Success-Story BMEcat-Erstellung und Datentransformation bei Telegärtner mit CatalogExpress (BMEcat creation)

Telegärtner uses CatalogExpress to leverage their BMEcat creation and product data transformation

 

Discover how Telegärtner effectively utilizes CatalogExpress to leverage their BMEcat creation and product data transformation

The Telegärtner Karl Gärtner GmbH stands out as a premier provider of coaxial connectors, network components, plastic injection molded parts, industrial electronics, and cable assembly.

The headquarters of the Telegärtner group are located in Steinenbronn, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Boasting over 75 years of industry experience, Telegärtner employs a workforce of more than 750 individuals spread across 11 global locations, including Germany, the USA, the UK, Switzerland, France, Taiwan, Slovakia, and Japan. Operating within the realms of ICT (Industrial Cabling & Transportation, emphasizing structured building cabling), MCI (Mobile Communication Infrastructure, particularly in the mobile communications sector), and DCF (Data Center and Fiber to the X, focusing on data centers and fiber optics), the company demonstrates a diverse product portfolio.

 

Initial Situation

For the main product area ICT, the company from Steinenbronn operates with a three-tiered distribution model through electrical wholesalers (such as Sonepar, Rexel, Mitegro, Uni Elektro, etc.). In turn, these wholesalers supply end customers, such as installers, with Telegärtner products.

To do this, Telegärtner must first supply the electrical wholesalers with the correct product data. This is achieved through the Open Datacheck platform, where Telegärtner provides product data to wholesalers as BMEcat catalog files. Depending on the wholesaler, there are different requirements for BMEcat creation and product data classification, such as those according to ETIM or ECLASS.

Previously, Telegärtner prepared various BMEcat catalogs for Open Datacheck using a self-created application landscape based on EXCEL, Access, and various Outlook tools. However, this approach had its drawbacks, as only a specific employee could provide product data to electrical wholesalers. This posed a high risk of failure in data transformation and provision. Furthermore, Telegärtner’s custom solution became increasingly cumbersome and slow due to the nature of the program code structures.

 

Objective: BMEcat creation and provision

Because of these circumstances, Telegärtner aimed to find a cloud solution to minimize the risk of failure in data provision. Hence, this new solution should be able to prepare and provide BMEcat catalogs to electrical wholesalers via Open Datacheck.

The perfect solution was found in the Data Syndication SaaS tool CatalogExpress from nexoma, because it allows for flexible implementation of the wholesalers’ different data requirements. In addition, nexoma convinced Telegärtner Karl Gärtner GmbH with a professional presentation of the solution and a wealth of experience in the field of BMEcat creation. Last but not least, Telegärtner also chose nexoma because they already worked with the Open Datacheck platform.

 

Solution

With CatalogExpress, Telegärtner can provide the various BMEcat requirements and classifications according to ETIM or ECLASS for electrical wholesalers via Open Datacheck. CatalogExpress combines information from Telegärtner’s various source systems. For example, product data comes from the Bertsch Innovation Media Cockpit PIM system and commercial data comes from the SAP ERP system. These data are combined in CatalogExpress and mapped to the target structure once. In CatalogExpress, Telegärtner can access a variety of functions for an optimized data transformation and refinement. Subsequently, the BMEcat ETIM or BMEcat ECLASS catalogs are automatically generated and sent to Open Datacheck via FTP. Assets (such as images or PDF files) can be easily transferred from CatalogExpress this way, too. Open Datacheck then verifies all provided product data and transfers it to the electrical wholesalers. In the future, Telegärtner’s departments are expected to log in directly to CatalogExpress to generate product data catalogs themselves.

With the introduction of CatalogExpress, Telegärtner easily achieved the main goal of IT risk minimization. The creation of BMEcat catalog files for electrical wholesalers no longer depended on a single employee.

 

Further product data management benefits through CatalogExpress

Telegärtner quickly realized that CatalogExpress not only provided them with a steady reliability in BMEcat creation but also opened up many more new possibilities for optimizing the company’s workflows. For example, thanks to CatalogExpress, Telegärtner was able to automate many processes related to existing electrical wholesalers. Additionally, the SaaS solution allowed both simple and complex data transformations to be carried out – even beyond the BMEcat format generation: Telegärtner began generating so-called “master data reports” and regularly automated their distribution to the company’s departments. These reports indicate which Telegärtner data sets are not yet maintained and prepared according to respective target channel requirements. As a result, missing or incomplete data can be subsequently updated and optimized in the company’s source systems – all based on the created master data reports. This enables Telegärtner to further improve the overall product data quality of their BMEcat catalogs.

The management of Telegärtner also decided to expand their sales activities by joining a large US online marketplace. This marketplace required product data in extensive Excel format and with very complex product category structures, including feature bars. Without CatalogExpress, Telegärtner had taken two weeks to maintain a mere 40 items in this data structure. However, the entire range was supposed to comprise 1200 items. So, Telegärtner strongly benefited from the boosting effect of CatalogExpress. In collaboration with nexoma, the corresponding data structure was set up once in the SaaS solution. Furthermore, a reproducible set of data mapping rules was established. For Telegärtner, this means that new items can now be created instantly in the desired format for the US online marketplace – all at the click of a button.

With the help of CatalogExpress, Telegärtner was able to save valuable time and resources while simultaneously seizing new sales and business opportunities. For Telegärtner, CatalogExpress evolved from its original purpose as a BMEcat software into a powerful and versatile data transformation tool. Now, thanks to the multitude of flexible functions in CatalogExpress, Telegärtner can respond to any specific customer requirement, whether it’s differently structured BMEcat catalogs with various ETIM or ECLASS versions, or the preparation of extensive Excel catalogs.

 

This is how Telegärtner evaluates the cooperation with nexoma

“From the consulting phase, through the implementation phase, to operational support, I have consistently experienced our collaboration as positive and smooth. I appreciate the creative approach to problem-solving, the very quick response times, and the punctuality of execution. Due to the versatility of CatalogExpress, no company that needs to transport or transform data from point A to point B can ignore it. A big thank you for the excellent work and support. nexoma sets a real example for service. We highly value your partnership and look forward to further successful projects.”

Heiko Hörner, IT Inhouse Consultant PIM & e-Catalogue Management at Telegärtner Karl Gärtner GmbH

 

“In our collaboration so far, there has never been a complaint about nexoma. We can bring in ideas, and nexoma has also opened up to us on a strategic level. This really pleased me and I think it’s very good. Positive feedback also came from our sales managing director when he spoke about data provision to the USA. He was totally surprised and pleased that we actually already have the right tool for it in the company, but no one really knew it. This is a great compliment to all of us for making the right choice with nexoma and even attracting the attention of a managing director.”

Alexander Voss, Head of IT at Telegärtner Karl Gärtner GmbH

 

Technologies and Data Standards

  • CatalogExpress
  • BMEcat
  • ETIM
  • ECLASS
  • EXCEL
  • Data Mapping
Wer hat‘s geschrieben?
Jan Müller
jan.mueller@nexoma.de

Jan joined nexoma in 2024. As a trained E-commerce merchant, product data is anything but unfamiliar to him. Additionally, as a linguistically adept marketing manager, Jan is our go-to person for many texts (German and English) and provides you with informative NEXIpedia and newsletter contributions, among other things.