FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Della Domingo, dellad@sema.org
SEMA 909/978-6723
DATAGILITY TO ASSIST WITH SEMA PRODUCT DATA SERVICE
DIAMOND BAR, Calif. (Mar. 30, 2012) - Bringing many years of specialty parts and aftermarket data management accomplishments to the table, DATAgility, Inc. of Chicago has been engaged to provide on-boarding, data sync and data quality services for the new SEMA Data Co-op.
"We are pleased and excited to have DATAgility playing a major role in this key industry initiative," said SEMA President and CEO Chris Kersting. SEMA and DATAgility have worked together closely for many years on a number of projects, including the highly successful data sync testing project recently conducted with several SEMA members.
Jon Wyly, CEO of the SEMA Data Co-op states: "DATAgility brings unique and important experience to the table, combining their data sync programs in the specialty parts arena with exceptional insight into the implementation of industry data standards and the data quality that is critical in our marketplace."
"We all now understand that sales today are driven by complete, accurate and standardized product data, available from a single, affordable and easily accessible source", said Bob Moore, SEMA Board member and chair of the SEMA Business Technology Committee (BTC).
Denise Keating, DATAgility President stated: "Our ability to get high quality information about the industry's products to more data users-more WDs, more jobber-retailers, more auto parts stores, is critical. You've got to have clean, standardized product information easily available to the channel partners."
"The SEMA Data Co-op will help create order from chaos in the world of digital product information," said Ed Heon, CEO of DATAgility. "We are very pleased to partner with SEMA, Jon Wyly and the SEMA BTC in this vital program."
A limited-scale "alpha" test of the Data Co-op was initiated in 2011 and
yielded conclusive proof-of-concept validation. In the "beta" phase,
which launches in April of 2012, as many as 50 manufacturers and 20 WDs and
retailers will have the opportunity to participate.
About SEMA
SEMA, the Specialty Equipment Market Association founded in 1963, represents
the $28.6 billion specialty automotive industry of 6,383 member-companies. It
is the authoritative source for research, data, trends and market growth
information for the specialty auto parts industry. The industry provides
appearance, performance, comfort, convenience and technology products for
passenger and recreational vehicles. For more information, contact SEMA at 1575
S. Valley Vista Dr., Diamond Bar, CA 91765, tel: 909/396-0289, or visit
www.sema.org or
www.enjoythedrive.com
About DATAgility
The DATAgility consulting and services team, managed by Denise Keating and
Ed Heon, represents many years of helping aftermarket and SEMA manufacturers
provide accurate, rich, current product data and synchronization with their
channel partners. Ed is known as the "father of PIES", the industry's data
exchange standard, which has gained widespread use and application. Most
recently, DATAgility conducted the highly successful "SDC Alpha Test" with SEMA
members. For more information please contact DATAgility at 300 North LaSalle
Street, Suite 4925, Chicago, IL 60054, tel: 312.803.0406 or visit
www.datagility.com or email info@datagility.com.
About The SEMA Data Co-op
The SEMA Data Co-op (SDC) is a technology and service initiative created for
the benefit of SEMA member companies, with the mission of encouraging and
enabling the development, safe storage and universal export of industry product
data. The SDC, through the development and operation of key business
tools and processes, will enable any manufacturer to take control of their
product data, maintain its compliance to standards, and provide a seamless
means to distribute that data to approved data receivers of their choice.
For more information please visit
www.SemaDataCoop.org or e-mail jonw@SemaDataCoop.org