Of course, the cataloguers should not work in isolation. For example, attribute order should be dictated by you, based on your maintenance workers’ needs. In fact, at the onset of the transition, all your company requirements should be discussed and documented for use by the external Catalog team.

And because this team will work as an extension of your own organization, it is important that you are able to easily work with them, and that you develop a good rapport together. After all, this team is dedicated to you and your Catalog needs.

Delivery or turnaround time is also a reliable, guaranteed feature from Catalog Management providers. An expectation of one to two days is quite reasonable. However, companies repeatedly find that although the guarantee falls within that threshold, the actual response times are much better. Quick turnaround times of less than 5 hours can be quite dependable. This is usually seen as significant improvement over internal turnaround times…especially for centralized catalog groups.

Another unexpected benefit of out-sourcing Catalog Management activities is fostering the use of product lines. That is, increasing volume purchases of the existing product lines. For example, when someone attempts to add an item that is the equivalent of an existing item, the Catalog Management provider will often point the client back to the existing item. In this way, they avoid entering duplicates into the database.