Akeneo PXM Champion: Digital Factory InVivo

Invivo’s eCommerce platform had to accommodate clients with varying levels of digital maturity while ensuring product data remained structured and optimized for search engines. Without a centralized system, data was siloed, making it difficult to integrate new products, maintain consistency, and support an effective omnichannel strategy.

Reliance on both manual file imports and importing data from multiple disparate sources quickly turned small issues and updates into overwhelming tasks for Invivo, slowing product updates and limiting the ability to scale. 

Customizing content for different distribution channels also became a time-consuming process, and poor data structuring meant that SEO optimization was going to be difficult. Educating clients and data suppliers on digital tools was crucial to streamlining data management, but the lack of automation made it difficult to digitize partner catalogs and structure data effectively for eCommerce. 

With stakeholders spanning the entire value chain (distributors, suppliers, and data providers) it was crucial to create a self-service model that empowered each group to manage their data efficiently.

However, their existing system lacked the necessary flexibility, leaving teams dependent on manual processes and technical support. To build a truly omnichannel platform and enhance data governance, they needed a robust solution that integrated seamlessly with their operations, automated catalog updates, and enabled efficient product lifecycle management.

Akeneo was the starting point for Digital Factory InVivo’s journey into omnichannel platforms.

Faced with all of the complexities that come with managing a large and diverse product catalog, Invivo turned to Akeneo and Accenture to help them create a single, centralized product data repository that would ensure data reliability and consistency across all channels.

Invivo utilized Akeneo to automate catalog integration and updates, eliminating the reliance on manual file imports that previously slowed operations. Akeneo’s business rules and automation capabilities significantly improved efficiency and time-to-market for Invivo, reducing ticket processing time from 1 day and 9 hours to just a few hours.

By leveraging Akeneo’s control and validation features, Digital Factory InVivo ensured data accuracy and consistency across all platforms, improving SEO optimization and market compliance. 

Akeneo’s AI-driven automation for product descriptions and enrichment also enhanced the quality and relevance of product data for Invivo, eliminating inconsistencies and improving the customer experience.

Following an in-depth analysis conducted with Accenture, Akeneo’s interoperability was identified as a key factor in enabling seamless integration with external systems via APIs.  Not only does this interoperability simplify the distribution of enriched product data, but it also allows the development of an omnichannel platform to be accessible across cooperatives, wholesalers, distributors, stores, sales representatives, and customer service teams, ensuring a unified and fluid customer experience.

When it came to international expansion, Akeneo’s ability to manage multilingual and multicultural data was instrumental in InVivo’s international expansion, including the development of the CMG platform for American brewers. By enabling the tailoring of catalogs to local contexts, Invibo was able to enrich content to meet customer expectations in different countries or comply with specific regulations, particularly in the agri-food sector. 

As a result, time-to-market has been significantly reduced, allowing the company to seize new business opportunities more quickly while ensuring compliance with regional requirements.

To further enhance data structuring and display for eCommerce, InVivo digitized partner catalogs and established a data governance hub. This initiative, supported by Accenture, included the deployment of a PIM/DAM manager and master data management teams, working alongside Product and Tech teams to optimize product lifecycle management.

The integration of Akeneo alongside advanced digital tools has significantly enhanced InVivo’s product information management, operational efficiency, and scalability.

Key Improvements

• Significant SLA enhancement, reducing ticket processing time to just a few hours, leading to increased productivity and a more responsive workflow.
• Expansion in attribute management, growing from 40 to 650 attributes, allowing for a more diversified product offering and improved adaptability to new markets.
• Optimized resource allocation, achieving efficiency gains equivalent to 1.5 FTEs within just three weeks, reducing manual workload and improving scalability.