It’s been quite a year for SEMA on the technology front. Just last May, the SEMA Data Co-op (SDC) went live for the first time with a fully functioning Product Information Management System. Since that time, more than 300 industry suppliers have engaged with the SDC to gather, validate, store and distribute their product data to more than 350 data receivers—a number that is growing every week.
In order to eliminate as many roadblocks to data distribution as possible, the SDC is providing free unlimited data exports to all SEMA-member receivers, along with proactively helping suppliers improve their data sets with expert Help Desk services and powerful, online, do-it-yourself data-management tools.
Industry veteran Ira Gabriel has joined the SEMA executive team as vice president of marketing. The former publisher of Hot Rod magazine will work from SEMA’s headquarters in Diamond Bar, California, where he will oversee strategic marketing initiatives for programs such as the SEMA Garage, SEMA Data Co-op and the world-famous SEMA Show.
A smart person in the industry that I respect a lot recently told me: “I’ve drowned a lot of horses trying to make them drink.” This, of course, references the old adage, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” Thinking about what he said, I found that, sadly, I could relate to his frustration through some of our experiences at the SEMA Data Co-op (SDC). In most cases, it boils down to prioritization.
There’s no question that product data management is critical to business today. Thankfully, a good many companies on the supplier (manufacturer) side are stepping up to meet their customer’s needs while growing their own sales opportunities.