SEMA News—September 2013
BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY
By Jon Wyly
Confused About Data Management?
Top Five Reasons to Get Started Now!
Business is changing. And for those of us who have been in the industry for 20, 25, 30 years or more, it just feels different than it used to. I was talking to an old friend the other day who runs a specialty performance company, and he said, “You know, it just seems like nobody talks to each other on the phone anymore.” Yep, e-mail has changed the way we do business. The same sentiment can be heard in brick-and-mortar stores across the country in the form of, “You know, people don’t come into the store like they used to.” Yep, the Internet has changed the way we do business as well. So what’s the common thread that is replacing the long-standing virtues of face-to-face business, customer relationships and loyalty? If you ask me, it’s technology.
As we have talked about so many times before, today’s consumer is increasingly demanding and has a pretty short attention span. You can thank the Internet for that. E-commerce has introduced an expectation of instant results, which has caused consumers in many cases to forego old loyalties in exchange for convenience, speed and immediate availability of information.
So what does this mean to you and your business? Well, it’s rapidly becoming a “jump on board or get run over by the train” scenario. Information—in our case, product data—is driving sales more and more every day. If you are still waiting to see how this data thing is going to work out, you are on the verge of arriving too late in the game.
Here are our top five reasons why you should get started managing your product data now:
- Product data availability drives growth by equipping new customers to immediately get up and running with your brand.
- Quality product data is a requirement for doing business with many larger customers.
- Your products cannot be sold on the Internet without ready availability of quality data.
- Your own business systems will require good data, if they don’t already.
- Your competitors are working on it right now.
Don’t let a wait-and-see attitude stall you for one more day. The future of your business depends on it.
To learn more about how to take control of your product data and manage it at the lowest possible cost, contact SDC Director of Membership Jim Graven at 888-958-6698 x4.
