HBM Machines Held the Workshops Before the PIM Decision

HBM Machines picked a PIM after the workshops. The company sells tools and machinery to professionals and hobbyists, including lathes, milling machines and welding equipment, and it wanted one product record for catalogues, the website and tender submissions. PIMvendors ran awareness workshops with the stakeholders, audited the data, advised on the internal skills, and selected the implementation partner.

Client Introduction

HBM Machines sells tools and equipment for professionals and hobbyists. The range includes lathes, milling machines and welding equipment. Product data has to serve catalogues, the website and tenders, which is a wider job than a webshop feed.

The Challenge

The PIM sat inside a broader move to sell through more than one channel. HBM wanted internal processes that could answer market demand faster, and one product record the whole company could trust. That record had to feed catalogues, websites and tender submissions. Without a shared picture of the process, a vendor demo would have been scored against different jobs.

The Solution

PIMvendors audited HBM's data infrastructure and guided the PIM selection. The same work covered the surrounding applications and the skills the internal team would need. PIMvendors also selected the implementation partner, so the PIM decision and the people who would install it were made in one process. The awareness workshops were the first step. Every stakeholder sat in them, and the sessions were where processes and data needs got specific enough to choose against.

The Results

HBM came out with a PIM choice, an implementation partner, and a stated aim of one product record for catalogues, the site and tenders. Johanneke de Moor, Head of Buying, describes the outcome in her own words below. The workshops are the part that transfers to another selection: the company could explain its process before it scored a tool.

The trade-off is calendar time. Workshops delay the first vendor meeting. They also stop a buying team and an IT team from signing a PIM that answers two different briefs.

Client Quote

"PIMvendors has been an indispensable partner in our journey towards digitalization. Through their flexibility and deep knowledge, we profited immensely from a quick and efficient process of selecting our PIM solution. Their comprehensive awareness workshops engaged all stakeholders, helping us clarify our processes and data needs. This led to an informed decision on the right PIM solution, significantly enhancing PIM awareness throughout our organization. The tailored guidance provided on our application landscape and internal skill sets was crucial. Additionally, their ability to select the right implementation partner ensured a smooth and effective rollout. As a result, we streamlined our internal processes, improved data accuracy, and became more responsive to market demands. This collaboration has profoundly improved our operational efficiency and strategic decision-making capabilities." - Johanneke de Moor, Head of Buying (Category Management, Merchandise Planning & Supply Chain) HBM Machines

The sequence is the lesson for the next buyer. Workshops, then the audit, then the PIM and the partner together. How to select a PIM is the comparison that starts once those workshops have produced one requirements list. The PIM implementation guide is the partner step that was part of the same selection. The commerce stack sets out which application owns which data when catalogues, the site and tenders all draw on one record. Product data quality and governance is the ownership and the skill set the audit was there to name.