Customer spotlight story: Boretti

We chose inriver because of a combination of elements including the cost base, it being closed source, it being cloud based, syndication options, integrations, and the future features so we can grow,” said van der Groep. “Basically, inriver had everything we wanted and it wasn’t just my opinion. We all thought the inriver application, including the organization, and its future-readiness made inriver the right solution for us.

Barry van der Groep, CIO | Boretti

challenge

The challenge for Boretti and van der Groep was not obtaining buy-in for such a large-scale digital transformation, the project was fully supported by the organization. In fact, the actual business case came from within the team and once the project got started, there was intrinsic motivation to drive success said van der Groep.

Finding the right PIM solution and best partner to help implement and integrate the project effectively was the biggest challenge. There wasn’t any margin for error.

They wanted a solution that would be secure, SaaS, and flexible enough to meet the evolving needs of Boretti and their customers. The implementation partner needed to be a true partner, one that would help guide the process and decisions around the project, not just implement software.

Like many organizations, Boretti’s product information was not centralized in one place. Data was scattered across desktops, laptops, and in the marketing and product departments. To enable scalable e-commerce, the Boretti teams needed their product information in one central location, where it could be managed, enriched, and syndicated automatically, not manually.

In enhancing product information, van der Groep wanted to improve the customer experience as well to reduce the amount of returns and increase sales.

“The right implementation partner was really important for me,” said van der Groep. “For me, the success of an implementation is highly related to the partner, and if they fit with who we are as a company. Although this project didn’t have a challenging implementation, the complexity was more in the integration as we needed field mapping through our middleware with Shopify, which was relatively new, and our ERP.”

Ctac fit perfectly.

“We have a lot of new products coming in and new sales channels, it’s a growing organization, where people can become overloaded. Ctac really thought through things with us and helped us with our strategy, and also took extra steps when it was needed,” stated van der Groep.

“And they served as the partner on the stuff that we were not able to do ourselves, but we needed to do. So they’re really flexible and also managed us in a proper way. It was a very positive experience for me.”

result

Van der Groep lead the Boretti multi-phase transformation with Ctac. The timeframe was accelerated with a goal of basic implementation within three months. Next was phase two which included database integration, ERP, Shopify, including middleware parts and enhancing search. Then, finalizing connectivity parts.

Not only did Ctac complete the project on time, this all happened during the pandemic and global lockdowns. Although the teams couldn’t be together to run the project, weekly sprints helped keep the teams focused and communications strong.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) and hard ROI metrics need time to surface. However, van der Groep does foresee early indicators of fewer returns and increased customer satisfaction.

The final results? Boretti outperformed last year’s revenue, despite the pandemic.

“For me, the number one advantage is now is being able to centralize all the product information. We have reduced the time needed to manage and onboard product information,” said van der Groep.

Advice for others looking to scale their business globally and implement a PIM?

“Try not to do too many things at the same moment, because that can be painful,” shares van der Groep.” Reserve enough time for the team, try to work on the project in a different environment than your usual workplace and you obviously need to have the proper team with different flavors such as product, marketing, tech, and maybe services, who are enthusiastic and intrinsically motivated to make it work.”