Signify + Magnolia
Signify's new B2B portal shines in a new light thanks to Magnolia
Über den Kunden
For global market leader Signify (formerly Philips Lighting), light is no longer merely a source of illumination but also a way to connect people and convey messages. In order to improve service for B2B customers, Signify commissioned digital agency TRIMM to develop an online platform.
In addition to the primary goal of improving the process for business transactions, Signify also wanted this project to offer account managers a comprehensive and easily accessible insight into sales that would enable them to support customers fully online.
Thanks to Magnolia, Dutch lighting manufacturer Signify now has a high-performance B2B platform. With this new tool, the lighting OEM can better cater to customer requirements and improve the way it observes and analyzes sales flows.
TRIMM
TRIMM ist eine Full-Service-Digitalagentur.
TRIMM ist seit über 25 Jahren Pionier und Entwickler des Internets und hat sich zu einem echten digitalen Partner für multinationale Unternehmen im B2B-Bereich entwickelt. Mit einer starken Erfolgsbilanz in den Bereichen Hightech, Industrie, Telekommunikation, Einzelhandel und Bildung entwickeln über 100 leidenschaftliche Fachleute digitale Lösungen, die Ihr Unternehmen verändern und Wachstum ermöglichen.
TRIMM verfügt über mehr als 15 Jahre Erfahrung mit Magnolia CMS. Als Magnolia Platinum-Partner sind unsere Entwickler stolz darauf, durch Feedback, Fehlerberichterstattung und die Entwicklung neuer Funktionen sehr aktiv in der Magnolia-Community zu sein. Mit unserer umfassenden Erfahrung sind wir nicht nur in der Lage, die Konfiguration und Funktionalität von Magnolia zu optimieren, sondern wir sind auch sehr erfahren in der Integration von Magnolia in andere Anwendungen in der digitalen Unternehmenslandschaft.
The Challenge
A reliable B2B portal
For Martin Schneider, Global Digital Marcom Manager, the term "innovation" isn't tied to a specific product for Signify but is more a reflection of the company's basic attitude: Signify wanted to be a reliable yet trendsetting contact for its business partners. To support this aim, Signify needed a digital tool. The new portal for B2B communication between Signify and its business partners had to fulfill four goals. These were:
1. To develop a secure portal for customers that facilitates easy and efficient communication.
2. To create an online presence as the starting point for personal customer care.
3. To reduce the time-to-market of new products by optimizing the exchange of information.
4. To cut costs for managing customer accounts and sales by optimizing processes and working efficiently.
TRIMM accepted the challenge and used Magnolia CMS to bring the project to life. The result: Signify's My Technology Portal.
The Solution
A central technology portal for lighting
The My Technology Portal has a central login for OEM customers. This access provides an overview of current orders, technical innovations, and new products. The "self-service" aspect is essential here and supports customer care optimization. With its consistently customer-oriented structure, the portal helps users to find the information they need themselves, in most cases, without assistance
Customers also have the option of contacting an advisor directly. The way in which this contact channel is designed serves to optimize the communication process by allowing a large amount of information to be queried online first. This supports customer advisors by enabling them to invest more valuable time in answering specific questions.
Signify's primary aim was to develop a standardized system for its important B2B communication. A preliminary examination of the commercial, technical, and functional requirements supplied the basic information needed for developing a new portal built using Magnolia.
The Result
A central communication point
The result is impressive: The OEM's communication with commercial customers now takes place via the My Technology Portal as the central access point. This centralization considerably simplifies and accelerates business processes. Plus, it produces additional synergy effects.
Its claim as a central communication point of course means that it is suitable for mobile devices. The My Technology Portal is created in a responsive design and so takes no shortcuts in terms of functionality.
In developing the portal, TRIMM drew on the advantages of the Magnolia CMS. This Content Management System is able to control a huge range of information and functions:
- an overview of all current orders
- access to information at any time (for example on new product launches from Signify)
- a portal structure that continuously adapts to users' expectations
An enhanced customer dashboard provides the functions and information via widgets. These changes highlight the modular capabilities of Magnolia: where the individual elements of a web presence can be intuitively created. In this way, existing content is efficiently recycled for display in another environment (for example a specific landing page).
As well as achieving the goals set, the portal has also led to the development of new digital business and sales ideas which are marketed to the customer via the portal.
Award for the new portal
Magnolia has proven to be an innovative and reliable tool for solving digital challenges for Signify. There is plenty of evidence of its success in practice:
- Better user experience and optimized workflow
- Significant increase in portal users
- Cost savings from switching communication to a digital basis
The Gold MarCom Award for marketing and communication isn’t the only accolade the portal has received. Most importantly, the new portal has won over Signify's business partners. The My Technology Portal has become the preferred address for communication with Signify. This makes the new online platform an important instrument for customer retention.
