Pictured left to right:
Sohrab Saboori- ABG Web Developer
Akshay Sura – Konabos Consulting
Joel Franks- Windward Digital Media
Marc Lamothe- ABG Project manager- CMS
American Bath Group has become one of the 3 largest bathware manufacturers in the world. Multiple brand and division purchases, have led to challenges and opportunities within the overall digital footprint and web presence.
Michael D’Orio VP of Marketing said, “We have always had a number of sites on different platforms, and with all of the brands having a different priority. When MAAX became a part of American Bath Group we decided to take advantage of the opportunity presented us with Sitecore. One platform- every division. And although we are still in the midst of the transition we are seeing the payoff in increased efficiency and enhanced performance”
MAAX was using an outside agency and the numerous transitions were going to be long tedious, costly and loaded with problems. D’Orio contacted, Joel Franks, owner of Windward Digital Media, a longtime Digital partner with ABG, and they formulated a plan.
“ABG needed to be able to launch, transition and build sites on their own time frame, and not rely on an outside agency. They had inherited, and were expanding, an existing Digital Marketing team, and they had the technical resources in house to take on deployments. They had experienced numerous problems with past launches and deployments, It only made sense to give them that power. So, we started the transition.” Joel franks said.
Joel brought in Akshay Sura with Konabos consulting, a 6 time Sitecore MVP. They brought the code in house, corrected issues as needed, rebuilt the infrastructure, setup continuous integration and deployment infrastructure, and made it simple and effective. Now ABG updates and launches are done at-will and with no issues.
Marc Lamothe ABG Project manager CMS and Sohrab Saboori ABG Web Developer are very excited and motivated about the new opportunities:
”8 years, 3 upgrades, 2 major revamps and 3 Sitecore development partners. Windward and Konabos did what no one else would do for us. They gave us the autonomy we so desperately needed, they gave us the keys, showed the way and brought the team to the next level.”
Joel continues, “It sounds like it would be more expensive and tedious, but in actuality, its much more cost effective and efficient for the long run–and ABG sets their own schedule. The Sitecore platform is powerful, but it also had a reputation for being too costly and too cumbersome. We just like to make sure the power is in the right hands, the company relying on it.”
You can contact Joel and Windward Digital Media at jfranks@windward-media.com