In addition to this project in the antipodes, 2019 has also left us relevant local projects. Casmar, a distributor of global solutions for security and surveillance, for example, is one of them. On the one hand, we have been working on the implementation of Akeneo PIM for the management of its product catalog. At the same time, we have created its new online store (focused on B2B) with Magento 2, which is fed by all the product information that is being generated in the PIM, in order to improve the user experience. The online store is connected to its ERP, which is Navision, to manage orders automatically and maintain stocks in all markets in which they are present (Spain, Portugal, Colombia and Chile) and their warehouses.

Another project that combines Akeneo PIM and Magento technologies has been carried out by our team for Brico Depôt, a French chain of DIY, garden and home renovation products. The first phase consisted of setting up its online store (aimed at B2B), based on the Click & Collect model, also known as online shopping and store collection. The second phase has already started and we will carry it out throughout 2020.

We have also used the Magento solution last year to carry out the evolutions of the eCommerce of the Torres, and the agri-food company Disfruta & Verdura.

Waiting for the Akeneo PIM 4.0

We have talked about the PIM of Akeneo, the French company of which ASM Web Services is a silver partner in Spain, we would like to recall a relevant fact related to this solution: the launch of version 3.2 on the market.

The main novelties that the new version brought were an improvement in the reference entities, Franklin Insights and work processes, as well as greater benefits in the performance of e-commerce and in the API. Looking ahead to next February, coinciding with the Akeneo PIM Summit 2020, the annual meeting of customers and partners that we will attend, the French company has announced that it will present in society a new version of its PIM, the Akeneo 4.0.

An even more prepared team

One of the best ways we have to evolve as a company is through training and expanding the knowledge of the team. For this reason, four ASM Web Services professionals obtained official certifications in 2019. José Antonio López, functional & technical consultant, functional & technical consultant, has achieved the Akeneo Certified Developer. For his part, Rodrigo País Garay, eCommerce functional consultant, obtained the Magento 2 Solution Specialist certification.Ismael Felipa, FrontEnd web developer, obtained the M2 Front End Developer certification for Magento 2. And finally Dani Palacios, eCommerce solutions developer,eCommerce solutions developer, became the first Spanish developer to obtain the certification for M2 JavaScript Developer from Magento.

ASMWS presence in León is consolidated

We end this summary of the year by looking even further back. If we jump back in time to 2018, we ended that year with the announcement of our new offices in León, located in the Center for Technology-Based Companies (CEBT), very close to the popular MUSAC, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Castilla y León.

After 365 days of flight, the project headed by Jesús Martínez has been fully consolidated and has allowed us to explore new business avenues in that Spanish region. 

We finished the month of November with a double! In this case, with one formative. One of the best ways we have to evolve as a company is through training and expanding the knowledge of the team. For this reason, two professionals from ASM Web Services have just obtained official certifications.
José Antonio López, functional & technical consultant at ASM Web Services, has achieved the Akeneo Certified Developer. This certification is focused on developers who can customize an Akeneo PIM project to adapt it to the needs and business strategies of each client in an optimal way.
A certified developer will be able to successfully implement Akeneo projects, the product information management system. This means that he will be able to provide his clients with the best recommendations on using native features and implementing custom features.

One more expert in Magento 2

In addition, Rodrigo País Garay, eCommerce functional consultant of ASMWS, has achieved the Magento 2 Solution Specialist certification. This title accredits Rodrigo as an expert user of the Magento 2 eCommerce platform. It is designed for those profiles that can efficiently align the commercial objectives of companies with the functionalities of Magento 2, optimize the use of native functions and avoid unnecessary customizations .
Rodrigo joins Ismael Felipa and Dani Palacios, who throughout 2019 have also obtained the M2 Front End Developer certificates for Magento 2 and M2 JavaScript Developer for Magento, respectively.

Magento is the world’s leading platform

Magento is the most widely used open source (opensource) eCommerce platform for creating online stores. It allows carrying out all kinds of projects related to Internet sales thanks to its modular, very flexible and scalable system. Provides tools to drive traffic, sales, and customer engagement.

Traditionally, the B2B customer has been considered to have different needs than the B2C customers. I think the statement is partially true. If you allow me, I will explain it to you.
One point that has been worked on a lot in the field of B2C is prescription. Brands take many actions to get their customers to become prescribers, but this strategy is less frequent in the B2B field.

What is a prescriber?

A prescriber is the person who influences other potential buyers by commenting on a product, brand or service. We all know that there is no better recommendation than someone we consider to be an authority on a topic or someone with whom we share problems.

What does a PIM have to do with the prescription?

Prescribers are not just satisfied customers who recommend products that have done well for them and destroy those that have not. A prescriber is also generated by creating expectations about the products that are to come and generating interest in the rest of the products that you may not even have tried. This is where product information becomes critical.

How am I going to prescribe your products if I don’t know them?

To offer an optimal service and provide the potential prescriber with the best information from the product catalog, I need corporate tools that facilitate centralizing, maintaining and enriching this information. That is where the PIM makes its appearance, allowing the different areas of a company to collaborate to enrich the information and distribute it to the different channels, providing a personalized experience adjusted to each medium. It will not be the same information that I need to publish in my eShop, in a Marketplace or for my paper catalog.

At ASM Web Services we can help you implement these tools to improve processes and reduce Time To Market in the life cycle of your products. We have implemented Akeneo PIM –ASMWS is the software company’s partner in Spain– in different business environments and we have extensive experience in organizing and optimizing highly complex catalogs.

More quality information, more prescribers

To generate prescribers it is essential to provide the maximum amount of information possible about the product, variations, specific characteristics that may be of interest to a specific sector and never forget the visual aspect, adding images, demonstration videos and technical documents that can increase the interest and knowledge. Also, giving interesting and comprehensive product information shows that you care, not only about your product, but also about your customers.
It is very difficult to provide this level of richness with different spreadsheets that are distributed and versioned throughout the company, and where each one makes their transformations and additions, with the images in a shared folder and the product name limited to the 26 characters that ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) allows me.

Rodrigo País-Garay, e-commerce functional consultant de ASM Web Services