Reduce your time-to-market with PIM !

Change has become a pillar of our modern environment: we live in an era in which the only stable element is the constant evolution of things. Everything changes very quickly: markets, products, technologies, and therefore customer expectations! For companies, this means being attuned to potential shifts in the market, so as to be able to react quickly and incorporate them into their product innovation strategy.

In this context of constant competition, the notion of Time to Market is at the heart of most companies' development strategies.

What is time-to-market? Why reduce it? And how do you go about it? Here are a few explanations.

Time to market: one term, two definitions

The term Time to Market is used to refer to two different concepts corresponding to two key periods in the product life cycle.

1. Time to Market for the creation of a product

It is the time between the moment a product idea is born and the moment it is marketed. This includes all phases of product development: from the specification phase to production or release of the product to users.

As a result, a new product is introduced to the market.

2. Time to Market for the provision of product information

In this context, Time to Market refers to the time elapsed between the arrival of a product in stock and the availability of information about it to users. This includes the creation of product descriptions (text data, photos, technical info...), their meshing (cross-selling and upselling), their adaptation for different distribution channels (e-commerce site, shop window, marketplace, paper catalog), and even their translation. The result: a product is known by its potential buyers.

If Time to Market corresponds to two different realities depending on the positioning in the product life cycle, it always implies different phases and different flows, more or less time-consuming, whose duration can vary and create frictions. It is therefore coherent and a sign of efficiency to try to shorten it.

Reducing Time to Market, a priority for all

Reducing friction and shortening Time to Market is a crucial issue for companies. When creating a product, the company's objective is to launch it quickly before the competition does, in order to benefit from the pioneering advantage and seize growth opportunities. Being the first to offer the product will allow the company to establish itself as a reference in the field with its future and current customers.

Once the product is launched, the rapid availability of information and data about it is essential. This information must be available quickly, while being adapted to the target and the medium on which it is presented, as it is an essential pillar of the buyer's decision making.

In both cases, however, the company's employees face the same obstacles:

• information overload, fragmentation and decontextualisation,
• unnecessary repetition of tasks, administrative burdens and inadequate information management.

So how can we compress these lead times and optimise the Time to Market?

PLM and PIM: rely on the right tools

3 operational levers allow to accelerate the Time to Market:

• automation of information transmission and document sharing,
• the transparent visualisation of the task sharing by all the collaborators involved,
• automation of work processes between different employees.

PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) to reduce the time to market when creating a product

PLM is a tool designed for teams working on product creation (R&D, design office, marketing, quality, design, production, etc.) to monitor the various stages of ideation and design. More generally used in the high-tech industry, it is used, for example, to follow all the documentation stages involved in the creation of a rocket or smart cards. The various parties involved and their contributions are clearly identified and PLM enables thedesign phases to be optimized and validations and simulations to be anticipated efficiently.

PIM (Product Information Management) to reduce the time-to-market of product information.

PIM (Product Information Management) is the ideal tool for managing the process of making product information available, facilitating the work of sales teams, content, photos, translation, marketing, e-commerce, etc. For a fashion brand, PIM software will, for example, enable you to manage product descriptions, associate the right visuals, manage translations, deploy information across the various sales channels, and even generate a paper catalog of the new collection for your customer or customers.

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Reducing time-to-market with PLM, so that a product reaches the market faster, cannot be undertaken without simultaneously reducing time-to-market on the PIM side. When the two are not worked together, the so-called "tunnel effect" arises: the product exists, but potential users don't know about it, because product-related information is not yet available.

This is especially important for companies that :

• frequently renew their product range or produce large volumes of content: PIM will make it easier for them to fill in product descriptions by speeding up validation processes;
• position itself in new markets, especially abroad: translations are managed within the PIM and each market can retrieve adequate product content in its own language;
• wish to open up new sales channels for specific targets - in which case the PIM makes it possible to select the content to be made available on each channel and automate its distribution.

Conclusion

Time to market can be a real competitive advantage in your market. PIM is one of the innovative projects and essential tools that will help you accelerate it, by making it easier to provide product information in the right place, at the right time, with the right content. Whatever the sector, no product strategy, no matter how well conceived, can compete if it is not accompanied by the right tools to reduce its Time to Market. In this way, your product launches can be widely anticipated, costs reduced, resources optimized and customer relations fostered.

If you're interested in reducing your Time to Market with PIM software, don't hesitate to request your free demo.