Insight into manufactures’ unique data journeys from Javier Garcia, Onboarding & Product Data Manager at EDA Data Services.
The EDATA data pool project was launched in February 2020 and I joined the EDA Data Services team as Data & Onboarding Manager in March, a couple of weeks before the whole country went into lockdown. I joined the EDA’s Data Services team as Data & Onboarding Manager to support the EDATA project. Even though we had to adapt to the new ways of working, the work has continued, and a lot of progress has been achieved in the last 6 months.
It all started with 15 manufacturers, the founders, but now there are 30 companies that I work with. Every manufacturer is at a different stage in their product data journey, and part of my role is to assist them on this journey, providing feedback and guidance based on our EDATA data requirements and standards.
The onboarding process has changed significantly since March. We used to start the onboarding process by having a half-day workshop in the manufacturers’ offices, but we have moved to online meetings since, with an initial onboarding session and regular follow-ups after that.
The best source of product data for wholesalers
During this onboarding process, we provide feedback on any data the manufacturers may want to use in EDATA and assist on how to improve it, as the aim of EDATA is not to just be a data pool, but to be the best source of data for wholesalers. At this point in time, we are still doing all imports on behalf of manufacturers, but the last step of the onboarding process will be the delivery of tailored training and support to each manufacturer’s in-house team so they can be self-sufficient in uploading and maintaining their data in EDATA.
The lockdown has had a significant effect on the onboarding process. With some manufacturer’s it has helped, as they have more resources available to work on the data; with other manufacturers, it has been the opposite and getting data has been a challenge at times, either due to employees being on furlough, or simply a change in priorities and lack of resources.
Milestone
We have recently reached the 30,000 products milestone and we are aiming to hit 50,000 before the end of the year. A number of new features have also just been released to improve the navigation and filtering of products on the website, as well as improvements on the export routines, so wholesalers can be more precise when exporting data from the website.
With the current pandemic forcing wholesalers to go online, the need of good data is greater than ever, and EDATA can assist both wholesalers and manufacturers in this process. Manufacturers can syndicate their data, through this data pool, while retaining full control of how their products are presented. Wholesalers on the other hand can use EDATA as a single source of rich, eCommerce friendly data, facilitating the addition of products on trading platforms.
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