Product Data Excellence: Why Search, Filter and Consulting Depend on Master Data
Aaron Apelt
A customer configures a product for a specific use case and cannot find the right variant. A service technician searches for a spare part and encounters contradictory information. A buyer compares product families for a tender and cannot place them side by side. Three different situations, one common origin: master data that was not built for the decisions customers need to make - the gap that Data Excellence closes.
In Brief
Poor B2B experiences are rarely a UX issue – the root cause almost always lies in master data quality.
The "Experience Backtracking" method derives data requirements from concrete customer decisions, not from system boundaries.
Data Excellence is a leadership responsibility for Product Information Management (PIM) and Master Data Management (MDM), not an IT project.
Together with Paula Andrea Castro, Senior Digital Transformation Consultant at SWISS KRONO Group, we examined this exact pattern in the "Leaders in Manufacturing CX" masterclass: Why do digital channels – configurators, customer portals, service tools – so often deliver incomplete or even contradictory product information?
The Problem: Experience and Data Are Thought of Separately
B2B companies invest heavily in digital channels. Yet the experiences these channels deliver repeatedly fall short at the same point: products appear incompletely described, specifications contradict each other between the website and the PDF catalogue, and the application context is missing entirely. Customers cannot make a confident decision.
The user interface is often the first – and unfairly so – to face criticism. The cause typically lies in the data layer beneath it: missing structure, unclear responsibilities, no governance, or broken upstream processes. The digital channel makes the problem visible – it does not cause it.
The Method: Experience Backtracking
Rather than starting from system boundaries or historical attribute structures, Experience Backtracking derives master data requirements from real customer situations – in three layers: from the decision a person needs to make, to the information required for that decision, to the master data that must deliver it in the background.
In the white paper, we demonstrate this method using a consistent example – including the four analytical dimensions that can be used to make the gap between today's data reality and the required experience quality visible.
The Master Data Excellence Loop
Individual scenario analyses only have a lasting effect when they are connected to a continuous management process. The Master Data Excellence Loop links experience, information design, master data model, governance, and feedback in a seamless cycle.
In our experience, the greatest weakness rarely lies in the technology – but in the fact that use cases and governance are never explicitly connected to one another.
Three Error Patterns That Repeat Themselves
Across manufacturing and industrial companies, we observe three recurring error patterns – from missing ownership of application data, to service knowledge that never flows back into master data, to governance that only begins after system selection. All three are avoidable once they are recognised.
Recommendations for Decision-Makers
Five concrete measures help shift master data from being a burden to becoming the foundation for experience quality – from the first Experience Backtracking workshop to embedding it in day-to-day leadership. We reveal what these are in the full white paper.
Conclusion: Master Data Is the Foundation of Experience Quality
The quality of a digital B2B experience depends to a large extent on the quality of the master data behind it. Customers who cannot find the information they need to make a confident decision rarely ask for it – they simply turn away.
We show you how to close this gap within your organisation in the full white paper – including the Experience Backtracking method, the four analytical dimensions, and the Master Data Excellence Loop.
Wondering where your biggest data gap lies – in experience definition, information modelling, or governance? Download the full white paper.
Download whitepaper now
The Authors
Two perspectives on Data Excellence come together in this whitepaper: that of a consultancy and that of a manufacturing company navigating the journey firsthand.
Would you like to take a look at your data reality from the experience side? Book an appointment with our experts – together we'll identify where your biggest gap lies.
