Last year, ASA’s Executive Committee engaged in a discussion of the ongoing challenges with obtaining, preparing and ingesting manufacturers’ data for use in wholesaler/distributor ERP and PIM software. Four years after the start of the pandemic that brought global supply chain disruption, distribution is experiencing a dramatic increase in the demand for and use of data to plan, operate and manage the business of buying and selling products.
Coupled with recent disruptive plays by big box and digital-first competitors, investment in data and digital transformation is a cost of competing the industry can no longer delay. Investing effort in data sharing practices, increasing the level of data literacy, and building a trusted network of stakeholders and data stewards invested in the use of product data, and its governance is an essential initiative for our members.
“In a world of more data, the companies with more data-literate people are the ones that are going to win.” MIT lecturer – Miro Kazakoff
In recognition of this reality, for the last eight months, representatives from more than 20 ASA- member companies have been meeting bimonthly to contribute to establishing a standard for the sharing of product data between manufacturers and wholesaler/distributors.
Conceived and facilitated by ASA’s VP of Innovation Beth Ladd, the data standardization committee is building a shared understanding of the current needs and uses of industry product data with an eye toward the future of data governance and education.
The goal is to build a framework for ongoing data quality and shine a light on the integral role of data as a strategic business asset, Ladd says. Committee members have demonstrated commitment to increasing confidence in the use and sharing of data, beginning with a strategy of improving current processes rather than radical new ones. In this way, we are learning to crawl before we walk following best-practices toward a data-enabled culture and shared data governance in the distribution industry.
