Product Feed Basics: Data Ecosystems

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There are a lot of product data tools and solutions out there — so many that you might not even know what your team should be using.

Let’s look at three key business data ecosystems:

• Internal organizational data
• Internal product data
• Customer-facing data

Internal organizational data

Tools for internal organizational data will usually deal with data relating to supply chains, financing, manufacturing, etc.

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning): the backbone of an enterprise organization, which facilitates the flow of information within and outside of the organization.

Common ERP platforms:

• Microsoft Dynamics 365
• SAP
• Oracle NetSuite
• Epicor
• QuickBooks
  

MDM (Master Data Management): a central repository for all kinds of critical organizational data, including products, contact lists, and more.

DAM (Digital Asset Management): a digital content library where collaborators have access to key data.

Internal product data

Tools for internal product data help businesses manage the flow and storage of product information within the company. These systems are often managed by IT, rather than marketing or sales.

PDM (Product Data Management): used to manage all information related to products, particularly information like CAD files and further documentation.

PLM (Product Lifecycle Management): used to manage and analyze the complete lifecycle of products over time in a more strategic, rather than technical, manner. Includes information from the inception of a product all the way to disposal.

PIM (Product Information Management): a central repository for all raw product data including titles, descriptions, GTINs, prices, and much more — used internally to keep a clean, thorough, “golden record” of all product data.

Common PIM platforms:

• Salsify
• Plytix
• Amplifi.io
• ContentServ
• Akeneo

Customer-facing data

Tools for customer-facing data turn internal raw data into customer-ready data — and sometimes distribute that data to target channels. Solutions in this group can have a large amount of overlap, especially between PXM and PIDS. 

PXM (Product Experience Management): create a link between raw data and customer-facing platforms.

PIDS (Product Information Distribution Services): platforms with built-in capabilities to easily tailor raw data according to specific channel requirements. They also transfer the product data to target channels.

Feed management: a subset of PIDS tools dealing specifically with peer-to-peer networks as opposed to data pools or onboarding services.

Solutions like GoDataFeed tackle the needs of these categories and could fit into any one of these definitions.

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Continue to Product Feed Basics: Product Feed Creation