Efficient product data management for Neuco AG

Neuco AG specialises in creating perfect lighting conditions. The Swiss market leader with head office in Zurich implements unique lighting solutions of the highest standard for retailers, gastronomy businesses, offices, residential buildings, museums, churches and private properties. The lighting experts live by a crystal-clear philosophy: the lighting effect, and not its source, is important. With a portfolio comprising over 150,000 products, the right product data management is crucial.

Initial situation

Until recently, Neuco AG used to manage the product data of its more than 150,000 products manually. This process included the copying of delivery data and contents from previous publications as well as the manual update of various publications and duplication of contents for translations or the company’s own website. These manual processes took a lot of time and the error potential was high, thus costing even more time for audits.

Objective

The aim was to minimise the great error potential and time involved in the manual product data management. To achieve this goal, the data storage, which up to that point took place in a multitude of systems, was to be eliminated and the data compiled in a single system. A database-supported, workflow-led, media-neutral product management system was to be optimised for the full product portfolio by adding publication channels (print/web).

Solution

Together with a&f systems, Contentserv was assessed as the ideal system for Neuco AG. a&f’s task was to implement and configure the Contentserv PIM/MAM system on the customer’s premises. Interfaces for automatic imports from the customer’s ERP were also provided and print and web exports configured. a&f systems assisted Neuco AG right from the beginning – from the start of the project to its successful completion.

«We are glad to have found the ideal solution for our company, together with a&f systems and the Contentserv PIM/MAM system.»

Pascal Läubli, Head of Marketing and member of the management board of Neuco AG

Ihr Ansprechpartner

Serge Dillier

Deputy CEO & Co-Owner, Head of Applications, Member of the Executive Board

sdillier@a-f.ch

Project schedule

In the beginning, the project focused on the “print” business. During the course of the project, however, the approach changed to “digital first”, which meant that the print catalogue production took a back seat for the time being. The various use cases were implemented in the system step by step, enabling Neuco to transfer its entire product portfolio to Contentserv, where marketing-relevant information such as texts, technical data, images or diagrams (e.g. light distribution curves) were then gradually added to the products. When the Neuco website was relaunched in March 2018, the website data was already taken directly from Contentserv. In March 2019, another major step was on the agenda – updating the Contentserv system from Version 14 to Version 18. Even in the future, the system will still create challenges and require adjustment to further optimise data maintenance and quality and increase productivity. These challenges will continue to initiate small projects, which a&f systems ag is honoured to implement together with Neuco.

Obstacles

Every major project comes with obstacles that need to be tackled. One of the challenges during the joint project with Neuco AG was the automatic creation of product texts that are compiled from various product attributes. The software developer created a special module for this purpose called “StringFunctions”. It provides a slick and user-friendly solution for compiling and distributing information from various product attributes without any programming knowledge. Today, StringFunctions comes as standard in Contentserv. Another specific challenge was the full automation and workflow-controlled creation of product data sheets (PDF) as from a certain product maturity level. This was implemented with the “SmartDocuments” Contentserv module. SmartDocuments are individually programmed (PHP, HTML, CSS) and configured and can therefore be provided as templates for creating the PDFs.

«The cooperation between Neuco AG and a&f systems ag is always based on open and honest communication. It is great fun working together.»

Fabian Arnold, System Engineer Applications a&f systems ag

Conclusion

The introduction of the Contentserv PIM/MAM system has provided Neuco AG with significant added value for its product data management and is an essential part of its daily business. The “all in one” Contentserv system has hugely simplified data maintenance. This shows in aspects such as data quality and productivity during daily business.

«a&f systems is a strong, honest and reliable partner. All of our requirements have been met to our complete satisfaction.»

Pascal Läubli, Head of Marketing and member of the management board of Neuco AG