MSA’s digital strategy in safe hands with hybris
Established in 1914, MSA Safety, Inc. is a global
leader in the development, manufacturing
and supply of industrial safety products. They
provide a comprehensive line of products used
by workers in the fire service, law enforcement,
construction, oil and gas, chemical and other
industries, as well as the military.
Company: MSA Safety, Inc., global leader in the
development, manufacturing and supply of industrial
safety products
Challenge: Globalize data to allow for a fully integrated
experience
Solution: hybris B2B Commerce, PCM and WCMS
Results: An upgraded, scalable B2B site with
a better organized and centralized product repository,
allowing customers a more personalized, self-service
purchasing experience
The Challenge: Simple Safety Solutions
Now approaching their 100-year anniversary, the company has
decided to revamp its digital strategy to better suit the needs of its
customers. Up to this point, their 40 websites were built completely
separately from one another, in 20 languages, on a variety of legacy
in-house and commercial technology platforms.
In an effort to streamline the back-end processes, they developed a
new strategy that involved consolidating all of the sites onto one
global platform. They hoped this would enable them to globalize
their data to provide a seamless, integrated brand experience across
all their sites, and to provide useful and relevant product information
for their customers, enabling more purchases to be made online.
Case Study MSA Safety
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Another goal was to provide a personalized, user-focused
purchasing experience that allowed MSA’s customers (entirely B2B)
to manage their accounts themselves, without needing to contact
MSA directly.
The Solution: Help Them Help Themselves,
with hybris
To achieve their goals, MSA chose to transition their digital
experience to the hybris platform, utilizing their B2B Commerce
Application, PCM (product content management) and WCMS (web
content management system). The choice was based on hybris’
robust and scalable commerce platform, its well-organized and
centralized product data repository, and its search and product data
visibility through integration to 3rd party tools.
MSA worked with implementation partner Acquity Group to develop
the new site. As a B2B-only site, channel partners can now log on
and browse the site seeing their own account pricing, order the
products needed for their distribution business and place the orders
directly with MSA. The site integrates with SAP ERP. All information
about availability and pricing comes directly out of the SAP system
into the hybris front-end.
The Result: A Safe Strategy
MSA rolled out the U.S. e-commerce site last year. “It has received
positive feedback,” says Susie Sapsara, Global E-Business Manager
for MSA . “Our distributor partners appreciate being able to do more
self-service.”
Meanwhile, the benefits of consolidating all the product data into one
centralized location are already being seen. MSA is now able to
manage and maintain the data for their various global product
offerings from one place, ensuring a consistent brand experience
across the world.
Looking Ahead: Always Be Prepared
MSA expects to roll out the e-commerce transaction functionality to
as many as four sites throughout this year, then work with their
executive leadership to develop the roadmap for the remaining
launches in its global network.
About hybris software
hybris software, an SAP Company, helps businesses around the globe sell more goods, services and digital content through every touchpoint, channel and device.
hybris delivers OmniCommerce™: state-of-the-art master data management for commerce and unified commerce processes that give a business a single view
of its customers, products and orders, and its customers a single view of the business. hybris’ omni-channel software is built on a single platform, based on open
standards, that is agile to support limitless innovation, efficient to drive the best TCO, and scalable and extensible to be the last commerce platform companies
will ever need. Both principal industry analyst firms rank hybris as a “leader” and list its commerce platform among the top two or three in the market. The same
software is available on-premise, on-demand and managed hosted, giving merchants of all sizes maximum flexibility. Over 500 companies have chosen hybris,
including global B2B sites W.W.Grainger, Rexel, General Electric, Thomson Reuters and 3M as well as consumer brands Toys“R”Us, Metro, Bridgestone, Levi’s,
Nikon, Galeries Lafayette, Migros, Nespresso and Lufthansa. hybris is the future of commerce™. www.hybris.com | [email protected]
Version: May 2014 Subject to change without prior notice © hybris
Case Study MSA Safety
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