What should I ask in a PIM reference check?

A useful PIM reference check compares the reference's plan with reality, on a project similar to yours. Check at least 3 references for each of the top 2 vendors: one proposed by the vendor with a similar size, industry, integration landscape and region, one live for more than three years, and one you found independently.

Cover 8 topics in a call of about 45 minutes:

• Timeline and budget against the original plan, and the main reasons for any gap.
• Data migration: effort, data quality issues and who did the work.
• Integration with ERP and commerce: stability and maintenance after go-live.
• Upgrades: frequency, effort and anything that broke.
• Support: response times and how escalations were handled.
• Implementation partner: team continuity, expertise and change requests.
• Adoption: how many users work in the PIM daily, and which teams still work around it.
• Lessons: what they would decide differently in selection or implementation.

Speak to a daily user as well as the project sponsor. Sponsors describe the decision, and users describe the work.

In PIMvendors selections, reference checks run in week 10, just before negotiation in week 11, so findings still influence terms. Write a short summary per reference under the same headings, so finalists are compared on equal terms. One unfavourable reference is a reason to probe further, and a pattern across references is a decision factor.