Still managing your product content in spreadsheets? Wondering if you might have reached the end of the line when it comes to Excel? Perhaps you’re getting by fine with the methods you’ve always used, but starting to wonder about what additional functionality that a dedicated PIM platform provides could do for your business?
In all but a few exceptions, we’re willing to bet that wading through endless spreadsheets isn’t most people’s idea of fun. So, if you’re curious to learn more about the way that Effectus Content Platform measures up in comparison, read on and explore what our platform can offer beyond Excel.
As ever, we’re ready and waiting to take any other questions that you might have – just get in touch.
| # | Excel | Effectus Content Platform | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bulk Actions |
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| Syndication | If you’re onboarding new products with any degree of regularity, Excel is going to demand a fair amount of manual work. Any product updates will need to be added with close attention to detail, to avoid the impact of content degradation.
Better For: Teams ready to maintain a high cadence of communication with their suppliers | ECP allows dual syndication, meaning that digital assets and product information can be automatically pulled from suppliers’ catalogs and automatically attributed to relevant product listings.
Best for: Busy teams looking to benefit from the productivity and accuracy of automated product updates. | ||
| Ease Of Formatting |
| ECP offers the ability to easily visualize the changes you are making to your product pages before you set your changes live. This is immensely helpful when it comes to double-checking the display and easy interpretation of your descriptions. Best for: Teams who need to make listing changes quickly, but accurately. | ||
| We’ve all experienced the difficulties associated with shared spreadsheets! From essential information being overwritten, permissions and sharing issues and impacting others view with active filters or sorting rules, etc – unfortunately, while everyone might have access to a spreadsheet, this doesn’t necessarily mean that easy collaboration is a given! Better For: Teams who are happy to work to an agreed set of editorial and permission-based practices (or who have a lot of tolerance for their coworkers!) | ECP is designed for effortless, ongoing collaboration – from the ground up! The platform allows many users to work side by side, and the intelligent insight provided onto the next best actions helps ensure that the whole team is allocated personal tasks efficiently. Automated onboarding workflows add to the ease, freeing up time that can be reallocated to other tasks. Best for: Teams who like to work cohesively and in parallel, getting work completed efficiently and effectively as a unit. | ||
| Interface And User Experience | Spreadsheets are a modern wonder – and, in the right hands, remarkably versatile. With the endless ability to quickly tweak and customize, they can be set up in any way your team requests – but ultimately, they’re designed for functionality over user experience. Even with the most creative of formatting, the lack of a UX-led interface still means they can feel inaccessible. One person’s “perfect” system might not work for another team member, working independently. Best for: Teams who spend less time optimizing their product pages. |
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Ultimately, there’s no “best” content management platform. The solution that comes closest to perfection is the one that meets the unique needs of your business. When it comes to this choice, every business is different, and it’s important to decide upon the main factors that will sway your decision and get you the very best results concerning your specific business goals.
Spreadsheet software such as Excel may provide you with a convenient way to manage your product information – but it’s a solution that’s easy to outgrow, often without realizing the extent to which it is limiting you.
With this in mind, we hope that this article has helped to frame two popular PIM solutions side by side, for your deliberation. If you’re still wondering whether your business might have reached the juncture at which Excel can no longer provide the level of detail, functionality and control that a purpose-built platform can provide, check out our recent article – 3 Signs Your Business Is Ready For A PIM/DAM Solution.
