APEM accelerates its digital
transformation with Akeneo PIM

Founded in 1952, APEM is the global benchmark in human-machine interfaces and contact technologies. The group develops, manufactures and markets a wide range of switching products for markets as diverse as instrumentation, medical, industrial automation, aerospace, defense and transportation. Today it operates in 11 countries, relies on a network of more than 130 distributors and agents across 5 continents, and offers a catalog of several hundred thousand SKUs.

APEM recently embarked on its digital transformation, a major undertaking given the size of the group and the goals it aims to achieve. This transformation involves rolling out many tools on a global scale. On the communications side, it includes developing a new website and a tablet app for the sales force.

APEM’s communications department therefore set out to find an effective solution to these challenges. It first considered using an ERP as a master data management (MDM) tool, but that approach quickly showed its limits. The APEM team noted in particular the tool’s inability to meet the most basic marketing needs, such as media management, handling the various languages in which the group’s products are communicated and, above all, managing collaborative work across countries. Under these conditions, APEM decided to turn to a PIM tool designed for marketing needs.

Centralizing data…

With a brand-new PrestaShop platform in place, the APEM team was quickly won over by Akeneo. The open source PIM tool fits the marketing constraints of online sales perfectly. Managing channels and languages is simple and effective, because the tool is so easy to learn. The administrator has precise control over how data is entered and checked.

Whether it is controlling the type of information, whether a data field is mandatory, the number of characters entered, or the size and quality of images, for each language or channel, the out-of-the-box features are essential to ensure consistent, high-quality data across the entire catalog. That catalog covers more than 300 series from 5 major product families, which today represents tens of thousands of SKUs (panel-mount or PCB-mount switches, joysticks, LED indicators, keypads, etc.) now managed in Akeneo.

This data centralization work was made possible by close collaboration between Synolia and the APEM group: Synolia supported and advised the group throughout the project to effectively address its e-commerce needs and constraints. The APEM teams could also rely on Synolia’s dual Akeneo and PrestaShop expertise to benefit from the PIM as well as its PrestaShop data exchange connector. APEM can now harness the full power of the PIM to manage its products. No more juggling between different tools: everything is centralized.

… in an international context

Although APEM is a mid-sized company, its challenges are much the same as those of far larger groups: subsidiaries on several continents, scattered production sites, diverse production lines and a catalog of several hundred thousand SKUs. Together, the group’s companies supply more than 20,000 customers worldwide. For the APEM group, this means addressing different markets and sectors in different languages, while projecting a consistent brand image that lives up to its products and services.

In this context, APEM needed a tailored response with real cost control. The constraints of international multichannel quickly became a thing of the past thanks to a PIM tool fully integrated across the APEM group. The Communications and Marketing teams can now update the catalog in one click across all the channels they use (the e-commerce site and the tablet app) in 4 languages. With Akeneo, they also know that technical data is consistent, with the added ability to tailor descriptions and images to each medium.

This is a major and essential change, as 7 people currently work in Akeneo every day in 4 countries: France, England, the United States and Denmark.

Faster, stronger business processes

Business process optimization is a significant factor. Day to day, Akeneo gives APEM teams:

• Simpler approval workflows: efficiency and reliability
• Easier collaboration: tasks are shared and completed across teams with real fluidity
• Higher productivity and considerable time savings: everything moves faster! Multichannel is under control, so teams can focus on what matters most: innovative customer approaches.

The benefits are such that APEM teams can no longer do without it! They particularly highlight the high level of usability and user experience Akeneo provides:

• the dashboard, which shows work progress at a glance
• the ability to organize your own catalog view to work more efficiently and focus on what matters
• media management in the Asset Manager to automate processing

Results

Since implementing Akeneo PIM, APEM has gained a wide range of benefits. The company significantly accelerated the international rollout of its PrestaShop website thanks to easier translation management for product information. It took only a few months for APEM to open its platform to several countries (UK, USA, China, Germany, etc.). New products also reach the different markets faster.

This product data centralization also enabled APEM to improve the quality of its product pages across its distribution channels. By offering richer, SEO-optimized product pages, APEM significantly increased its share of organic traffic.

The visitor experience has improved too. A B2B buyer must also be able to easily access complete information, especially for highly technical products. That is now the case. Although the site is not transactional, visitors can view all the information about a product (photos, specifications, 3D file, etc.), making it easier to judge whether the product fits their needs. This higher-quality experience has had a direct impact on the number of quote requests and, as a result, on the number of qualified leads generated.