The question of whether PIM is an “MDM use case” or an “ECM use case” (ECM stands for Enterprise Content management), or a combination of both (as usual) has become the topic du jour in certain parts of the blogosphere. I am glad that I’ve contributed to raise awareness around this topic with my series of posts (here, here, here, here for an introduction).
Let me try to visualise these two worlds. Let’s start with MDM. The much respected Henrik Liliendahl has a nice diagram to exemplify the MDM world.
Quick digression: As you probably know, Gartner is now revisiting their MDM quadrants to be more use case driven…yes, in 2016. Better late than ever ;-)
This is how the MDM world works: you have multiple domains e.g. Customer, Products, which have different processes attached to their lifecycle.
For example, products go through a “making” and “selling” process while customers “making process” is a completely different beast and the entire lifespan of a customer follows separate processes typically managed in a CRM solution.
An interesting aspect is that that these domains are relatable. For example, you can start looking at relationships between brands and products or products and customers.
There is much more to it. At any rate, the point I’ve been making in this series is that there is another way to look at PIM. Note that this is not theory - the inner nature of marketing in retail is demanding it to satisfy the increasing requirements of a successful customer experience (CX) strategy. Let's take a closer look at it.
Digital Marketing
In 2009 Adobe acquired Omniture, which now functions as Adobe Analytics and it is at the core of Adobe’s digital marketing solution. This event marked the beginning of a ‘marketing war’ that prompted the likes of IBM, Salesforce, HP, Oracle, and many others to build up an “integrated marketing cloud” platform (or “marketing hub” as defined by Gartner) in order to allow retailers to market across different channels, engaging customers on social, and using analytics to be more efficient in their targeting.
Gartner defines “digital marketing hub” as follows:
No marketing hub vendors have strategically thought of integrating PIM in their platform. Actually, only Adobe has integrated with Agility Multichannel, but it seems more a tactical move. At any rate, let's see how this will unfold...I predict that it is not an isolated case.
But this is exactly the point! Whether or not fully integrated in a marketing hub, PIM is a first citizen!
The diagram below is the way I visualise the world PIM belongs to. It segments the “marketing hub” in four quadrants overlaid by concentric circles to indicate the increasing maturity levels of the hub. At the core, though, lies the customer experience. Nothing is done if it is not directed to create a customer experience that engages, bonds, and spread.
This is the next wave of PIM, which does not supersede or cannibalize the existing approaches to PIM. It is already happening but it is not mainstream yet but PIM will soon be seen more and more in marketing hub solutions. The new, emerging , content-centric and cloud-based PIMs are the ones with this edge.
Let me try to visualise these two worlds. Let’s start with MDM. The much respected Henrik Liliendahl has a nice diagram to exemplify the MDM world.
Quick digression: As you probably know, Gartner is now revisiting their MDM quadrants to be more use case driven…yes, in 2016. Better late than ever ;-)
For example, products go through a “making” and “selling” process while customers “making process” is a completely different beast and the entire lifespan of a customer follows separate processes typically managed in a CRM solution.
An interesting aspect is that that these domains are relatable. For example, you can start looking at relationships between brands and products or products and customers.
There is much more to it. At any rate, the point I’ve been making in this series is that there is another way to look at PIM. Note that this is not theory - the inner nature of marketing in retail is demanding it to satisfy the increasing requirements of a successful customer experience (CX) strategy. Let's take a closer look at it.
Digital Marketing
In 2009 Adobe acquired Omniture, which now functions as Adobe Analytics and it is at the core of Adobe’s digital marketing solution. This event marked the beginning of a ‘marketing war’ that prompted the likes of IBM, Salesforce, HP, Oracle, and many others to build up an “integrated marketing cloud” platform (or “marketing hub” as defined by Gartner) in order to allow retailers to market across different channels, engaging customers on social, and using analytics to be more efficient in their targeting.
Gartner defines “digital marketing hub” as follows:
A digital marketing hub provides marketers and applications with standardized access to audience profile data, content, workflow elements, messaging and common analytic functions for orchestrating and optimizing multichannel campaigns, conversations, experiences, and data collection across online and offline channels, both manually and programmatically.It typically includes a bundle of native marketing applications and capabilities, but it is extensible through published services with which certified partners can integrate.
No marketing hub vendors have strategically thought of integrating PIM in their platform. Actually, only Adobe has integrated with Agility Multichannel, but it seems more a tactical move. At any rate, let's see how this will unfold...I predict that it is not an isolated case.
But this is exactly the point! Whether or not fully integrated in a marketing hub, PIM is a first citizen!
The diagram below is the way I visualise the world PIM belongs to. It segments the “marketing hub” in four quadrants overlaid by concentric circles to indicate the increasing maturity levels of the hub. At the core, though, lies the customer experience. Nothing is done if it is not directed to create a customer experience that engages, bonds, and spread.
This is the next wave of PIM, which does not supersede or cannibalize the existing approaches to PIM. It is already happening but it is not mainstream yet but PIM will soon be seen more and more in marketing hub solutions. The new, emerging , content-centric and cloud-based PIMs are the ones with this edge.
Comments