A wide range of products requires good tools for commercial product life cycle management
Hedengren represents the wide product range of more than 100 internationally known manufacturers. There are currently more than 36 product titles. In addition to the domestic market, Hedengren operates in the Nordic and Baltic countries. International operations also require multilingual management of the products in the selection.
A wide range of products combined with multilingual sales requires reliable and efficient product information management. Hedengren can be considered a pioneer in the use of digital technology in his field. Hedengren Security has used Adeona PIM product information management already since 2008, and Hedtec since 2014. At that time, Hedtec also automated the production of product catalogs by implementing the InDesign publishing automation solution. At first, the catalogs were printed on paper, today they are also published in digital format.
In the past, the lack of centralized product information management limited operations
Before his partnership with Canter, Hedengren focused only on the domestic market in digital marketing. Without a centralized solution for managing language versions and multi-channel publishing, digital marketing in several markets would have been an almost impossible task.
The company lacked a uniform product information model, which made product information management tedious and product information inconsistent with each other. Product information was scattered behind different product managers and difficult to find. It was not managed in any way uniformly, but channel-specifically on websites, print catalogs and online discs.
"We have been able to count on the support of top experts. We have received good development ideas and working solutions from them. Extensive experience is clearly visible in their operations, the most suitable solution is always sought for the customer."
- Mirja Serkelä,
Marketing Director, Oy Hedengren Ab
Product information must always be up to date
With the help of Adeona solutions, Hedengren has met today's basic business requirements and the requirements of responsible customer service. In all its simplicity: product information must always be up to date.
With Adeona PIM product information management, centralized product information management has been achieved behind one tool, and all product information is maintained in one place.
Hedengren's customers are offered high-quality product information using today's digital channels. The information update is naturally automated from Adeona PIM product information management to all electronic channels. In an online store, the role of product information management is really significant.
"Adeona PIM has created a clear basis for our own work and made it possible to share information with partners from different parties. And what's best – the product information is constantly up to date."
- Oiva Katajainen, Main User of the application, Oy Hedengren Ab
Automation has made laborious work steps easier and improved customer service
With the introduction of Adeona PIM product information management, product managers have the opportunity to centrally manage the product selection and product information in different channels.
Automation has made laborious work steps easier, for example updating product information in price lists and folded product lists. Now the information is maintained in one place, and the publications have a uniform look. The information is also easily available to customers and partners online. Everyone knows where to find information.
"A customer can't buy if they don't know - we've made the choice easier with product information management, i.e. making buying easy for our customers."
Brand-appropriate mass customization with publication automation
Hedengren has two publication automation solutions in use. With the Adeona Sales Tool module on the side of Adeona's PIM, sales materials and PDF product cards are created at the push of a button. With the InDesign publishing automation module, product information is automatically entered into the InDesign layout template for customers' selection lists.
Publishing automation ensures a uniform look in communication. For example, the outfit of the product cards published as needed is always in line with the brand, regardless of the creator.
"Thanks to automation, marketing frees up more time to support customers and business instead of producing materials. We have also been able to respond even better to the growing product information needs of retailers and customers without expensive customization of information systems."
"The solid expertise of Canter's experts in creating online stores has been the basis of everything."
Strong partnerships make the project run more smoothly
Product information management and publication automation never work in a vacuum, but are part of the company's operating environment, which also includes other systems. This is also the case with Hedengren. Adeona PIM collects product information e.g. from the principals' sources, the ETIM database and Hedengren's own background systems, such as the enterprise resource planning system supplied by Digia.
Adeona PIM, on the other hand, forwards product information to industry-specific product databases and twelve websites and online stores, which have been supplied by Lamia. Both Digia and Lamia are Canter's long-term partners, with whom effective, jointly agreed operating methods have been formed. When the partners play well together, the customer does not have to coordinate the suppliers' cooperation, nor act as a messenger in between. In addition to strong expertise, one of the most important factors in partner cooperation is clear documentation and a good team spirit.
"The cooperation has worked seamlessly. Even though the people who worked on the project were from different companies, the cooperation has become seamless and a 'we spirit' has been born."
Four lessons from Hedengren for implementing product information management
- RESPONSIBLE PERSON
- Regardless of the size of the company, there must be a responsible person responsible for, for example, the data model. - RESOURCES
- If the product information is not in order at the starting point, getting it right is really time-consuming and laborious. You should think about resources on that basis. - DEFINITION
- The definitions should be done carefully, i.e. which information is maintained in which system and in which channels the product information is to be used. - CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT
- After commissioning, the development work will continue together with Adeona people, because product management is a continuous process.
