Losing control over product data means increasing risk.
Regulations are becoming stricter, liability is increasing and transparency is no longer optional. Product information is therefore no longer a marketing by-product, but a strategic business asset. Manufacturers who manage their data in fragmented systems or hand it over to third-party platforms unknowingly lose control. This increases the risk of errors, claims and dependency.
Product data represents direct value. Not only for specifiers, customers and regulators, but also for the manufacturer itself. Accurate product information determines whether products are applied correctly, whether alternatives are safe and whether performance can be proven.
In practice, product information is often scattered across Excel files, separate systems and external portals. This makes it difficult to maintain overview, manage versions and demonstrate which information was valid at any given moment. This fragmentation increases the risk of errors and delays.
External platforms can be valuable, but only when they are fed from a manufacturer’s own central data structure. Without this foundation, dependency arises. Data becomes disconnected from the source, is not always up to date and is often no longer traceable.
Standalone datasets do not generate value. On the contrary, they increase the risk of incorrect application, reputational damage and liability issues. Paying for access to your own product information means you have already lost control.
Manufacturers who manage their own product data in a standardised, machine-readable data model create flexibility instead of dependency. This means, among other things:
With stricter legislation and growing requirements for digital documentation, this is not an IT decision, but a strategic one.
