Perfion: Configure the Data Model When the Rules Change

Most PIM projects start as a website problem or a spreadsheet problem. They grow into packaging law, bill-of-materials structures and Digital Product Passport batches. In this webinar Stephan Spijkers, Adam Sutton and Martin Post argue that a system which cannot absorb that growth becomes the next bottleneck, and they show Perfion's answer: configure a new entity instead of commissioning a rebuild. The demo is the part worth timing against your own backlog.

Speakers

• Stephan Spijkers, co-founder, PIMvendors.com
• Adam Sutton, Senior Channel Manager, Boyum IT (Perfion)
• Martin Post, co-owner, Sheph Solutions

Configuration is the product, on their account

Perfion's pitch is a standard platform that still bends per business. Companies define entities, attributes and relationships in configuration, then change them when the work changes, instead of paying for bespoke development each time. Martin Post says most customers' data models look different a year or two in: needs move, integrations arrive, and the structure has to follow without a rebuild. PIM features and what they cover is the buyer-side version of that claim. Score the model you can change on a Tuesday, not the model in the sales diagram.

The trade-off is discipline. Configuration in everyone's hands, with no owner, produces a different kind of bespoke: fifty entities nobody can explain. Someone still has to decide what becomes an entity and what stays an attribute.

Relational data past the basic product row

The examples in the session are coffee machines with packaging variants, automotive parts with OE references, and wholesale products where several supplier records feed one golden product. Martin builds a packaging entity live and links it to a product category in a few clicks, without a development ticket. That is a demo, not a measured project. Use it as a rehearsal: bring one ugly relationship from your own catalogue and see if the clicks survive contact with your real keys.

Regulation adds entities whether the model feels finished

Stephan's point is the one that ages well. A stable internal model still gets new attributes from outside, through packaging rules and the Digital Product Passport. PPWR and product data is the packaging side of that pressure. The Digital Product Passport is the batch of identifiers, materials and compliance facts that will not fit in a notes field. A relational model is how you add them without a rebuild. It does not collect the facts. That work stays with you.

AI that ships, and AI you wire up

Perfion ships AI support for product descriptions, SEO content and image alt text. Martin points at a second layer, the Actions module: a low-code place to call external AI services, automate classification, or generate product images and video. His distinction is the one to keep. Generating text is now common. The advantage he argues for is more complete, more differentiated data, not faster copy of the same thin record. Hold him to that. Ask what the action writes back into the model, and who reviews it, before you applaud the paragraph.

A dashboard that names the missing work

Workflow dashboards, in the session, show marketing, IT and purchasing which products are missing which facts. Stephan's framing: a PIM earns its place as the process, and a count of products in the system does not tell anyone what to do on Monday. Knowing which products lack a translation or an image, and who owns the fix, does. If your current "dashboard" is a monthly export, this is the comparison to run. If the dashboard cannot point at a person, it is another report.

One master, different channel output

From Amazon's moving attribute requirements to Shopify, Magento and print catalogues, the session describes channel management that keeps a single master and changes the output per channel. Adam Sutton notes that B2B buyers increasingly expect the consistency they see from B2C brands, which starts when the data feeding each channel actually matches. Matching is a governance choice. The tool can publish five variants. It cannot decide which variant is allowed to disagree.

ERP and PIM on purpose

Perfion supports ERP-first and PIM-first flows, with two-way integration to Microsoft Dynamics and SAP, as presented. Martin's rule is the practical one: decide which system handles a given fact best, and let that system be the source. The PIM does not have to replace the ERP. The ERP does not have to store marketing copy it was never built for. Where ERP stops and PIM starts spells out that boundary so the integration argument does not become a land grab.

A local partner still covers a different gap

Adam and Martin close on the Boyum and Sheph partnership. Perfion supplies a configurable product. Customers in the Netherlands, they argue, still gain from a partner with on-the-ground work in automotive, textiles and FMCG. Product flexibility and partner experience solve different halves. Flexibility without someone who has seen your kind of file is a blank model. A partner without a flexible model is a pile of change requests. You will pay for one of those. Choose which.