What does a PIM cost for a mid-sized manufacturer?

A mid-sized manufacturer should budget PIM cost as total cost of ownership over 5 years, because the licence is one of three cost blocks. Licence prices vary with pricing model, users, SKUs, channels, locales and modules, so quotes for the same scope can differ widely between vendors.

The three cost blocks are:

• Licence or subscription: a yearly fee, usually driven by users, records, channels or modules.
• Implementation: data model configuration, integrations with ERP and commerce, migration and training, delivered by the vendor or a partner.
• Internal effort: product data managers, data stewards and project leadership, during and after the project.

PIMvendors estimate: with the TCO calculator defaults, implementation and integration together make up about 40 percent of first-year cost, and the licence about 20 percent of five-year cost. Internal effort is the cost block buyers underestimate most often.

Three steps make cost predictable. First, fix the scope in a data model and a requirements list before asking for prices. Second, ask every shortlisted vendor to price the same scope, users and channels in one template. Third, compare 5-year totals, including yearly price increases and the cost of exit.

The TCO calculator on PIM Selection follows this structure, so quotes from different pricing models can be compared on equal terms.