thus inevitable
- There is no uniform, coordinated data quality assurance across all systems - resulting in incorrect entries that often have serious and cost-intensive consequences (including supply chain blockages)
Objectives
- Introduction of a future-proof, cloud-based Product Information Management solution, exploiting all directly achievable optimization potential
- Flexible integration of all existing systems to ensure seamless standardized data exchange and also securely connect legacy systems until the time of replacement
- Harmonization of processes and data models with the help of proven standards instead of individual in-house developments
- Using an unbiased third-party view to break through recurrent, inefficient processes and enable new ways of doing things
- Reduction of the effort (and thus also the costs) associated with product data management by 20%
- Increase data quality with the help of centralized and automated control mechanisms
