communicode realizes web presence with CMS implementation and electronic catalog for BALLUFF

Visitors to the BALLUFF GmbH website should be able to access company and product information more easily and, above all, much more quickly. Thus, in the course of a relaunch of the existing website, the manufacturer of sensor technology wanted the installation of a high-performance Content Management System (CMS) in connection with an electronic catalog. The e-business service provider commissioned with the implementation, communicode GmbH & Co. KG was faced with a great challenge: there was a very tight time schedule for the realization and the new system was to be seamlessly integrated into the existing system landscape. communicode managed the implementation within the given timeframe and at the beginning of June, the new system went live in the first expansion stage.

The company BALLUFF, founded in 1921, is a worldwide leading manufacturer of sensor technology with more than 50 years of sensor experience and more than 2,200 employees. Headquartered in Neuhausen a.d.F. near Stuttgart, the company stands for sophisticated technology, continuous innovation and highest quality as well as greatest reliability and maximum customer orientation.

The worldwide Internet presence was to be newly mapped and set up on the basis of an established standard platform. "Especially the implementation of the important functionalities and the maintenance on the part of BALLUFF were a challenge in terms of deadlines", Axel Helbig, Managing Director of communicode, describes the project. First of all, the communicode team tackled the initial project and realized the website for Germany in German and English.

Almost simultaneously, the specialists and the team at BALLUFF built up the US website. This will go online at the end of June. In the near future, 18 further country rollouts are planned and are already in preparation. "In a very close and good cooperation between communicode and us, as well as via short coordination channels, it was possible to meet the high requirements of the project", says Hansjürgen Eberle, Project Manager Corporate Processes and Organization at BALLUFF.

From a technical point of view, BALLUFF had already decided in favor of the Enterprise CMS OpenText in the run-up to the project and followed the recommendations of the e-business service provider when choosing the electronic catalog for an optimal interaction. The sensor manufacturer now uses the electronic catalog infuniq Web to play out the data from the Product Information Management system (PIM). This presents the data in the desired form on the web. Static editorial content is maintained exclusively via the CMS.

In addition to the pure product data and documents, infuniq Web provides structural information for searching and displaying products in the various areas. For example, the electronic catalog stores which characteristics in which product area are used as search parameters for an attribute-driven search. "Visitors to the website will notice that information is now available much faster. We have laid the foundation for this with the new edition consisting of ECMS and electronic catalog," says Helbig. BALLUFF is very satisfied and prepared for the future with communicode's quickly realized solution. Further follow-up projects are already in the planning stage.