ROSEN Group, a global information service provider for industrial diagnostics technology and software for pipelines, storage tanks and processing plants, was faced with the challenge of selecting new marketing technologies to fundamentally redesign and implement various digital solutions such as a corporate website, brand websites and market-specific microsites – including consolidation of the existing digital solutions. The group brought Unic on board to support this consolidation process with platform, content and design expertise. ROSEN-Group.com is now live with a completely new look and feel, a host of new features and cutting-edge performance thanks to cloud technologies.
- Customer
- ROSEN Group
- Customer since
- 2022
- Go-Live
- February 2024
- Website
- www.rosen-group.com
3
Sitecore SaaS Products
1
AI-supported search across all content
100
Per cent cloud-based, 100% performance
1
Minute to communicate new content globally
Composable DXP for Maximum Performance
The new technology stack for digital marketing is based on a MACH* architecture in the cloud: XM Cloud serves as a headless CMS and Content Hub provides DAM functionalities. The system is flanked by a high-performing search engine, which, as it should, draws on AI to suggest the best content matches for the particular search terms.
The company opted for a cloud-based content management system, for which Unic developed numerous customer-specific components to provide editors with a maximum degree of freedom in the orchestration of content. With this setup, editors can quickly and flexibly create new content for various purposes.
*MACH architecture is a modern technology concept and stands for microservices, API-first, cloud-native and headless. This architecture comes with a modular approach for the design and operation of applications, which enables companies to adapt to new business requirements and technologies much faster.
Sitecore Pages – A Powerful Editorial Tool in the CMS
Sitecore Pages provides ROSEN Group employees with a new graphic user interface, which significantly simplifies the editorial process. The tool is a key part of XM Cloud and combines editing and design features so that staff can edit or publish individual pages much faster. The editorial team is now equipped with a powerful What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) editor that supports the editors when they change individual elements on a page – whether text blocks, pictures or illustrations. Also, editors can see how content looks on the page before they publish it, with no need for additional clicks. Sitecore Pages enables visual editing of content from different systems, even though the content is rendered via a headless architecture.
Additional Advantages of the Modular Solution
ROSEN Group is in the comfortable situation of being able to realise pages independently via drag and drop. This is particularly helpful for campaign planning, for instance, to make landing pages even more specific and independent – without third-party support.
External landing pages can be hosted in the new instance from now on. This way, older instances can be migrated to the new system. That not only saves cost but also simplifies maintenance and future development work.
ROSEN provides personalised and/or target-group-specific information segments for the respective sessions ahead of time. When a user navigates to a certain page, the system can make deductions about their industry and display specific additional information.
Frontend in the Vercel Cloud
We use the Vercel cloud service for the frontend of the headless solution. This is a technical node where, for example, frontend code and other information such as text and images are collected and then made available together.
This comes with many advantages for ROSEN Group:
Easy build automation and deployment. This leads to fewer issues with releases and quicker installation on integration and production systems.
The platform also serves as a content delivery network or CDN for short. This guarantees short website loading times for users around the world, regardless of their location, which is a key factor for a group of companies active in more than 120 countries around the world.
The internal IT department does not have to manage the hosting of the respective servers.
DAM – Central Storage for Images, Videos, Documents
The handling of the Sitecore DAM is very easy. The system is linked with the XM Cloud via a connector and is even available in the backend of Pages, the editor tool mentioned above. When editors change content, they access the asset world in the DAM directly.
One Image, Many Possibilities
Together with the ROSEN graphic designers, the Unic design team made sure that the UX design works with a standardised underlying image format, including the option to later crop the image manually in the DAM. All users have to do is upload an initial high-resolution image to the DAM. In the CMS, editors can then select the right version with the right aspect ratio. Of course, these adapt responsively to the display resolution and device (smartphone, tablet, desktop). Smart tags and categories also facilitate asset management.
Image Overview in the DAM
Sitecore Search –Seek and You Shall Find
Since we set the entire project up as a headless solution, ROSEN Group also needed a component for the website search. Again, a Sitecore component came out on top: Sitecore Search.
A key advantage here is the graphic interface of Sitecore Search. This enables ROSEN Group to manage the search, including what is known as keyword boosting, almost entirely on their own (see benefits of Sitecore Search). They do not need to use external service providers if they want to make quick changes, e.g., to steer page visitors towards specific content.
Additional Advantages of Sitecore Search
ROSEN maintains industry-specific synonyms and categorises them. This way, expert terminology and industry jargon are available in one search engine.
Where necessary, ROSEN edits the search results within the corporate website. Employees can use keyword boosting to prioritise additional hits and/or topics – such as campaign content, for instance – alongside the actual search results.
ROSEN also maintains a block list of pages to be excluded from Sitecore Search. Items that are on the block list, such as system pages, are not displayed to users in the search results.
Artificial Intelligence
Die Suche setzt zudem auf eine Künstliche Intelligenz auf, die stetig dazulernt. Sie merkt sich etwa, in welchem Kontext sind einzelne Besucher:innen unterwegs, um beispielsweise bei zweideutigen Begriffen den relevanteren Treffer zu priorisieren. Die Suche justiert sich dementsprechend auf Basis des Suchbegriffs sowie auf die eigentliche Intention der Suchenden.
Special Search Features – Job Search
When it comes to vacancies, we do not use the functionality of Sitecore Search via the conventional search field. Instead, the powerful Sitecore crawler directly accesses the interfaces to various backend systems that store information on vacancies. The data is stored in a consolidated search index and the generated index is made available by Sitecore Search as a structured and formatted job list – which is always current, of course. No separate logic had to be programmed for this.
UX Design and Information Structure
Not only does ROSEN Group have an international footprint, the company also serves different target groups from different industries and service sectors. On top of that, there is the internal structure of the group – Unic had some homework to do at first to understand the business.
In the end, Unic developed more than 40 editorial modules such as the contact module or the highlight teaser, all of which are included in a design system. In addition, there is the navigation, which is not only more stylish now, but also more accessible for users. Industry-specific solutions, use cases and information are not only available through different entry points to the website. We also consolidated information and created a design-based and much more coherent structure. Thematic filters such as the ‘Products & Service Finder’ are a great help for users, enabling them to generate their own filters with just a few clicks and find exactly what they are looking for.
Content Strategy, Content Creation and Content Migration
Not just technology and design were treated to a fundamentally new concept. The content management itself also went through a complete overhaul. The content was rewritten or updated.
We assisted the ROSEN editorial team with the content overhaul and supported them with tooling and a concept for the migration to the new system. Both ROSEN and Unic contributed ideas and practical concepts. A workshop shed light on topics such as SEO, keyword research and the necessary SEO tools. A quantitative and qualitative content audit ensured high-quality output.
Since an automated migration from the legacy system was not possible, we decided to do a manual migration. Together with ROSEN, we developed an editorial process for the migration that was implemented globally and included the production of hundreds of texts and their entry into the new system.
Our goal was an expandable solution to make our digital marketing successful – now and in the future. Together with Unic, we have created a state-of-the-art headless solution that provides intuitive access to our skills and solutions, showcases our brand and offers easy solutions for editorial work, maintenance and expansion.
Susanne Janke
Head of Company Marketing & Communications
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