A European service provider specializing in the industrial B2B sector, specifically in trade relationships and production liaison, needed to radically overhaul its customer portal. Mimacom came in to design a slick, centralized solution.
This thing was like 20–25 years old, so you can imagine how outdated it was. They had a vendor that created the portal some years ago, and now, the vendor doesn’t even exist. This made internal upgrades and maintenance really difficult.
The challenge
The company's customer portal was outdated, making maintenance and new feature development difficult.
Inefficient content management hindered the effective distribution of important information.
A complex, multi-account system and a diverse user base presented significant hurdles for digital adoption.
The company's existing customer portal, serving both suppliers and members, presented significant hurdles. It was technically obsolete, impeding maintenance and new feature development, and featured a severely outdated user experience and design. Content management was also inefficient, with irrelevant information clutter and difficulties in sharing new, important updates.
A major pain point involved user accounts; employees often required multiple logins to access information for different subsidiaries, causing confusion and inefficiency. This complex digital environment was further complicated by a diverse customer base, ranging from large manufacturers to small, traditional family businesses, some of whom still operated without email addresses.
The client recognized the need for a major digital transformation, with accessibility and simplicity at the core. In response to these challenges, they sought to replace this portal with a new, state-of-the-art solution built from the ground up.
The solution
Mimacom undertook a pilot project for the company, spanning approximately one year. An initial phase involved understanding the client's needs and developing the portal’s technical concept and architecture.
We had a really close relationship with the project team, meeting almost every day to sync. We were very honest and open-minded with each other, cultivating full trust and transparency.
The core technology for the new customer portal was Liferay, selected for its extensive out-of-the-box solutions that optimize both cost and time. Keycloak was implemented for identity management, handling user logins, credentials, authorization, and authentication. Microsoft Azure was utilized for DevOps infrastructure. The front end primarily used React, while Spring Boot and Java were the main technologies for the back end.
The team developed several custom features to address specific needs:
A custom user interface for user administration and management was built, allowing for easy management of user accounts, organization assignments, and language preferences.
A "preferential agreement" feature was created with a custom interface and API integration, enabling users to download legal documents, such as customs documentation, directly from the portal.
New features were introduced to improve the delivery of important information, including alerts and notifications. The new portal also incorporated rotating news sections on the landing page to quickly present key information.
Search functionality was enhanced using Liferay's out-of-the-box search machine to improve information discoverability.
The new system integrated external applications with single sign-on capabilities, allowing users to access web shops or purchasing tools directly from the portal without multiple logins.
The client was really happy with how we balanced out-of-the-box solutions with custom development. This meant we could create a seamless, cost-effective solution that still accounted for the complexity of their business.
The impact
More efficient information dissemination through alerts, notifications, and improved content structure.
Streamlined user management for internal employees, requiring one or two clicks to manage thousands of users.
Granular permissions control ensures users access only relevant content, and competitors remain separate.
Centralized access for customers via a single account, even for those using traditional communication methods.
Enhanced user experience with a modern design, clean landing page, and functional mega menu.
The pilot project delivered significant improvements to the company's operations, with the client expressing particular satisfaction with the custom-built user management system.
With improved access comes greater impact. Through our specially designed alert system, we delivered important information to the end user as fast as possible, while also adding more value to content through the improved architecture.
New notification features and improved content structuring significantly reduced the time it took to deliver critical updates to members and suppliers, while enhanced architecture and search capabilities made finding information much easier.
A key achievement was the improved user management system, simplifying internal employee tasks to manage thousands of users in just a couple of clicks, providing a major efficiency gain over the previous multi-account system. The new portal offers granular permissions control, ensuring each user needs only one account to access content based on their assigned organizations and roles.
Finally, the overall user experience, usability, and design were substantially enhanced, with a modern appearance including a clean landing page and a functional mega menu. This outstanding usability was particularly valuable considering the specific change management challenges of the project.
This project represented a significant step in the company's digitalization journey, addressing fundamental issues of outdated technology, poor usability, and inefficient information flow. By providing a simplified and centralized digital platform, the client could deliver outstanding UX that encouraged widespread adoption.
In a fast-moving digital world, it’s crucial you have a transformation partner that understands the specific requirements of your industry. Mimacom is here to bridge the gap between legacy systems, modern solutions, and most importantly, your customers.
If you want to discuss your digitization goals, get in touch. We’d be happy to chat about how we can help you stay ahead.