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Challenge
One of our biggest challenges was renewing Saint-Gobain’s construction brands for 140+ international websites with their own expectations and specificities. 
FFW had to create a platform able to handle a multi-brand and multi-site approach, with a primary focus on creating economies of scale and total flexibility in reusing developed website modules and site features.  
The team also faced numerous significant business and technology hurdles:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Diverse UX/UI creation: Saint-Gobain needed to provide unique user experiences for each business unit, so we had to craft distinct designs that were aligned with varying stakeholder demands. </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Legacy platform analysis: Analyzing and migrating from multiple legacy platforms, including Drupal 7, Sitecore, and a bespoke CMS, was complex, particularly when some legacy features lacked precise specifications and necessitated reverse-engineering efforts to ensure continued functionality.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">PIM integration complexity: Integrating product information management (PIM) systems posed a critical challenge due to the diversity of products and solutions for different brands across websites. This led to three PIM systems managing 32 different data models.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Stakeholder management: Handling multiple external and internal stakeholders added complexity to project coordination, communication, and decision-making processes.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Third-party integrations: Saint-Gobain needed to integrate third-party systems such as PIM, CRM, and marketing automation systems, requiring meticulous planning and execution to ensure seamless functionality.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Drupal 7 migration: The company needed to build a new platform and migrate roughly 100 websites to Drupal 10 from Drupal 7 before its end of life, ensuring data integrity and compliance. </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Governance and efficiency: Saint-Gobain wanted to establish a governance model that allowed it to share functionalities across business units, achieving faster time to market and reducing the total cost of ownership.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Feature customization: The company wanted to create a web platform that offered business units a variety of features — and autonomy over their sites’ UX/UI and content — providing customization options that allowed units to tailor sites to their specific needs while maintaining a core platform.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Change management during a Drupal migration project proved to be a formidable challenge, requiring careful planning and strategic implementation to navigate effectively.</li>
</ul>
 
Results
The platform is used as the main driver in a larger Saint-Gobain revamp strategy.
The flexible platform setup has extended to other sectors and now covers more than just the building sector. The impact of the platform has shown the ability of FFW to execute a multi-brand strategy.
The multi-brand website platform has allowed Saint-Gobain to create new digital user journeys by implementing clear synergies between multi brands on the same website. This will enable Saint-Gobain to serve its target groups with solutions responding to their needs.
 
The project achieved significant outcomes, including:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">140+ websites: The platform successfully accommodates over 150 websites.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Multi-vendor flexibility: A multi-vendor platform enables efficient feature reuse across various brands and websites.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">8+ brands: Currently, eight brands utilize the platform, with potential for further expansion.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Time to market reduction: The project led to a substantial reduction in time to market.</li>
</ul>
Total cost of ownership (TCO) reduction: The TCO was significantly lowered, enhancing cost efficiency across the digital ecosystem.

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<h4>Impact</h4>
<ul>
<li>The project resulted in notable achievements, such as accommodating over 140 websites on the platform, implementing a multi-vendor system for efficient feature sharing across brands, and hosting eight brands with room for further growth. Additionally, it led to a significant decrease in time to market and a notable reduction in the total cost of ownership, enhancing cost efficiency within the digital ecosystem.</li>
</ul>

Case Study

Multi-brand platform with 140+ websites for Saint-Gobain

Saint-Gobain