MDM & Data Governance Summit Speaking Engagement – Akeneo PIM Case Study

StrikeTru will be speaking at a major IT industry conference, MDM and Data Governance Conference 2016, in New York City on Nov 9, 2016. StrikeTru and SHOP.com will present an Akeneo PIM case study on how SHOP.com used PIM to modernize its IT & digital commerce operations.

Below is a copy of the official session abstract.

CASE STUDY: Enterprise-Grade Open Source PIM – An Important Option for Modern IT

Vik Gundoju, Partner, StrikeTru
Kyle Christiansen, Applications Architect, Market America/SHOP.com

Legacy operations involve high cost and complexity in aggregating, managing, and sharing an ever increasing amount of product information with customers, trading partners, regulatory agencies, and consumers. A PIM solution makes it easy to manage and distribute product data. An enterprise-grade open source PIM solution has the best chance of helping IT reduce costs, operate more efficiently, and gain quick access to innovations in PIM. Despite the success of well-known commercial open source technologies, many IT leaders often do not fully understand the benefits and value of open source technologies.

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This session will review key open source MDM capabilities including: master, reference and metadata management; digital asset management: data governance: marketplace connectors; and product data synchronization between ERP, PLM, sales, and marketing applications.  Specific attention will be given to Akeneo which is the market-leading open source enterprise PIM.

To further the understanding of open source PIM, a case study discussing Shop.Com’s leverage of Akeneo to modernize its IT landscape will be presented.  This enabled the enterprise to become more agile in managing its global, multi-site, multi-language, multi-currency, and multi-channel commerce operations.

To highlight how open source PIM can accelerate enterprise success, StrikeTru and Shop.Com will present these topics:

  • Understanding the business & technology benefits of enterprise-strength open source technologies for PIM
  • Overcoming the prejudices & misinformation that plague open source decision-making
  • Planning for the next generation of digital commerce

The 11th annual MDM and Data Governance Conference will be held Nov 8-10, 2016 at the Hilton Hotel in Midtown, New York City. It will attract an audience of over 500 Master Data Management (MDM) professionals at all experience levels looking to exchange ideas and build connections with the MDM community.

Vik Gundoju from StrikeTru will share the stage with Kyle Christiansen, an Enterprise Applications Architect at MarketAmerica/SHOP.com, a StrikeTru customer.

For more information including the full conference schedule, visit http://www.information-management.com/conferences/mdmnewyork/.

Announcing our new website

We’re excited to announce that our new and redesigned website is live now. Our goal for this new website is to provide our visitors an easier way to learn about StrikeTru’s services and solutions. The refreshed site includes changes to content and navigation, and emphasizes our focus on Product Information Management (PIM) solutions and the Akeneo platform. We improved content presentation and readability to enhance your site experience and make it easy to find information. We have also added several new graphics, and some videos to make the site more engaging and easier to use. The site contains additional integrated social media buttons for Youtube, Facebook, and Google Plus to enable improved communication with prospects and clients.

We added more information about Akeneo, and announced our new Akeneo cloud PIM solution packages and pricing for small- and medium- sized businesses. We added several new pages such as Why Akeneo, Why StrikeTru, Akeneo to Magento Integration via PIMGento, Akeneo to Adobe InDesign Integration using Pim2catalog, Akeneo Connectors, StrikeTru Extensions for Akeneo, and Downloads (for downloadable collateral like PIM related presentations and case studies). The blog and other resources including case studies continue to be available. On our youtube channel, we have aggregated several Akeneo PIM related introductory and feature overview videos.

Our goal is to be a trusted source of information for our site visitors, and help them research and evaluate our offerings. We will be constantly adding new content including helpful information, articles, blog postings, company announcements and client successes.

We hope you like what you see, and if you have any feedback, please email us or call +1 832 303 3257.

Discover Akeneo Open Source PIM Version 1.6 – Webinar

Our friends at Akeneo are doing a webinar on on Tue, Sep 20, 2016 from 10:00AM to 11:30AM CDT. Akeneo has just released version 1.6 of their Open Source PIM product. This webinar presents a preview of the new features, what has changed and what has been improved! There will time for Q&A at the end of the webinar. To register, click https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7371042765947112196

If you have questions about why you need PIM or how Akeneo PIM makes it easy to aggregate, enrich, and disseminate product content to e-commerce and other channels, please contact us at [email protected]. We’d be happy to consult with you about your specific needs, and also organize a custom demo. Akeneo is a feature rich, open source PIM software product that comes in both Community and Enterprise editions. We have implemented both versions for our clients, and can provide you necessary Akeneo consultants and developers to deploy and customize the Akeneo software to address your specific product content management needs.

PIM Software Deployment at Steal-A-Sofa, a Furniture Retailer

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We implemented Akeneo PIM for Steal-A-Sofa, a furniture retailer. Akeneo is an open-source PIM system for retailers and brand manufacturers looking to replace cumbersome excel based product data management processes with a simple and intuitive web based system.

MDM Re-Platforming at a Global Software Solutions Company

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A global leader in software solutions, this multi-billion dollar company needed to re-platform their legacy Product Master Data Management (MDM) software solution.

Challenge

The company’s current Product MDM system was a highly customized Siebel CRM tool. This legacy MDM system had no support and was difficult to maintain and enhance, severely limiting the company’s ability to manage, maintain, and effectively use its product master data. There was a need to resolve issues with product sales reporting, accounting (cost, revenue, and royalty allocations), and software product distribution management processes.

Solution

StrikeTru and iClassicMDM assessed the company’s requirements and collaborated with system users to deploy a modern Product MDM system (based on iClassicMDM) to pave the way for replacing the legacy system. The scope included configuring a complex product data model consisting of multiple product entity types, product relationships, hierarchies, life cycle management, governance, and data standardization policies that replaced and augmented existing functionality.

Result

In a very short time, StrikeTru and iClassicMDM delivered a modern, cloud Product MDM solution that simplified the management of complex product master data. The project also demonstrated iClassicMDM’s flexible services based integration architecture that simplifies the task of integrating iClassicMDM with various enterprise systems. Impressed with the extensive functionality delivered, and with the pace and cost at which it was delivered, the organization has decided to deploy iClassicMDM as its global enterprise Product MDM system.

Innovating Multi-Channel Product Content Translation Program at a Fashion Designer

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This fashion designer and manufacturer is a global leader in the design, innovation, and marketing of fashion lifestyle and accessory products. With hundreds of stores worldwide and a strong global e-commerce business, the company’s products were sold to department stores and specialty retail stores in over 150 countries and 12 languages across the world through company-owned sales subsidiaries and a network of independent distributors.

 

Challenge

To cater to customers across the globe, the company localized their main website. Realizing the importance of product searchability on its website, the company also localized product information stored in over 50 data fields. The company produces four seasonal catalogs each year. Considering that the company adds thousands of new SKUs each season in addition to updating data for tens of thousands of existing SKUs, the product content translation effort represented a significant undertaking for the company’s content managers. Generating all product content including translated values in time for each season required a lot of manual effort and coordination and often resulted in data quality issues and missed deadlines.

To overcome these challenges typically associated with managing large SKU counts, the company decided to invest in a PIM and automate the product content translation and localization processes. They chose Akeneo PIM and StrikeTru’s Akeneo2GlobalLink Translation Connector.

 

Solution

The company was already using Translations.com for translation services, and its GlobalLink Project Director solution to manage all enterprise content translation projects. Users manually submitted batches of product data stored in excel files to GlobalLink Project Director to execute their translation related workflows. The cost and complexity involved in this semi-automated workflow was significant. There was a need for a solution that streamlined initiating, automating, controlling, tracking, and completing all aspects of content translation and localization workflows.

StrikeTru worked closely with the company and with the Akeneo team to deploy and integrate StrikeTru’s Translation Connector Akeneo2GlobalLink. With product data centrally managed in Akeneo PIM, the StrikeTru connector automated the collection and delivery of content to the GlobalLink system via APIs. Translated content was automatically retrieved and posted back into product data records stored in Akeneo PIM.

This powerful combination of StrikeTru’s Akeneo2GlobalLink Translation Connector and the extended localization workflow capabilities of GlobalLink Project Director gave this Akeneo customer a robust solution. One that enabled the company to deploy product content for markets around the globe with minimal effort and little IT involvement.

 

Result

Time Savings

Content managers no longer need to email excel files or process translations in periodic batches. Translations can be done continuously and in smaller chunks as product data gets prepared for publishing.

Cost Savings

Thanks to GlobalLink’s Translation Memory, phrases translated once are remembered and not charged for again. As a result, translating an increasing amount of product content doesn’t necessarily increase costs in a linear fashion. By automating translation processes, more work can be done with fewer resources, which also results in additional cost savings.

Enhanced Collaboration

For the eCommerce channel, translated content has to be approved by country specific content managers and translators. These people often need to look at other documents such as Lookbooks when approving translated content. The combination of Akeneo and StrikeTru’s Translation Connector make it easy to share product content including Lookbooks and product images with people across the enterprise. Such visibility with appropriate access controls promotes enhanced team collaboration and increases efficiency.

With this integrated solution in place, the company has better control over its product content translation and localization processes and the capability to support digital marketing and commerce initiatives more effectively.

 

StrikeTru Can Help Your Business Too

If you are facing product content management and/or localization challenges, StrikeTru can help you. We work closely with Akeneo PIM and Translations.com to solve our customers’ challenges and welcome an opportunity to assist you. For more information, check out our Akeneo2GlobalLink page. You may also contact us at [email protected]

Industrial distributor replaces catalog management system with Akeneo PIM

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This industrial distributor managed its product content and digital assets in a legacy catalog management system, and was looking to replace it with a modern PIM system to better support its digital marketing initiatives that included enhanced e-commerce and print publishing, and SEO rankings.

Challenge

Product data was structured poorly and was not rich enough for robust SEO or e-commerce. The integration between the legacy catalog management system, an AS400 based ERP (Magnatron), and the Magento website was complex and prevented timely publishing of product content on the website. User frustration, delayed product releases, and inability to scale the assortment were significant challenges. The company wanted the ability to advertise and sell (including via dropship) thousands of additional SKUs, as well as leverage rich e-content (product taxonomies, granular data, and digital assets) obtained from Affiliated Distributors (a purchasing group) e-Content initiative. It needed expert help to execute these digital initiatives.

Solution

StrikeTru recommended replacing the existing catalog management system with Akeneo PIM, a user friendly, robust, and flexible PIM system. It comes with PimGento, a connector that dramatically simplifies the task of synchronizing rich product content and digital assets stored in Akeneo with a Magento e-commerce website. StrikeTru worked closely with the company to develop and implement robust PIM data structures (based on Affiliated Distributor’s taxonomy) in Akeneo. StrikeTru helped enrich and migrate content and assets from the current systems into Akeneo, and configured PimGento to enable easy syndication of product content to the e-commerce website.

Result

The company has a more robust taxonomy provided by the AD industry e-content initiative, enriched content, and improved product content management and syndication capabilities. Internal resources can reliably update content, pricing, and availability information on its website, and do it more frequently than before. The company is currently expanding its product assortment aggressively, enriching SKUs from multiple vendors and industry e-Content sources, and advertising and selling more products online to help drive incremental sales.

Akeneo names StrikeTru as a Silver Solution Partner

StrikeTru is honored to be recognized as the first US based Akeneo Silver Solution Partner for our contributions to promote and deploy Akeneo PIM solutions. Since 2014, we have been working closely with Akeneo to market, sell, and deploy Akeneo in the US market. Combined with Akeneo’s next-generation PIM software capabilities, our implementation services help clients simplify how they manage and disseminate high quality product content to e-commerce and other sales channels.

Customers today rely heavily on digital product content to research and buy products online and in stores. Poor product content lowers brand equity, search engine rankings and sales, and raises operating costs. The stakes are high for companies struggling with legacy content management operations that involve high cost and complexity. StrikeTru leverages its rich industry and Akeneo deployment experience to help companies improve product content management capabilities, meet rising customer expectations, and ultimately compete better in the market place.

StrikeTru to present Best Practices in Product Information Management (PIM) Deployments

Join StrikeTru and Nuxeo for a live webinar to:

  • Understand why “homegrown” systems and spreadsheets simply cannot serve as an effective PIM
  • Discover winning use cases for PIM, by business function and industry
  • Review key features and functionalities essential for a successful enterprise PIM application
  • Review best practices in deploying enterprise PIM solutions

Click here to register for the event.

StrikeTru to speak about Product Information Management at Catalyst Americas 2016

Vik Gundoju will be speaking about Product Information Management (PIM) at ChannelAdvisor’s Catalyst Americas 2016, an influential annual e-commerce conference taking place April 11-13 at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. ChannelAdvisor has recently announced that top branded manufacturers like Deckers, Hoover, Johnson & Johnson, Samsung and Whirlpool EMEA are attending Catalyst Americas 2016 and participating in the conference’s Brands track. Catalyst offers brands and retailers an opportunity to network with peers and hear valuable keynotes from some of the top influencers and visionaries in e-commerce.

The theme of Catalyst Americas 2016 is “E-Commerce, Future-Proofed.” This year’s agenda will be broken into three tracks: Brands, Focus and Innovate. The Brands track will cover how recent e-commerce innovations are affecting the way brands sell online. Vik will be making the case for why branded manufacturers must deliver high quality content to their retailers and establish a strong digital presence for revenue, cost, and brand benefits. He will discuss the typical barriers to publishing great content, and why Product Information Management tools are essential to overcome those barriers. He will talk about how brands can leverage best practices in PIM to transform their legacy operations so they can deliver consistent and high-quality content across all channels.

For more information about the event, please visit the conference website.

StrikeTru at the 2016 Magento Imagine Conference in Las Vegas

StrikeTru will be at the 2016 Magento Imagine Conference (Apr 11 – 13, 2016) in Las Vegas, Nevada. As a premier PIM and MDM solution provider, StrikeTru works with clients that implement Magento e-Commerce software and seek PIM or catalog management solutions.

Imagine 2016 is the premier Magento commerce conference. Now in its 6th year, this event brings together 2,500+ merchants, partners, developers and commerce experts from 40+ countries to network, exchange ideas and build relationships.

Imagine 2016 offers an opportunity for senior executives, marketers, developers, merchandisers and eCommerce visionaries from leading merchants, web design agencies, system integrators and technology innovators to collaborate and share the latest inspirations, technologies, techniques, and strategies transforming commerce.

Please visit imagine.magento.com and check out #MagentoImagine for updates and more information about Imagine 2016.

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Catalyst 2016 Press Release (Reproduced) – StrikeTru Speaking to Branded Manufacturers about PIM for Commerce

Branded Manufacturers Flock to Catalyst Americas 2016 for Influential E-Commerce Discussions

Deckers, Hoover, Johnson & Johnson, Samsung, Whirlpool EMEA and more to participate in brands-focused track at ChannelAdvisor’s annual e-commerce conference

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–ChannelAdvisor Corporation (NYSE:ECOM), a leading provider of cloud-based e-commerce solutions that enable retailers and branded manufacturers to increase global sales, today announced that top branded manufacturers like Deckers, Hoover, Johnson & Johnson, Samsung and Whirlpool EMEA are attending Catalyst Americas 2016 and participating in the conference’s Brands track. Catalyst, taking place April 11-13 at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, is the go-to event for brands and retailers to connect with peers and hear powerful keynotes from some of the top influencers and visionaries in e-commerce.

“The Catalyst Brands track promises to be impressive, with an exceptional roster of speakers,” said David Spitz, ChannelAdvisor CEO. “The sessions will generate conversation to help brands develop and improve their e-commerce strategies. Each session includes unique content that can provide attendees with a roadmap for their future success, no matter where they are in the e-commerce lifecycle.”

The theme of Catalyst Americas 2016 is “E-Commerce, Future-Proofed.” This year’s agenda will be broken into three tracks: Brands, Focus and Innovate. The Brands track will explore the ways recent e-commerce innovations are affecting how brands sell online.

The Catalyst Americas Brands track speakers:

  • Albert Wilson, Deckers Brands
  • Paige Gregory, Hoover
  • Vik Gundoju, StrikeTru
  • Rob Rekrutiak, Google
  • Francesco Toscano, Whirlpool EMEA
  • Kyle Walker, Amazon
  • Tom Clark, Samsung
  • Faisal Rangwala, Johnson & Johnson

For more information and to register for Catalyst Americas 2016, please visit bit.ly/Catalyst2016Registration. To learn more about e-commerce strategies for branded manufacturers, download the eBook http://bit.ly/ShouldBrandsSellDirect.

For more details about ChannelAdvisor, visit our blog, follow us on Twitter @ChannelAdvisor, Like us on Facebook and connect with us on LinkedIn.

About ChannelAdvisor

ChannelAdvisor (NYSE:ECOM) is a leading provider of cloud-based e-commerce solutions that enable retailers and branded manufacturers to integrate, manage and optimize their merchandise sales across hundreds of online channels including Amazon, Google, eBay, Facebook and more. Through automation, analytics and optimization, ChannelAdvisor customers can leverage a single inventory feed to more efficiently list and advertise products online, and connect with shoppers to increase sales. Billions of dollars in merchandise value are driven through ChannelAdvisor’s platform every year, and thousands of customers use ChannelAdvisor’s solutions to help grow their businesses. For more information, visit www.channeladvisor.com.

Contacts

ChannelAdvisor
Jordan Smith, 919-582-6813
[email protected]

PIM software with GDSN Connector Deployment for a leading Medical Device Manufacturer

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A global medical device manufacturer and leader in new product development and medical education in orthopedics, this company needed a PIM software solution with GDSN connector to comply with the FDA Unique Device Identification (UDI) regulation.

Challenge

As a medical device company, this firm was subject to a new FDA UDI regulation and needed to submit standardized product data to the US federal government by a certain deadline in the near future. A subset of this company’s thousands of products were subject to regulation, and these needed to be enriched with the right data and approved for submission to the FDA. The process and system being used to gather and submit data had to meet applicable regulatory requirements including 21 CFR Part 11 that deals specifically with electronic signatures, audit trails, and electronic records. Building such a system in-house would have compromised the company’s ability to meet the submission deadline and its ability to continue selling those devices in the US.

Solution

The company selected the Innovit MDM platform to master its UDI product data and submit to the FDA. The Innovit MDM tool has a GDSN Connector (for Global Data Synchronization) to the 1WorldSync data pool that served as a gateway to the FDA UDI database (GUDID). StrikeTru worked with Innovit to deploy a PIM software solution that mastered authoritative, electronic product records with appropriate data validation and access controls to maintain data. This helped the company comply with the FDA UDI regulation to submit UDI product data to FDA GUDID database.

Result

StrikeTru and Innovit delivered a PIM software solution that helped this firm comply with the FDA UDI regulation by submitting device product data in a timely manner. This system contained authoritative, electronic product records with appropriate data validation and access control mechanisms built-in that allowed the company to also demonstrate compliance with FDA 21 CFR Part 11 requirements – with regards to validation efforts, electronic records, audit trails, and electronic signatures. The company also made plans to leverage the Innovit PIM solution to master all of its product data, orchestrate product data management workflows, and integrate the PIM system with other enterprise systems (PLM, ERP, etc.).

StrikeTru at the 2015 Akeneo Partner Summit in Paris

StrikeTru, Akeneo’s solution partner in the US, participated in the recently held Akeneo Partner Summit in Paris (Dec 1-2). A number of Akeneo Solution Partners from around the world (Europe, USA, Australia, etc.) participated in the 2 day event that included plenty of updates from Akeneo, networking, and sales and technical track workshops related to the Akeneo open source PIM product. There were also presentations from Akeneo’s technology partners (Naolis, Mirakl, and Serenzia) that demonstrated their solutions that augment the capabilities of the Akeneo open source PIM software in the areas of print publishing / print automation, marketplace integration, and data quality (efficient cleansing and transformation).

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In addition to networking and workshops, there was also a partner round table with the Akeneo executive team to discuss in a more informal setting the momentum Akeneo is seeing in the market, and how it is responding to it. StrikeTru, and other Akeneo Partners, had an opportunity to provide feedback on the product pricing, features and roadmap, and Akeneo partner program specifics.

Petra – Rich Product Content Build for a leading Consumer Electronics Distributor

 

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Petra, a leading US distributor of consumer electronics, mobile audio/video, custom installation, and appliance connection supplies, needed rich product content to support its eBusiness growth strategy

Challenge
Having experienced significant success selling to large customers like Amazon and BestBuy through the traditional EDI channel, the company wanted to grow sales via its many small and medium sized resellers. Critical to this strategy was a best-in-class eCommerce operation that provided rich and timely product content to the company’s eCommerce customers. To develop this capability, the company was implementing an Akeneo PIM system, and needed to capture and provide rich product content that would directly impact eCommerce and other channel sales.

Solution
The company approached StrikeTru to identify and address gaps in its organizational product data and meta-data. After assessing the data, StrikeTru recognized the need to develop a proper catalog structure (product hierarchy, product categories and attribute schemas, lists of values), classify existing products, and build out granular, rich product content including specifications, images, and PDF collateral documents. By working closely with the company, StrikeTru developed best practice based catalog data structures, built out rich product data, and delivered those to help populate the Akeneo PIM system which powered the company’s eCommerce and other channels.

Result
In a short period of time, the company obtained rich and granular product content to support its eCommerce and PIM strategy. A revamped and modern eCommerce website with rich product content was launched shortly after StrikeTru’s engagement ended. To further assist the company’s commitment to a PIM strategy, StrikeTru recommended best practices related to product data management organization structure, roles and responsibilities, PIM use cases, and PIM implementation road mapping.

PIM software with GDSN Connector Replacement for a Global Manufacturing Firm

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A global manufacturer with operations in 70 countries and sales territories worldwide, this company evaluated multiple PIM software solutions to re-platform its existing PIM software for its Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN) operations.

Challenge

This manufacturing company used the GXS system with a GDSN connector to aggregate and publish product data to the GS1 Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN). GXS was going out of support and needed to be replaced. This company’s customers, many of who are large US retailers, depended on GDSN to get new and updated product data routinely, and an interruption here would have impacted sales negatively. Being a large global company with multiple business units, this manufacturer had complex product information management and data synchronization requirements and needed a robust PIM/MDM tool with a GDSN connector to meet its needs.

Solution

Innovit MDM was chosen as the system to replace GXS. StrikeTru worked with Innovit to define 3M’s requirements for an improved PIM/MDM solution that was to replace GXS GDSN connector functionality and provide improved data management and GDSN capabilities. There was also a need to develop in Innovit MDM additional GDSN reports and enhancements to match current GXS features and provide easy visibility into the status of data synchronization with the company’s trading partners (i.e. customers).

Result

The company was able to migrate its GDSN operations from GXS to Innovit MDM before support for GXS ran out. The company also benefited from the enhanced usability and data management features that the Innovit tool provides via its intuitive user interface, data staging, and built-in GDSN data validation capabilities.

StrikeTru and Innovit at the 2015 GS1 Connect Conference in Austin

StrikeTru will be at the 2015 GS1 Connect Conference (May 31 – June 4, 2015) in Austin, Texas.

GS1 is a neutral, not-for-profit organization dedicated to the design and implementation of global standards and solutions to improve efficiency and visibility in supply chains. It is an organization that develops global standards for identifying, capturing, and sharing product information.

GS1 and its subsidiary 1WorldSync are engaged in multiple initiatives to improve consumer confidence in digital product information. 1WorldSync is a global product data management and data pool solution provider helping companies share trusted product information with one another and with consumers. StrikeTru is collaborating with Innovit to deliver GDSN and UDI compliance solutions (based on its iICE Connector product) for the supplier and recipient GDSN community in healthcare, manufacturing, and other industry sectors. For the second year running, Innovit is an exhibition partner and sponsor of the Healthcare tracks at the GS1 Connect event. Innovit is also a global certified solution partner of 1WorldSync.

StrikeTru at the 2015 Magento Imagine Conference in Las Vegas

StrikeTru will be at the 2015 Magento Imagine Conference (Apr 20 – 22, 2015) in Las Vegas, Nevada. As a premier PIM and MDM solution provider, StrikeTru works with clients that implement Magento e-Commerce software and seek PIM or catalog management solutions.

Imagine 2015 is the premier Magento commerce conference. Now in its 5th year, this event brings together 2,500+ merchants, partners, developers and commerce experts from 40+ countries to network, exchange ideas and build relationships. Imagine 2015 offers an opportunity for senior executives, marketers, developers, merchandisers and eCommerce visionaries from leading merchants, web design agencies, system integrators and technology innovators to collaborate and share the latest inspirations, technologies, techniques, and strategies transforming commerce.

Please visit imagine.magento.com for updates and more information about Imagine 2015.

Typical PIM Problem Statements

These are typical problem statements we heard from companies that invested in PIM. Often times, these problems exist because product data is managed in a fragmented fashion across disparate systems and spreadsheets. If you’re experiencing similar challenges, please contact us for an introductory chat to explore how we can help you. As McKinsey said, integrating data sources into a single system that is accessible to everyone in the organization will improve the “clock speed” for innovation. In other words, the organization will become “agile”.

“It takes us 5 times longer to roll out products compared with our best-in-class peers.”

“Our customer base thinks we are inept – we deliver data in weeks versus days for our competitors and it makes us look bad. Sales people must focus their time on smoothing over data management issues instead of building relationships and up-selling accounts.”

“Online sales grew from 20% to 50% of total sales in just 3 years – we simply need better product data management capabilities”

“Catalogs take too long to produce, and they are out of date by the time they’re printed.”

“30-50% of time spent compiling and sending product data to our customers is wasted effort due to redundant work”

“A key distributor removed us from its website because we missed their deadline for providing product data”

“5-10% of our product data is bad, and could result in $55,000 in penalties for just one customer alone”

“The same product is branded 4 different ways across our print & web channels”

“Our agency spend is excessive, we’d like to reduce it by 50% in 2 years”

“We acquire companies routinely and have significant challenges in introducing their products to our channels and geographies quickly”

StrikeTru completed implementing Akeneo PIM for a retailer

We recently completed implementing an Akeneo based Product Information Management (PIM) system for Steal-A-Sofa, a furniture retailer. Akeneo is an open source PIM system that is specifically targeted for retailers looking to replace their cumbersome excel based product information management processes with an simple and easy to use web based system.

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StrikeTru rolled out a Nuxeo based PIM and DAM system

We recently wrapped up the implementation of a Nuxeo ECM (Enterprise Content Management) platform based Product Information Management (PIM) and Digital Asset Management (DAM) system for PTS America, one of the world’s largest vertically integrated manufacturer of ceramic tableware. StrikeTru managed a vendor selection process and helped choose Nuxeo based on a number of criteria that were relevant for this specific client’s needs.

Phase 1 of the project enabled the client to start migrating and enriching existing products and digital assets. Phase 2 of the project rolled out functionality to orchestrate new product development processes by configuring appropriate workflows and reporting.

Riversand

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Assisted Riversand in delivering enterprise PIM projects for their clients. Riversand is a leading PIM and MDM solution provider.

Sample projects include:

  • PIM for a Fashion Retailer (Revenue: $5-$10B)
  • PIM for a Welding and Cutting Equipment Manufacturer (Revenue: $1-$5B)
  • PIM for a large Canadian Integrated Energy Company (Revenue: $10-$25B)
  • PIM for a Batteries Supplier (Revenue: $30-$50M)

Innovit

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We migrated and made critical enhancements to Innovit’s legacy website. We’re an Innovit PIM and GDSN implementation partner in the US.

Innovit is a leading provider of software solutions for Product Information Management (PIM), Master Data Management (MDM), and Global Data Synchronization (GDS). Innovit’s serves a broad range of industries that include food, liquor, groceries, hardware, healthcare, stationery, automotive, industrial and safety products. Innovit’s clients use its software solutions to improve their efficiencies around validating and managing master data.

Through its partnership with global standards body GS1, Innovit software products have been certified for GDSN to support data pools such as 1WorldSync, TrueSource & GS1net (NPC / DHBNC).

Innovit has offices in North America, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

Delivered a SailPoint IdentityIQ project

Operating as part of a client’s extended delivery team, StrikeTru recently implemented a SailPoint IIQ project to help an organization address audit gaps in their privileged user account maintenance processes. Findings highlighted gaps in the organization’s ability to track and audit the on-boarding and off-boarding of privileged user accounts, what systems they accessed and reasons why, and password management.

The SailPoint IIQ enabled solution we helped develop helps track and report the requesting, approval, provisioning and de-provisioning of privileged system accounts and temporarily elevated privileges.

Migrated and enhanced a legacy Drupal web site

A client and partner (Innovit, a PIM/MDM vendor) brought us in make several enhancements to its website in a very short period of time. It was a legacy Drupal implementation that StrikeTru inherited from a vendor that was no longer engaged with Innovit. Innovit needed to go live with a set of changes that were pending for a long time, and also make several brand and content enhancements in lieu of their push into the American market.

StrikeTru assessed the situation and delivered the project in two phases in quick succession. Phase 1 involved migrating the website over to a new host (for performance reasons) and releasing the pending changes into production. Phase 2 involved a number of other changes including newly branded emails, the launch of a Europe facing subsite, and paypal payment integration.

StrikeTru at the 2014 GS1 Connect Conference in San Diego

StrikeTru will be at the 2014 GS1 Connect Conference (June 8-12, 2014) in San Diego, California.

GS1 is a neutral, not-for-profit organization dedicated to the design and implementation of global standards and solutions to improve efficiency and visibility in supply chains. It is an organization that develops global standards for identifying, capturing, and sharing product information.

According to a Cap Gemini study titled “Beyond the Label: Providing Digital Information Consumers Can Trust”, the data consumers receive in today’s digital marketplace is often inaccurate, incomplete or missing entirely. Apparently nearly 40% of shoppers said they would not buy a product if they could not trust the accuracy of the digital information. GS1 and its subsidiary 1WorldSync are engaged in multiple initiatives to improve consumer confidence in digital product information. 1WorldSync is a global product data management and data pool solution provider helping companies share trusted product information with one another and with consumers.

Triumvir Corporation

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We helped Triumvir implement a SailPoint Identity and Access Management (IAM) solution for one of its clients, a large IT services vendor. Triumvir works with several Fortune 500 clients in Energy, Insurance, and Banking industries to deploy successful IAM and Identity Governance and Administration solutions.

 

StrikeTru at the GS1 Connect 2013 Conference

StrikeTru will be at the GS1 Connect 2013 Conference (June 10-13, 2013) in San Antonio Texas.

GS1 is a neutral, not-for-profit organization dedicated to the design and implementation of global standards and solutions to improve efficiency and visibility in supply chains. It is an organization that develops global standards for identifying, capturing, and sharing product information.

StrikeTru will be attending IRCE 2013

StrikeTru will be attending the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition (June 4-7, 2013) at McCormick Place West, Chicago.

Image courtesy: forefrontmag.com

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