Are you tired of dealing with days and weeks of fighting system integrations, logic rules, multiple spreadsheets, and product standardization? You are not alone. From establishing logic and ordering matrices to wiring systems to ERP integrations. While it seems like it never ends, what if the better way is to try IEHUB and see the difference?
Challenges with Product Standardization
Standardization of the product traditionally takes time. Here is the reality for most businesses:
Managing Complex Product Variants
The management of product variation – size, color, and configurations can hit such a high level of complexity. Once a brand begins to offer hundreds of SKUs, it is completely normal for the number of variants to explode at a much greater rate, resulting in inaccuracies and inconsistencies in product data across multiple channels.
Manual Entry Overload
When there is no automated system in place, a business will have to rely on manual data entry for every product variant, option, and configuration. This process can take hours and is full of potential for human error, leading to inconsistencies and delays that will annoy customers and disrupt workflows.
Configuration and Rules Challenges
Understanding how different product options will work together, from pricing to how stock is accounted for, to compatibility with other products or options, generally takes a very deep level of technical expertise to configure and implement. It is a resource-intensive planning process that will take countless rounds of testing and iteration to get all the individual parts of the machine working properly together.
Custom Integration Complexity
Connecting a multitude of systems, applications, or functions, such as e-commerce, inventory, ERP, and alternative platforms for sales, typically entails custom integration processes. These setups need highly detailed and structured planning to execute, prepare for the inevitable troubleshooting that comes, and will likely be expensive in time and cost.
Problems Related to Integration with ERP Systems
Many businesses have difficulties with ERP systems that do not work well with or connect well with other systems. For example, with their inventory management, third-party sales channels, and others. This can confuse data reporting and cause delays, as many businesses have to hire a specialized consultant to get the systems to work properly together.
Testing and Validation Take Time
Once the configurations and integrations are in place, testing and validating the data is critical to ensure it works properly. The vast amount of product variations involved, and the variable number of systems, means testing can be a long, tedious task and even delay timelines.
Inability to respond to Market Changes on time
In a rapidly changing market, it is vital that businesses can quickly respond with product offerings or pricing adjustments. However, the processes needed to manage product configurations and to set and administer ERP processes can slow down the speed of changing business processes, resulting in a slow response to customer requests or a changing market.
Here’s How Real Businesses Changed Their Workflow
Automotive Sector: Complicated Product Variations & Failure to Integrate a Legacy ERP
I still remember the chaos caused by launching our automotive parts line. With thousands of SKUs for car models and years, creating product variations was like climbing a mountain that went on forever. Every part had to be created in our ERP and documented. Our ERP was not built to handle that complexity at all. The team was buried in spreadsheets to check compatibility, fix errors, and double-check everything.
To make matters worse, the ERP integration was a disaster. Inventory data was not being synced correctly with our sales channels, which led to stock errors, and frustrated customers received incorrect parts. The most difficult part was that we missed several launch deadlines because it took the team over 6 weeks to configure and validate all product assortments.
IEHUB will greatly expedite workflows, cutting task completion from weeks to days. Its smart ordering matrix and core logic will automatically manage the majority of product setup in the back end. It will interface with ERP systems for seamless, error-free, and efficient processes. Product delivery will be completed quickly and more easily, allowing the team to spend more time planning, imagining, and innovating instead of troubleshooting the data.
E-Commerce Sector: Multiple Systems Identifying Inventory & Product Data Issues
While establishing an e-commerce business is thrilling, there are challenges with having to manage thousands of products across multiple sales channels. We constantly worked with spreadsheets for product variations and tried to maintain all three systems, our website, inventory, and ERP, up to date and in sync. But they were not.
Every day, members of our operations team were buried with fixing mismatched stock quantities and product option errors. Customers were complaining about incorrect product descriptions and out-of-stock products labeled as available. To make it worse, staff members spent countless hours manually updating data instead of driving growth.
IEHUB will modernize operations completely by bringing all product data into one system, eliminating spreadsheets and complicated configurations. ERPs and sales channels will be tightly integrated to eliminate inventory errors and order flow problems. Product launches will be accomplished more quickly, and our team will have more time to be focused on new ideas and growing the business rather than fixing old processes.
Enter IEHUB: A Smarter Approach
A more intelligent process, IEHUB takes a longer process or ordeal and streamlines it. Instead of weeks of manual configuration, you can have:
Standardize Faster: All your team can complete actions that took two to three weeks to complete in a matter of hours or days. IEHUB has an advanced and smart system for product standardization.
Simplified matrix- Administration: Use simple process requirements or prescribed process tools that do not require technical knowledge to create complex ordering matrices. Without getting stuck in endless spreadsheets, your team can program set-up product options, variants, and dependencies seamlessly as a loop in the matrix.
ERP-Ready Design: IEHUB was engineered for enterprise systems, so it works with most ERP applications. Implementation changes from a development project to a configuration exercise.
The Real-World Impact
Lower labor costs: Let your team work on strategy rather than entering data.
Fewer errors: Standardization increases consistency while minimizing human error and is automated.
Increased Scalability: IEHUB grows with you easily as your product catalog does.
Decreased Standardization Time: Companies decreased the time spent standardizing their products by 70%.
Increased Accuracy: Standardization and automation reduce errors and create more accurate product data.
Improved Collaboration: A single platform allows teams across multiple departments to collaborate more effectively with higher efficiency and better alignment.
If your organization still spends too much time on manual product standardization processes, stop wasting your time and think of a better option. IEHUB provides an up-to-date, automated solution that can save you time and improve accuracy and integration with ERP.
Get Started Today: contact us to book a demo and check out how IEHUB can change your product standardization process.
With nearly two decades of experience in engineering, I bring deep expertise across both EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) and product-based OEM environments. My core strengths lie in engineering standardization, process optimization, and technical leadership. I have consistently driven excellence through the development and implementation of robust engineering frameworks, delivering value across global industrial projects and complex product lifecycles.
