Typically, database publishing of complex projects like catalogs have been the responsibility of internal, technical personnel. But with new technologies come new possibilities. Being able to generate a catalog in a matter of seconds means that end users (product managers, marketing people, ...) have much more freedom in this creation process. That's to say: they have less freedom in the design part (since that's all restricted by the company guidelines), but more freedom in the data.
PIMS
First of all, PIMS gives the end users more freedom than ever in the maintenance of their databases. Where product databases used to be mainly used for logistics and accounting, they are now more and more accessible for marketing as well. And this can be done in ways that don't restrict future ideas. New fields, new tables, new functionalities can be added in a minimum of time.
Database publishing from PIMS
And once the end users are working in the PIMS modules, they can also be used for database publishing. And this can consist of a lot of purposes. Publishing the data to the website, but also the creation of leaflets, brochures, folders, POS materials, and even catalogs. In many cases, it won't feel like database publishing to the end users at all. They are just proof-reading their entered texts and images. But they are doing it right in the output that later on can be published. This results in much more accurate data, and less possibilities for errors at the time of the creation of the printed output.
Translations
The same applies to translations. In many database publishing workflows, translations can be done in the web interface, resulting immediately in the output. Translators (whether they be professionals or not) can immediately see the impact on the result, meaning that they can make different decisions on the fly. This way, the communication surrounding these translation workflows can be seriously reduced.