21 Oct Who Should Own Your PIM? Defining Product Data Ownership in Epicor and Infor Environments
Who Should Own Your PIM?
The Changing Role of PIM Ownership
Every organization that uses a Product Information Management (PIM) system eventually faces the same question: who should own it?
Ownership is not simply about who has admin access or technical expertise. It’s about who understands your products, your customers, and your go-to-market strategy at a deep level.
Too often, businesses assign ownership of PIM to IT teams or database administrators because they’re comfortable with systems and integrations. But a PIM is not just a technical platform; it’s a strategic content hub that drives customer experience, channel accuracy, and product storytelling.
What Makes a Strong PIM Owner
A truly effective PIM owner is someone who:
Understands products from the inside out, including variations, specifications, and use cases.
Knows how customers use those products and can translate that knowledge into clear, compelling content.
Bridges gaps between teams and product, marketing, sales, and eCommerce so that product data remains consistent across every touchpoint.
Oversees the entire lifecycle of product data, from creation to enrichment to publication.
When these capabilities are in place, product information becomes a business asset rather than a maintenance task.
Why PIM Ownership Matters in Epicor and Infor Environments
For companies running Epicor ERP or Infor CloudSuite, PIM ownership is particularly critical. Both systems integrate deeply with other tools (ERP, eCommerce, and EDI) and rely on accurate, structured product data to function effectively.
Without clear ownership, product content often becomes inconsistent across systems, leading to mismatched pricing, incomplete specifications, and poor customer experiences.
A designated PIM leader ensures that product data flows cleanly between your ERP, web store, distributors, and marketplaces. In short, they ensure that what customers see online is exactly what your business sells.
Where PIM Ownership Commonly Sits and Why
In most organizations, PIM ownership falls under one of four groups: marketing, product management, eCommerce, or IT. Each brings strengths and risks.
Marketing Teams often excel at storytelling and branding. They understand how product content influences buying decisions, but may lack deep product knowledge.
Product Managers or Category Managers know the products inside and out. They define specifications, certifications, and use cases, but may focus less on content workflows or channel requirements.
eCommerce and Digital Operations teams understand how to tailor data for marketplaces, web catalogs, and SEO, yet they may not always control upstream data quality.
IT or Data Management Teams bring strong technical discipline and integration knowledge, though they may not connect data with business goals or customer needs.
Each group contributes value but none should own PIM alone.
The Hybrid Ownership Model: A Best Practice Approach
Modern distributors and manufacturers are increasingly adopting a hybrid ownership model.
In this setup:
A Product Manager owns the strategic layer of the PIM: defining categories, product variations, and the customer-facing message.
A PIM Coordinator or Digital Operations Lead owns the governance and workflow layer,; ensuring that data is accurate, approved, and syndicated properly.
A cross-functional governance team (marketing, product, IT, eCommerce) meets regularly to review product data quality, channel performance, and system alignment.
This shared ownership ensures that PIM is both technically sound and commercially effective.
PIM Is Not Just Data; It’s Representation
When managed effectively, a PIM becomes more than a repository of attributes and SKUs. It becomes the voice of your products across every channel.
Poor PIM ownership, however, results in:
Outdated or inconsistent descriptions
Broken data in web or ERP systems
Slow time-to-market for product launches
Lost sales due to inaccurate content
Strong ownership, by contrast, ensures your product story is consistent, current, and aligned with both internal systems and external channels.
Core Responsibilities of a PIM Owner
The best PIM owners take accountability for the following areas:
Product Strategy and Taxonomy –
Defining how products are structured, categorized, and linked to variants, bundles, and accessories.
Customer and Channel Alignment –
Tailoring product content to reflect buyer needs across marketplaces, eCommerce, and B2B portals.
Workflow and Governance –
Establishing who creates, approves, and publishes data—and how that data is maintained.
Data Quality Management –
Ensuring attributes, specifications, and images meet completeness and accuracy standards.
Integration and Systems Oversight –
Managing connections between PIM, ERP (Epicor or Infor), EDI, and eCommerce platforms.
Performance Tracking –
Measuring improvements in time-to-market, accuracy, and conversion rates.
Common Challenges to Avoid
Even with good intentions, PIM ownership often faces obstacles:
No executive sponsorship, leaving the initiative under-funded.
Disconnected teams, where marketing, IT, and product functions operate in silos.
Overemphasis on the tool, rather than the content and governance it supports.
Underinvestment in enrichment, leading to thin, low-quality product listings.
Each of these issues can be mitigated by assigning clear ownership roles and ensuring ongoing alignment between technical and business teams.
Is Your PIM in the Right Hands?
Questions to ask yourself:
Does your current PIM owner understand the full customer journey?
Are product workflows clearly defined from creation to syndication?
Is your data being optimized for every channel and marketplace?
Are cross-functional teams aligned on product content priorities?
If any of these answers are uncertain, your PIM ownership structure may need to evolve.
As your business scales and your integrations expand across Epicor, Infor, and eCommerce ecosystems, your PIM’s success will depend on ownership that blends strategy, data governance, and technical oversight.
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