“As a business operating globally we had to master the challenge of the Internet as a subject last year. One of our standpoints is that all business is local. By this we mean that despite the fact that customers are more globalized we should look after them locally. This means that the customer should find a website optimized for his own country and culture. On the other hand, in respect to the website, we didn’t want to give the branches a completely free rein. We, therefore, needed a CMS that on one side permitted unlimited independent websites, but which could all also be run on one system, linked to each other and unified by a visual framework. Each branch should be responsible for its own website. In particular instances however central content must be allocated or intervention must be made by an administrator. Ultimately, we also wanted a link between the online product catalog and our web presence. Online Consulting has, with the help of contentXXL and Smartsite EPM, both of which are Microsoft.NET based, helped us to master this challenge,” Markus Schlageter, Head of Corporate Marketing.
The worldwide supplier of passive cabling solutions for communication networks, Reichle & De-Massari AG (R&M) from Wetzikon, Switzerland operates its company’s international portal, www.rdm.com, on the basis of the Business Content Management Systems (CMS) contentXXL. The CMS serves as a central platform for the websites of the 30 R&M branches around the globe. Many of them have their own websites in their local language which are visually based on the corporate website model while also incorporating some pages from the parent company’s English website. This is made possible by the multi-portal capabilities of contentXXL which allows companies to operate on a single system many dependent or independent websites. In the case of R&M the individual branches are linked together by a standardized page heading and visual framework. The Swiss IT service supplier Online Consulting AG from Wil, Switzerland, implemented the multi-portal and arranged, at the same time, a connection to the online product releases from the “Universe” catalogue which also stems from the online consulting house. The new Internet presence, in combination with the worldwide online catalogue, supports distributors and customers locally in product selection and configuration which ultimately strengthens the international expansion course of R&M.
With 650 employees, around 300 of which are overseas, 30 branches and 75 percent of turnover generated abroad, Reichle & De-Massari AG belong to the successful SME’s operating in the global market. In the course of their stark expansion process, R&M started in 2007, on one hand a new internet presence (ww.rdm.com) and on the other launched an (online) product catalog.
The Swiss IT service provider Online Consulting realised both applications. The Business Content Management Sysetm contentXXL was implemented for the multi-language Internet presence and Online Consulting developed their own production information system, Smartsite EPM (Enterprise Product Management), for the product catalog. R&M shows a range of over 3,000 products on the Internet. In the online version of Universe all product data are, thanks to contentXXL, totally up-to-date and a large amount of extra information is quickly retrievable. Data pages, pictures and installation instructions are easily found. As a special feature the user can individually create extensive documentation.
Fig. The R&M portal offers content in several languages and for many countries
“As a business operating globally we had to master the challenge of the Internet as a subject last year”, explained Markus Schlageter, Head of Corporate Marketing. “One of our standpoints is that all business is local. By this we mean that despite the fact that customers are more globalized we should look after them locally. This means that the customer should find a website optimized for his own country and culture. On the other hand, in respect to the website, we didn’t want to give the branches a completely free rein. We, therefore, needed a CMS that on one side permitted unlimited independent websites, but which could all also be run on one system, linked to each other and unified by a visual framework. Each branch should be responsible for its own website. In particular instances however central content must be allocated or intervention must be made by an administrator. Ultimately, we also wanted a link between the online product catalog and our web presence. Online Consulting has, with the help of contentXXL and Smartsite EPM, both of which are Microsoft.NET based, helped us to master this challenge.”
The website’s high degreee of service orientation is due to contentXXL CMS. An internal intuitive language matched user interface enables the quick and simple publication of content from employees locally. The value to the user is increased by linking related content objects (brochures, whitepapers, data pages, contact data and further links) to one another and through a contextual compilation of scattered information.
The new website meets the posed expectations and surpasses them several times over. The special inclusion of the online catalog generates numerous additional benefits for our customers as well as for our sales organization. The goal to offer information in a well structured form has been completely reached” explains Markus Schlageter von R&M. “Finally, again we have a state-of-the-art Internet site that measures up to present-day needs and with the planned upgrading measures will certainly meet future demands.”
About Reichle & De-Massari AG
R&M develop and produce passive cable solutions for communication networks (layer 1). With excellent products in the area of copper and fiber optics, R&M has acquired the name as a leader in quality, which as ever offers additional benefits in respect of modularity, installation and maintenance convenience. As Swiss market leader, R&M has, in numerous countries, its own affiliates and agencies respectively. Seventy five percent of R&M’s turnover is derived from abroad and this tendency is growing. R&M invests in the region of more than 5% of its annual turnover in research and development. The company is 100% owned by the Reichle family and employs over 650 employees. Martin and Peter Reichle as CEO and COO, together with Hans-Peter Legler (COO) and Martin Gasser (CFO), are the second generation to lead this dynamic company as an independent family business.
About Online Consulting AG:
Founded in 1996, Online Consulting AG specializes as an integrator in the implementation of user orientated solutions for the administration of information and product data with Internet technology. Eighty employees from the area of consulting, software development, data bank, design, network technology and project management offer from one source a comprehensive and competent service. The range is rounded off with Online Consulting’s own hosting center.
Besides challenging projects in the area of product information management (PIM), which guarantees central maintenance of all product data application in various median (Internet, B2B, Print, eShop), Online Consulting AG implements Enterprise Content Management Projects (ECM) as Internet and Extranet solutions or as internal portals.
A higher service excellence is assured through the sites in Wil, Switzerland (headquarters and development), Zurich, Switzerland (data center) and Wroclaw, Poland (Offshore development).
Counted among the customers of Online Consulting AG are companies such as SaurerGroup, Siemens Switzerland AG, OSRAM (Switzerland) AG, Hilti (Switzerland) AG, Merohm AG or Reichle &De-Massari AG. The canton and the town of St. Gallen are other customers of Online Consulting AG, who have up to now successfully implemented well over 600 projects for over 150 customers.