Together with Master Data Partners, PIMvendors helped Novatech International align stakeholders, define what PIM should (and should not) do, redesign their product data process, and run an independent vendor exploration that led to a smarter version of the platform they already knew.
Client Introduction
Novatech International is a family-owned Belgian company specializing in the development and distribution of innovative solutions for adhesives, sealants, and surface treatment. The company operates across more than 25 countries through a portfolio of specialized brands, serving professionals in construction, industry, and maintenance. With multiple product lines, languages, and market-specific requirements, product data is a critical asset for Novatech.
The Challenge
Novatech had been running Contentserv (now Centric PXM) as their PIM system for several years. Over time, the implementation had grown rigid. The product data model no longer reflected how the business actually worked. Workarounds had piled up. The system was on-premise and increasingly difficult to maintain. And critically, different teams within the organization had very different ideas about what the PIM should do, what it was responsible for, and where its boundaries were.
Some stakeholders saw PIM as a content management tool. Others expected it to handle workflow automation or even replace parts of the ERP. There was no shared understanding of PIM’s role in the broader system architecture. Without that alignment, any technology decision would have been built on shaky ground.
Novatech also had a practical concern. They wanted to explore the market independently before committing to a new platform. Having worked with one vendor for years, they needed to know whether better options existed or whether the right answer was actually an upgraded version of what they already had.
The Solution
PIMvendors started with education before strategy, and strategy before technology. The engagement had four phases.
PIM education. We ran sessions with the broader Novatech team to create a shared understanding of what PIM is, what it is not, and where it fits in a modern product data architecture. We addressed common misconceptions head-on. PIM is not a DAM. PIM is not a CMS. PIM is not an ERP extension. By the end of these sessions, every stakeholder operated from the same definition, which made every subsequent conversation more productive.
Stakeholder alignment. With a shared vocabulary in place, we facilitated workshops to align the different teams around a single vision for product data. Marketing, product management, e-commerce, IT, and local market teams all had legitimate needs. We helped Novatech prioritize those needs and build consensus on what the future state should look like, without letting one team’s priorities dominate at the expense of others.
Product data process redesign. We mapped Novatech’s existing product data flows end to end and identified where bottlenecks, redundancies, and quality issues lived. From there, we designed an optimized product data process that covered the full lifecycle from product creation to enrichment, translation, approval, and syndication across their brand portfolio and markets. This process became the foundation for the technology requirements.
Independent PIM exploration. With clear requirements derived from the new process, we guided Novatech through a structured vendor exploration. The shortlist included several alternatives to their current platform. Each vendor was evaluated on real scenarios that reflected Novatech’s actual workflows.
The Results
After a thorough and independent evaluation, Novatech chose to stay within the Centric PXM ecosystem. But not with the same setup they had before. They moved to the SaaS version of Centric PXM with a completely redesigned product data model and a fresh, clean implementation.
This was not a case of defaulting back to the familiar. The exploration confirmed that Centric PXM, properly implemented on a modern SaaS foundation, was genuinely the strongest fit for Novatech’s multi-brand, multi-market reality. The difference is that this time the decision was made with full market context, a clear product data process, and an aligned organization.
The new implementation reflects the optimized process designed during the engagement rather than inheriting the technical debt of the previous setup. Novatech now operates with a product data model that matches their business, a team that understands the role of PIM in their architecture, and a SaaS platform that removes the maintenance burden of their old on-premise installation.
