Investing in a house and not making the most of it can feel frustrating and give you buyer's remorse. It's can feel the same with MDM or PIM software.
Meet Carl.
Carl lives in a house that he bought a year ago and now he regrets it. A house that he thought was an ideal investment, with great transport links and a newly refurbished kitchen diner.
Although unmarried and without children, Carl bought the house with his future in mind – putting all his hard-earned money into a property that was meant to see him through at least a decade. But things haven’t gone quite as planned…
Carl works from home as a software developer for a massive tech firm five days a week, so most of his time is spent in his spare room – the ‘office’. The rest of his three-bedroom house is still largely unfurnished and, even after a year, he doesn’t quite know how to get the best out of each room. Even the existing furniture doesn’t quite match up having been thrown in without much thought – take his two-seater settee for example, it’s swamped by the open plan set up of downstairs.
The harsh reality is that because Carl finds it so difficult to see why he’s living in a house that’s no better than his previous rented apartment, he’s started to think about moving back in with his parents. But long-term, this would be a huge step backwards. Especially after having worked so hard to buy a house that should have been a solid investment.
But how is Carl and his unhappy home choice related to data?
Well, let’s say for example that you’ve recently made an investment in a new PIM or MDM system, but you’re unsure whether it’s any better than the old one. Now you know how Carl feels after he picked up the keys a year ago.
Were you promised a lot of value from the new system that it just hasn’t delivered? Or perhaps your data – Carl’s furniture – has been migrated without much thought to its quality or structure, or whether it truly belongs in its new home?
Carl’s situation can certainly share some light on these issues:
- He’s full of unhappiness and regret on his moving decision
- The house doesn’t offer any value – even though the estate agent promised the world
- Most of the rooms feel empty or unused
- Carl’s old furniture doesn’t fit – and because he can’t see the value in his property, he’s reluctant to buy anymore
- Despite purchasing this property as an investment on what’s to come – with plans for a family in the not-too-distant future – this idea seems even more alien than it did three years ago
- His house is just that – it’s not a home. It feels unfurnished and not the step forwards on from renting that he hoped for
And how they are related to your existing PIM or MDM solutions:
- The business’s PIM investment isn’t working and you’re regretting the decision to make a change
- Deriving value from your system is proving difficult and investing in extra technology isn’t an option
- Your system or data model satisfies many business requirements, but you don’t know how to make it work
- Migrated data is useless and doesn’t align with your vision or strategy
- What were rather ambitious business growth plans after purchasing this new system have been put on hold, as your data is still not being utilised correctly
- Data isn’t managed efficiently within the system – you don’t understand its requirements, and it might need remodelling
If Carl’s situation resonates with you, your business and your data systems, you need to re-evaluate your PIM or MDM requirements to get more from your investment. Revisit your goals; strategy; and future plans. We also advise running data quality assessments against your vision and strategy to provide tremendous insight into your data.
