Signify & iO: innovative lighting for every home

Transition from outdated UI components to a modern UI library

When Royal Philips split into separate divisions, Signify took over the old Classic UI platform with, among other things, all components. It soon became clear that the old Classic UI platform needed some serious attention. The components had not been maintained for some time and that translated into challenges for users and local Signify teams. That’s why iO recommended a complete transition for the Philips Hue brand from a Classic UI platform to a new Touch UI platform, starting again from scratch, supported by Adobe Experience Manager (AEM).

The webshop is an important component and presented perhaps the biggest challenge of the entire migration. It was essential it remained open and continued to generate sales. While the iO team revamped the website, campaigns and content pages were created worldwide. So we were doing something like building the plane while flying.

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Challenge

A new digital presence for Philips Hue: 47 countries, 47 local teams and countless users.

Solution

A scalable AEM platform – multi-market and accessible to users and local teams.

About Signify & iO

Signify (formerly known as Philips Lighting) and iO were not strangers: iO experts had been an established part of Signify's digital operations for years. Our experts had an immediate and substantial advantage. An established team of iO experts already felt at home with the Signify teams, operating at the intersection of digital activation and capability building. This enabled us to get off to a strong start because the entire team could put their existing operational experience at Signify to good use, especially during the analysis phase.

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Good preparation is half the battle

During the importent phase of analysis, we mapped out all the components of the old platform and analysed them one by one. This was the basis for cleaning and rationalising the architecture, mapping the requirements, and recruiting the support of IT in building components and setting up the platform in line with Philips Hue’s business goals.

iO brings together all stakeholders

The renewal of all local versions, the roll-out of new countries and the transfer to the existing organisations was carried out in agile sprints in two-week cycles. One week go-live and the next week migration – a pattern we repeated 47 times. A cyclical way of working, perfect for continuous focus and optimisation.

During the project, we bridged the gap between business units and IT. We swapped seats almost every day. During contacts with the business units, we were in the development chair and in development we were in the chair of the business. That’s how we brought two worlds together, united in pursuit of the same goal.

"Together with Signify, we built a strong, digital foundation – that other Signify brands can also benefit from in the future. Our blended teams complement each other well in both knowledge and skills. It has been a great success. A success that tastes like the future."

Joyce Bombay, digital marketing specialist iO

Brand, UX and legal requirements united in one platform

These goals were achieved with a new Touch UI platform. We improved the efficiency of the platform by setting up and maintaining it on a global level.

Today, the requirements of the various brands, legal departments and UX are almost completely embedded in the system. Locally, marketers can put new content live faster and roll out multiple new locales in just one day. There are several other improvements, such as maintainability, through a-single-source-of-truth, automation, and user-friendliness, both for AEM experts and visitors.

The result: A new digital presence for Philips Hue

scalable AEM platform

countries

local teams

One platform, 47 countries, 47 teams, happy users worldwide

In the end, a total of 47 countries switched to the new platform. The local teams became familiar with the new techniques and practices, giving Signify the ability to roll out a global campaign for Philips Hue at the touch of a button. A scalable solution with a shorter time-to-market.

This project – together with our work for Cooper Lighting Solutions – is the start of a series of content migrations at Signify, all aimed at realising concrete, tangible value. With a multidisciplinary, blended team, iO continues to fulfil a partner role daily, both strategically and operationally. The tone for future projects has been set, and that’s our greatest achievement.