Blog & Inspiration

Too often, marketing and IT departments do not seem to be particularly fond of each other. Despite their numerous touch points, their claims and ideas diverge widely. Things could be so much better if both parties combined their expertise in order to develop joint customer-oriented strategies together.

Bobby Dekeyser was 15 when he stood up one day in an English lesson and announced: “school is not for me.” Instead, he wanted to be a professional footballer. Four years later he was standing in the goal of FC Bayern Munich. However, after a player from the opposition severely injured him a spectacular adventure began: from a farmhouse in lower Saxony, Dekeyser, father of three children, managed to build up a global business with several thousand employees and make the luxurious outdoor furniture with the brand name Dedon internationally known.

Just a tiny ledge, the thinnest groove or a small shelf no wider than a couple of millimetres is enough to find a grip and pull yourself up another half a metre. The ascent is torturously slow, your fingers hurt and your leg muscles begin to shake. Kevin Jorgeson knows that he has to manage the 15 rope lengths in order to join up with his friend Tommy Caldwell, who is already waiting for him 5 rope lengths further up.

Not many people know how it feels to see the view from the peak of an eight-thousander. How it is to leave deep ice ravines, snowy slopes and murderous rocks behind them. Being at the edge of their physical and mental limits and despite this not loosing the will to get to the top – for others unattainable.

The creation and management of complex product information including mapping, classification and digital media assets has become crucial for any business offering products and services. Hence, it became necessary for the Sartorius AG, which distributes complex laboratory products, to put into practice the successful implementation of a PIM system.

Sutter Health, one of the leading not-for-profit networks of community-based healthcare providers in the USA, implemented a master data platform in nine months across a decentralised organisation with the help of Informatica.

Everyone in the business world is talking about the second internet revolution. The Internet of Things directly connects products and devices with each other. The digital transformation of the economy is well underway and in some branches, has left no stone standing.

Simple, quick, and ideally at no cost: More and more PIM vendors offer free demo versions or full basic software to download entirely free of charge. In doing so, they appear to strike a chord with many companies. After all, when greater focus is placed on the much-heralded customer experience, less attention is paid to what goes on in the background. But can it really be that simple? According to a current white paper by the Bayard Consulting Group, many stumbling blocks lurk in a DIY project such as this, almost always resulting in higher costs and increased expenditure.

He always goes at least a step further than the others. Sir Richard Branson is known for realising the things he has set his mind on. In doing so, he has never forgotten how important the right basis for sustainable success is – having the right people around. He tells us how he has managed to get to where he is today and what role the right attitude plays in it all.

How will we live and work in the future? What colours will we be inspired by tomorrow? What social and aesthetic demands do interior designers have to satisfy? One expert has the answer to these questions – Sofia Joelsson. The Swedish-born designer came to the USA 14 years ago in order to realise her dream and her passion for interior design. Today, her company SoJo Design, with its headquarters in trendy South Beach, Miami, Florida, works for extremely exclusive clientele and implements interior design dreams in the upper luxury segment.

It is the shopping platform for men on the internet – Mr Porter. This is where the fashionable man can purchase labels such as Burberry, Ralph Lauren, Gucci and YSL online. The page is accompanied by appealing editorial content, styling tips, interviews and videos. We asked Ian Tansley, Managing Director of Mr Porter, for an exclusive interview.

Committed, humane, authentic, enthusiastic, cosmopolitan, entrepreneurial and courageous – those are the attributes which the company and the brand Ottobock represents. Over 6,000 employees worldwide are working with passion and commitment to fill these words with life – in respectful contact with handicapped people. The company has been producing quality products which have increase the mobility and freedom for people with physical disabilities for almost a decade. The constant challenge – changing technical innovations into technology for people. This demands innovative strength and the courage to take new paths. Owner professor Hans Georg Näder is running the business which is already in its third generation.

Making a healthy diet – and therefore being healthy –possible for so many people, that is the mission of Danone. This topic has always been closely linked to the company history and its products. But the company also wants to be a role model on the subject of exercise and therefore regularly initiates the Danone Nations Cup, the top event for kids in the world of international football.

Jumping over the Canal of Corinth with his motorbike or doing a jump with backflips over the open tower bridge in London has become too boring for Robbie Maddison. The Australian professional FMX sportsman really wanted to know what it was like and made the line between dream and reality fade with an unbelievable stunt. In doing so, he fulfilled his personal ‘pipe dream’ – riding one of the most famous and dangerous waves in the world, in Teahupoo by Tahiti – with his dirt bike.

Why should we be concerned with silos? What happens when departments compete with one another? Shouldn’t we focus on those functions that create the most added value, and ensure that priorities are set by those managers who are most familiar with their individual areas of responsibility? One look at the causes of the silo mentality demonstrates how organisational silos and their digital and operative counterparts often hinder business development. Breaking up silos can reinvigorate companies and activate innovation and staff commitment.

Plain and simple impatience was at the root of a great idea. Niklas Ekstedt wanted to grill on a wood fire but was not prepared to wait for the embers to develop, so he put a heavy cast iron frying pan directly into the flames. The fire, crackling and popping, its sparks spraying, surrounded the pan. The aroma of the food mixed seductively with the spicy smoke of the burning birch wood. This sparked off the idea for a revolutionary fine dining restaurant in Stockholm.

Canberra is actually a compromise. As the rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney prevented a decision in favour of either of these Australian cities becoming the capital of the country, Canberra was simply declared the capital back in 1908. Today, the city, which lies around 300 kilometres southwest of Sydney, is considered an international centre of design. Created about 100 years ago on the basis of the visionary development plans of Walter Burley Griffin and his wife Marion, the city is now a place of continual change, something akin to a living design lab.

Steve McCurry is a globally celebrated photographer who has long been an icon of photojournalism. His "Afghan Girl", the portrait of a refugee child in Pakistan, went around the world on the cover of National Geographic magazine in 1984. It gained tremendous popularity as a projection surface of our Western imagination, and thanks to McCurry it became the symbol of the Afghan tragedy in the conflict with Russia in the 80s. Today, it is one of the most well-known photographs of the 20th century.

ACE Stoßdämpfer gilt innerhalb der Branche von Dämpfungstechnologie und Schwingungsisolierung als international führender Spezialist. Für eine professionelle Produktvermarktung setzt die Firma seit Jahren auf ein PIM-System und Beratung durch Stämpfli. Die Einbettung in die digitale Strategie von ACE ist der nächste Schritt für eine Produktkommunikation der Zukunft.

Schemenhaft tauchen auf der tief verschneiten, kahlen Bergkuppe plötzlich riesige Felstürme aus dem eisigen Nebel auf. Sieben steinerne Megalithen, vollständig in scharfkantiges Eis gehüllt, reihen sich kreisförmig auf, nur einer der Türme steht etwas außerhalb. Der Wind peitscht unaufhörlich über das einsame Bergplateau und wirbelt zwischen den Felsnadeln Schnee und Eis empor.

As retailers grow, efficiently managing data across their application landscape becomes increasingly central. Business users and information technology (IT) leaders therefore require data management solutions which provide insights to them and relevant information to their customers along their purchasing lifecycle. For this reason, accommodating scale, speed and different data types requires data management solutions to systematically evolve.