CASE STUDY: Enterprise-Grade Open Source PIMAn Important Option for Modern IT
Vik Gundoju
+1 832 303 3257
Kyle Christiansen
+1 816-695-3918
marketamerica | SHOP•COM
Speakers
Agenda
• Why PIM
• The product information challenge
• The enterprise-grade open source option
• Open source software myths and reality
• Akeneo, an enterprise-grade open source PIM
• Case study: SHOP.com
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StrikeTru Overview
StrikeTru provides PIM consulting services and solutions for US companies.
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• Houston, TX
• Industry Experience: • Retail
• Manufacturing
• Distribution
• Energy and other
• Platform:• Akeneo Open Source PIM
• Other Platforms:• Riversand, Innovit, Nuxeo
PIM
Sync To Internal SystemsERP, WMS, AnalyticsSales & Marketing Tools
Aggregate | Manage| Distribute
Product FilesXLS, PDF
Digital Assets
Search Engines
IndustryData Warehouses
Marketplaces
Brand Websites
Agency, Printer
Other DataSources
ERP
Distributors
Resellers
Product Content Syndicators
Mobile Apps
marketamerica | SHOP•COM
• E-commerce retailer
• Worldwide reach• 10 countries/currencies
• 8 languages
• Multi-channel• Catalog website (SHOP.com)
• Desktop + Mobile
• Brand-specific websites (x8)• Desktop + Mobile
• Mobile app
• Re-targeting and Affiliate Marketing
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PIM & Akeneo Overview
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Why PIM
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High quality & consistent product data - lifeblood of commerce today
Customers, partners, consumers, & regulatory bodies want easy access to data
Powers critical online marketing & conversion tools - SEO, re-targeting, site search …
Supports success KPIs across channels – AOVs, profitability, return & abandonment rates ...
Legacy product data operations - high cost/complexity
Modern PIM - best suited to manage rich product data for multi-channel selling
Digital data & interactions speed customer path to purchase
PIM makes it quick and easy to aggregate, enrich, govern, & publish data
Critical capability for digital transformation of sales & marketing
The Product Information Challenge
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Disparate systems, no single source of truth
Inconsistent data, metadata, & quality rules
Significant effort to compile & enrich product data, every time!
Inadequate features – data modeling, management, governance, search, reporting, auditing, integration
Poor support for digital asset management/distribution, print automation, vendor data on-boarding, data sync
Delayed product launches
Poor data quality & compliance
Cross-channel inconsistency
Higher operating costs
Legacy systems
Clunky UI – hard to use
Inflexible - requires a rebuild to modernize
Hampers enterprise agility:
Differentiated merchandizing
Expanded assortment
New distribution channels
The Enterprise-Grade Open Source Option*
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Most successful open source projects affiliated with commercial vendors
Vendors support community & make technology accessible to mainstream enterprises
Stable, secure, & tested
Scalable
Predictable life cycle
Manageable by vendor & 3rd party products
Software Attributes
Software maintenance & support services
Documented software audit trail
Community support & documentation
Professional services, training, & certifications
Promotion of broad ecosystem
Enterprise-grade software can support mission-critical enterprise-scale workloads
* Source: IDC Whitepaper, Enterprise-Grade Open Source: An Imperative for Modern IT, April 2016
Most enterprises use open source software in different ways – network equipment, servers, & modern applications.
Open Source Software Myths and Reality*
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Myth: Constant updates & untested changes make it unreliable & disruptive to critical enterprise apps
Reality: Enterprise-grade open source distributions are stable & support a wide range of mission-critical apps. Certified functionality, backwards compatibility, security fixes, & SLA support throughout product lifecycle.
* Source: IDC Whitepaper, Enterprise-Grade Open Source: An Imperative for Modern IT, April 2016
Myth: Mission-critical workloads need performance & security guaranteed by closed source commercial s/w
Reality: Widely used as embedded enabling technology in many mission-critical solutions. For e.g., Hyper-scale data centers operated by Google, Amazon, Facebook, & others built on an open source software foundation.
Myth: ROI from infrastructure commoditization only
Reality: More ROI benefits due to streamlined deployment, ability to standardize h/w & s/w layers, developer productivity, code quality, & agile code releases.
Myth: Open source software support skills are hard to find & hard to develop
Reality: Vendors typically offer training & certification. Most new graduates use open source technologies in school & are productive quickly. IT Managers say open source skills not difficult to find.
Akeneo, an Enterprise-Grade Open Source PIM
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Stable
Scalable
Formal release processes
Extensibility
Maintenance & support
Community support & docs
Prof. services, training, certifications
Innovation
Cost of ownership
80+ enterprise customers, 2500+ community users
Manages millions of SKUs
Major, minor, & patch releases – defined frequencies
APIs, marketplace extensions, free source access, connectors
Akeneo & partners
Forums, documentation, cookbooks, videos, etc.
Akeneo & 42 solution partners from 17 countries
Usability, deployability, & integrations
Better cost/value benefits compared to closed source PIMs
Championed by open source veterans from Magento & Oro platforms
Akeneo at SHOP.com
Case Study
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PIM Software at SHOP.com
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Goals
Faster product setup & release to channels
Content flexibility & portability- Across channels, brands, countries, languages, & currencies
Content consistency & control to reduce compliance costs- FDA, Taiwan Dept. of Health, Singapore Source Disclaimer
Web centric, multi-channel retailer
Proprietary, legacy solution ran its course
Not flexible for current & future needs
Faced with a build or buy decision
Chose to go with Akeneo
Why Akeneo
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Met all ourrequirements
User-friendly
Rich features
Affordable
Sophisticated data management
Data and meta-data management Rich data modeling Data inheritance Bulk edit
Audit trail & version control
Audit history, and version rollback A key driver for replacing legacy system Enabled removal of “gated” product release process End user visibility reduced IT support demands Promoted accountability
Open source, easy to customize
Content Automation: Product/SKU titles, digital assets, published prices Custom Kit Price Calculations Alerts: For price or inventory status changes Translation: Connector to Translations.com
Easy to integrate with other systems
APIs: Enabling contextual product page previews Out-of-the-box features to import and export data Integration framework that can be modified easily for specific
requirements
Use Cases
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Common data modelDefined a common data modelPromoted a common understanding of data, & how to use it Introduced a new platform & framework to organize our data and reduce complexity
Rich data modelingMultiple data types including asset & reference typesProducts, SKUs, Kits, RelationshipsData inheritance
Single source of truthCentralized data, meta-data by consolidating 4 systemsData sync’d to 10+ sales & marketing systems, ERP, Inventory
Meta-data management
Hierarchies (merchandizing, reporting)Categories and attributesAttribute schemas (category specific attributes)Relationships (cross-sell, up-sell, etc.)
Reference datamanagement
Multiple lists of valid values – Accounting/Taxation Profiles, Report Categories, Availability Status, Product Type
Simplified product launches to new countries
Use Cases (continued)
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Data GovernanceMultiple roles, role based permissionsAccess controls: by entity, feature, locale, product category, attribute, import/export jobEnrichment and approval workflows
Digital asset managementProduct and SKU images, Videos, WhitepapersAutomatic image URLs and thumbnail previews
Data automation, quality rules
Consistent product titles & asset URLsDigital asset filenames for consistencyContent translationCompleteness checks
Published price management, Alerts
Compute category & country specific published pricesAccount for exchange rates, rounding & other rulesEmail alerts (e.g. on price or inventory status changes)
IntegrationseCommerce websitesMiddleware that feeds product data to other channelsTranslations.com
Big Wins
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Enterprise agilityChanges are fast and easy to implementFaster and more reliable product release to channelsQuicker setup and launch to new countries
Data consistency & portability
Consistent data across channels and product setsProduct sets grouped by countryMultiple SKUs per product with country specific settingsData re-use across channels
Improved productivity
Elimination of significant duplicate data entryCommon data model enabled decoupling of website changes from product
management processes
IT system consolidation
Rolled 4 systems in one PIMProduct Workflow, Categorization, Image, & Translations systems
What’s Next
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Contextual product page previews
Migrating more media/digital assets into Akeneo
Leverage enhanced selling attributes across more web properties
Enrich data to better leverage new features (price calculations)
Deprecate redundant downstream calculations
TWN recycling data
Thank You
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Vik Gundoju
+1 832 303 3257
Kyle Christiansen
+1 816-695-3918
marketamerica | SHOP•COM