What are these aspects?
We are in a phase in which the old ‘jack of all trades’ systems, which have often been in use for many years, no longer meet the requirements of the latest technological concepts and paradigms. Let's take a look at the technology and systems that customers work with in the areas of PIM or MAM systems, which are essentially used in marketing and sales to organise promotional product communication. Companies used to create requirements documents with an endless number of functions that were needed in product information software (PIM system). The PIM manufacturers then built feature after feature into their system - and in the end, the system with the most features won.
And now a problem arises: because today it is no longer just about managing and providing information, but also about integrating external stakeholders and creating digitally usable content in good quality and structure. A modern PIM system must therefore be able to make content available very flexibly and selectively as part of larger process chains. It is no longer possible to discuss and develop interfaces at length; data must be available simply, quickly and scalably.
Companies often have systems that have been in use for a long time and have grown over the years. Large amounts of data exist, but the quality is not always known. Systems are strongly interlinked with others via many interfaces, often proprietary and non-transparent. This situation is now being met by technological concepts that are becoming increasingly relevant - keyword: M.A.C.H. architecture. These concepts are often not supported by the old all-rounder systems. In other words, these older systems are ‘end-of-lifecycle’.
What happens next?
There's a lot in store for companies and it actually takes time, which doesn't exist. We are not just talking about a technological challenge here. There are new paradigms with which digital services are provided today. This also means a major organisational and political change for companies.
So you need an intelligent transformation strategy. Another aspect of this transformation concerns content.
Digitalisation needs content
Companies are offering their customers more and more valuable digital services - e.g. as part of process automation (standardised data deliveries, automated product configurations, dealer portals, architect programmes, etc.). All digitalisation processes have one thing in common: they require content. Without digitally structured data, software processes cannot enable automation and users cannot utilise data.
For content (whether in PIM or DAM) to be digitally utilisable, it must have certain characteristics: Content must be complete, reliable, up-to-date, available, aggregated, etc. This is the only way to think about and develop services with which companies can achieve added value.
Recognising a lack of data quality
The quality of the data required for communication and digital services is often only partially sufficient in companies. This is due to the fact that this data has often grown independently over many years and is available in separate solutions (PIM, DAM, ERP). They are fragmented and distributed and are maintained by a wide variety of departments and projects. There is hardly any common framework strategy with regard to:
- Documentation
- quality
- archiving
- interfaces etc.
If a new digital service is to be provided for external or internal stakeholders, it is not so easy to determine the amount of data required for the service. A not inconsiderable part of a digitalisation project therefore consists of data analysis and its procurement, which unfortunately also represents a not inconsiderable cost block.
This raises the following questions:
- Does the data that is needed even exist?
- In which systems is the data available?
- Is it complete and up-to-date?
How can the data be accessed? etc.
It takes time, coordination and money to clarify these questions and in some cases they are almost impossible to solve because knowledge about the data is just as fragmented throughout the company as the data itself.
Understanding migration as an opportunity
Many companies will be facing migration projects in the areas of PIM and DAM in the coming years - older systems will be replaced in order to use more modern systems or newer versions of systems that meet the future requirements of digitalisation. This requires sensible migration concepts for data and interface migration, and it is precisely This is a great opportunity to improve the transparency and quality of data and interfaces.
Step by step to better data quality
communicode takes a four-step approach to improving data quality during migration:
1. needs analysis and experience: Which stakeholders and systems require which data at which point in time and for which use cases in which completeness and quality?
2. inventory analysis and evaluation: communicode has its own extensive tools for analysing data. Data from a wide variety of systems is processed, integrated and consolidated in one system. The aim is to make data stocks transparent and to be able to carry out an evaluation of content and completeness.
Data modelling and architecture: A global and a system-specific data model is prepared on the basis of the requirements and inventory analysis. As part of the data architecture, it is defined which data must be available in which system at which point in time.
Mapping and transformation: Existing data is mapped to the new data model and transformed.
In addition, we propose measures for the sensible, gradual improvement of data quality in the existing systems.
Conclusion: Don't be afraid of transformation - utilise opportunities in an agile way
The current upheaval is a major challenge for companies. However, the transformation offers precisely the opportunities to tackle and achieve the next stage of digitalisation.
With the help of contentserv, communicode carries out migration projects for customers that save resources and have a lasting effect on marketing. contentserv, as the top dog among the systems in the PIM sector, has many years of experience with a full range of functions - and has also understood and implemented the technological transformation. It can be easily integrated into modern infrastructure projects.
