Smart networking of product information, media and applications. PIM, DAM and CMS: all-in-one.
"Do you have a list of your products and their services/USPs? And maybe an overview of your existing photos and videos?"
When we ask this at customer meetings, you can sometimes see a moment of panic in the eyes of our contacts. Why do you think that is? Because these two simple questions entail a whole lot of collection work. But there are also other customers who respond to the initial question with a gleam in their eyes. The reason for this is that they have a functioning PIM and DAM. What that is?
From PIM and DAM to powerful product finders
PIM (Product Information Management) and DAM (Digital Asset Management): Basically, these are databases into which all product information (PIM) and media (DAM) is centrally entered. Once stored correctly, this content can be accessed practically anywhere from any connected application. There is then only one central data source - we call this the "single source of truth".
On websites, for example, this can be used when a product finder accesses PIM and DAM. Briefly explained, the product data from the PIM is used for the product pages. Images, PDFs or even videos for the individual products come from the DAM.
If you have something like this in place, you can provide information quickly, centrally controlled and also up-to-date. This enables targeted work in e-commerce or apps. However, it is also an effective basis for supporting marketing at the PoS or with distributors. That alone is very practical.
A DAM as a CDN to boost website performance
Imagine if your DAM could do much more: for example, speed up your website performance and reduce server traffic. This boosts the SEO performance of your website and saves you money on server costs. How does this work? With a special trick, so that our DAM solution is also used as a content delivery network (CDN).
This is exactly what we used for the faceted product search of our customer Poly-clip System. The customer already had a similar system. But it was getting on in years. Therefore, an update to the two state-of-the-art systems Tessa and Akeneo® was required. The question was: Is it possible? Especially in conjunction with Drupal?
No interfaces? No such thing!
Tessa and Akeneo® are already an industry-proven combination and are used by many companies. Nevertheless, at the time of our decision, there were no real Drupal interfaces for Tessa and Akeneo®.
We recognized this gap and directly developed two connectors with which Drupal can now smoothly access Tessa and Akeneo®.
So "simply" develop it yourself:
Is it time-consuming to program an interface like this? Yes. But without the support of the tool manufacturers, it would have been much more difficult. We were delighted with how close, good and easy the collaboration with the developers was. The end result was a highly customizable and configurable Akeneo® import module plus the Tessa integration as a media connector. So we are closing the gap between Drupal, PIM and DAM.
And why am I telling you this?
For several reasons at once.
- Firstly, because it's a good example of how we think: solution-oriented and with a can-do attitude.
- Secondly, because we have opened the door to many other digital solutions (based on Drupal). For example, for apps and the like. And that in turn may also benefit you. Imagine if you could give your sales team constant access to the latest information via an app - just like your training system, lead management, etc.
Does that sound interesting? Or do you have another idea where the Tessa and Akeneo® connector can help you with your own processes and digitalization? Do you need advice on PIM/DAM, Tessa or Akeneo®? Then let's talk about it! I am happy to be available for an exchange.
