FAQ
Do you want to get started with ionicPIM and have questions? Search your answers below.
Data Collection
Is ionicPIM for specialties or for commodity chemicals?
We built ionicPIM for all chemicals.
Any limit in the number of products that ionicPIM can manage?
There is no limit in terms of size of your product catalog on ionicPIM.
Do you offer support with data entry if needed?
Yes, ionicPIM proposes services to enter your product data into its solution. Our editors are trained to extract chemical-specific data from your various documents and fill in your product template. We can also do product data maintenance, beyond the initial entry. No need to hire -and keep- these quite specific positions in your organizations.
How many people can access your ionicPIM (edit, view, etc.)?
There are currently no limits to the number of users who can have access to your ionicPIM instance, other than the ones set by the license you have opted for. In terms of people who could access the product information without being a user, here again, no limit.
Do you support customers to start off with a PIM?
Yes, one of our Customer Success Manager will help you implement your solution adequately. They will advise you on the best ionicPIM setups to match your needs, the dos and don’ts of a PIM, your templates, your workflows…
What is a product data model?
A product data model is how you define a product in your company.
How do I put my products into ionicPIM?
ionicPIM is quite versatile. An operator can edit your products in the solution directly. One by one or in batches. You can also upload them manually from a file (Excel, csv…). And you can directly plug a feed of structured product data from one of your systems hosting it (ERP). And last but not least, if you are a distributor, you can ask your principals, the producers you work with, to feed directly your ionicPIM instance from their ionicPIM instance. Thanks to a chemicals-specific Data Exchange Model embedded into ionicPIM, no need to do complex developments to make your systems talk to one another.
Can we use it for other products than chemicals?
Yes you can, but you will probably need to work on a specific product data model to match the needs of the specific markets you would serve. As a result, we could not guarantee a PIM to PIM connectivity.
What do you mean by enriching the product data?
In a digital world, customers consume product information in a different way, which pushes suppliers to give much more information. In general, digital customers do not benefit from the product explanations of a sales representative. So you should pass him much more information upfront, so that he can find it easily (on search engines for example or in online catalogs) and also to self-educate. Moreover, effective digital interactions use much more videos, pictures and sound (voice) to enrich the customer experience. Some even talk about “Product Experience”. So enriching your product data means primarily to attach a series of digital assets to the good old TDS and brochures. There is also a form of enrichment in centralizing within ionicPIM data necessary to access and distribute the product information.
Diffusion and Connection
What are the connection capabilities?
ionicPIM is designed on a modern architecture that enables connectivity with many systems (ERPs, CRMs, Sales Enablement tools, Marketing Automation systems, DAMs…).
Talk to us for a personalized advice
To which channels does ionicPIM connect?
Basically ionicPIM can connect with a wide range of digital channels: your website to build a searchable online catalog, sales enablement tools, marketplaces, webshops… The connection with the SpecialChem - The Material Selection platform is native.
Is ionicPIM more for producers or for distributors?
Actually for both equally. ionicPIM is serving the needs of all chemical suppliers, be they producers or distributors. Plus on top of that, ionicPIM connects producers and distributors PIM-to-PIM to solve the huge inefficiencies of their product-centric exchanges.
You say ionicPIM enables a producer-distributor PIM-to-PIM connection. How does that work?
ionicPIM has been designed to dramatically enhance the product information exchange between producers and their distributors. A producer can designate his distributors into his ionicPIM instance and define, for each of them, the kind of products and documents they can view, download or directly receive in their ionicPIM instance. Thanks to the ionicPIM proprietary chemical-specific Data Exchange Model, you will not need complex developments to connect systems. Just tick a couple of boxes and the producers’ product information appears in its distributors’ ionicPIM instances. With the guarantee to be always right and always on!
Offer
What’s the pricing mechanic of ionicPIM
ionicPIM prices are essentially a function of:
-the number of products you manage in it
-the number of connections you are opening
Talk to us for a personalized offer
Do we need to be a SpecialChem or an Agilis customer to use it?
No. You do not need to be a SpecialChem client with a pre-existing Digital Marketing Program to use ionicPIM. You do not even need to have your product features in the SpecialChem databases. And you do not need to have adopted pieces of software from Agilis to use ionicPIM. The good news is that if you are already a Client of one of the two, your ionicPIM instance will immediately connect with them.
Talk to us to know more
What’s the interest of adopting ionicPIM if we are a SpecialChem customer?
Immediate connectivity! And you will be able to synchronize your product data with SpecialChem, so that they have a permanent access to your always-updated product data and documentation, which is key to be featured on the SpecialChem product databases.
What’s the interest of adopting ionicPIM if we are an Agilis customer?
Once up and running, your ionicPIM instance will instantly feed your Agilis eCommerce suite.
Where does the name ionicPIM come from?
In chemistry, an ionic bond is characterized by the fact that 2 atoms share the same electrons to form a molecule. We thought that this applies very well to chemical producers and distributors who create business together by sharing product information. A sort of ionic bond. Yes, we come from the chemical industry :-)
Is ionicPIM a DAM?
ionicPIM is not a Digital Asset Management tool per se. However, it embeds typical functionalities. You can manage a wide array of different product-centric digital assets (images, TDS, MSDS, brochures, leaflets, certificates, videos, etc.) in different formats (pdf, MS Word, MS Powerpoint, .jpg, .gif, .eps, .avi, etc.), attach them to the relevant products.
Is there a minimum number of products to run ionicPIM?
There is no minimum number of products to put into ionicPIM. You can manage as many as it makes sense for you.
Want to learn more?
Our team is happy to answer questions and do a demo for you
