On to a new (digital) home base
The website of US-based CLS presented a challenge. CLS turned out to manage hundreds of domains, microservices and tools, which also involved a digital unbundling from the old parent company. Much more than transferring content pages, in other words. And then there were time and cultural differences and the sentiments prevalent among US employees. They had worked for CLS for years and, as Signify, suddenly had to do things differently.
An acquisition in several areas with at least as diverse an impact. Finding a new path in that – one that all parties were comfortable with – was just as important as the technical part to make the acquisition a success.
Complete content migration to a new, complex digital landscape
From comprehensive analysis to deployment and adoption by a multidisciplinary, blended team
About Signify
No longer say Philips Lighting, say Signify – the global leader in lighting and high-performance energy-efficient lighting products, systems, and services. Signify's mission? To turn light sources into data collection points to connect devices, places, and people through light. This way, we as users save energy and contribute to making life safer and more comfortable. The lives of users but also those of companies and cities become more efficient, productive, and liveable – and the world more sustainable. CLS stepped into this story at some point. How do you also make such an acquisition succeed on the digital touchpoints?
The iO approach: autonomous and multidisciplinary
With an autonomous iO team, we tackled this project from A to Z. We started with an extensive analysis phase and finally ended with deployment and adoption. We were aiming for a process that would run technically flawlessly, with all content in the right place, well-designed processes, and well-engaged users. Onboarding employees into the new ecosystem became an indispensable part of our work.
The multidisciplinary collaboration was another big advantage for our team. It thus became a project where specialists in AEM, SEO, analytics, tagging and even a dedicated product owner had their own key positions. When you function autonomously between two parties, you get a lot of governance questions. People sometimes still didn't really know who was responsible for what. We rarely picked up these questions ourselves, but we did alert the business in time.
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Download the whitepaperBuilding bridges between America and the Netherlands
Today, we look with extra pride at our partnership with Signify. Getting a new, ambitious marriage between American and Dutch superpowers in the right digital direction was not a given. We turned the initial quest of both Signify and CLS into a positive story.
So, for CLS, we emphasised the positives of the acquisition: more ease of use and efficiency. Building bridges, in other words. We did so with patience, empathy and where necessary a little cheekiness, and that was appreciated.