Market Perspectives

Data-driven product information management ensures that supply chain data is consistent, standardized and accessible across the organization. Many businesses, however, lack consistency and unification when managing data, with the greatest barrier being the ability to achieve a single version of the truth, according to our Data Governance Benchmark Research.

PIM, master data management and data governance applications have been in the spotlight in recent years as organizations strive to ensure data is accurate and consistent for consumers, customers, partners and workers. By implementing technology that focuses on enhancing data governance and user experiences, organizations have a clear picture to make important decisions that support customers and products.

Established in Denmark in 1976, Stibo Systems is a global provider of MDM software. Its focus is to help organizations deliver transparency on products and a single version of the truth. The multidomain MDM platform manages product data in a central repository that aims to ensure accuracy and reliability.

The Product MDM application ensures data can be onboarded from several internal and external sources using an import manager. The approach follows industry standards, including optimization for the global data synchronization network. The data is governed by machine learning-based auto classification as well as rules and workflows implemented by users. The Product MDM also includes error handling and data validations which highlight errors in the data between sessions. It organizes and shares large data sets to provide accurate and qualitative data to partners and consumers.

Digital asset management integration is available to manage copyrights, and watermarks can be previewed before applying them to the content. Machine learning is used to delete duplicate images and automatically classify assets using metadata from Google’s Cloud Vision application programming interface.

Data governance initially focused on limiting access to data to maintain regulatory compliance. However, the effort has evolved to improve the quality of data. Product data governance allows organizations to improve business intelligence and increase operational efficiency, on top of meeting privacy requirements. Nearly all (92%) organizations regularly use spreadsheets to manage data governance, yet 70% consider it an issue due to the potential risks. Ventana Research asserts that by 2024, one-half of organizations will recognize that ineffective product experiences are degrading demand chain performance and will make new technology investments into product information management.

Stibo Systems’ Product MDM includes data governance policies that provide an adequate product experience. Product MDM can be expanded with PDX Syndication, a cloud-based product data syndication platform that can also be used as a standalone product. With PDX Syndication, data can be viewed in a built-in scorecard that provides analysis on the quality of the content, plus a digital catalog that manufacturers can use to provide content and images to retailers, restricting access as needed.

With the combination of these data governance tools, organizations can be equipped to move to a reliable data governance program. The importance of managing disparate data to a common definition is essential, especially as organizations continue to have data spread across an array of cloud computing offerings. Accurate and complete data provides greater supply chain visibility to optimize processes effectively for improved decision-making and reduced costs.

Stibo Systems has clearly demonstrated its ability to support data governance over the past decade, including its own transition to assist customers operating in the cloud with a variety of data. For its part, the company needs to continue investing in cloud computing and play a larger role in enabling richer data and digital experiences from its data. Focus on interoperability with other applications and data environments is critical, and Stibo Systems has already expanded into sustainability data management for environmental, social and governance support, recognizing the growing need for organizations to rationalize and master ESG data. Organizations that have yet to establish a clear path for data governance and mastering data across clouds should examine Stibo Systems. It is a significant software provider in data governance and MDM, and its investments in products and customer support demonstrate its clear relevance to the market.