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Antalis

Antalis is a member of the Kokusai Pulp & Paper company (KPP). They are the leading professional paper distributor and provider of packaging and visual communication solutions in Europe and Latin America, with a presence in 31 countries. Antalis provides one of the most extensive and diversified range of products and solutions in the market. They offer their clients a deep level of service in terms of customization, expertise, and logistics, mainly through their 110 distribution centers around the world.

They use socially responsible supply chain practices and are agile in broadening their portfolio and accelerating digital transformation.

 

Antalis Go-Live With Appian

Business Problem

Antalis currently proposes multiple product ranges across different sectors. Material management is split between central and local product managers. Central product managers (CPMs) are responsible for the central brands/sub-brands Antalis deploys in all countries, and local product managers (LPMs) are responsible for country specific brands/sub-brands.

Before Appian, CPMs and LPMs had to initiate product structure and content uploads to the Antalis website via a ticketing tool, and after numerous exchanges, the requests were then integrated by master data teams. This workflow was time consuming and involved many different tools and request formats. In addition, a lack of coordination and control generated anomalies when modifying marketing content. These anomalies can impact the online publication. Antalis needed a solution to create an app to manage brands and product data associated (PIUs), and eventually to manage and enhance product SKU creation.

Philippe Menillet, CIO of Antalis, recounts his experience with Appian: 

"This was the first project that we have built specifically for the marketing team, being focused on how to improve their product management processes and organizational workflow. It was an opportunity to bring together a new way of working and collaborating. The tool was launched in 2019 and has been deployed quickly, with effective business users training throughout Europe.

 

Appian Solution

The implementation of the Appian solution, conducted by expert consultants from Appian business partner Anone, has provided both the CPMs and LPMs the ability to create brands and sub-brands directly. The solution has also allowed them to attach and enrich marketing content linked to all products, which are published directly on the Antalis e-shop. 

In addition to being used as a workflow tool for the processes described above, Appian is also used to build a repository of referential products (e.g., structure, attributes, and values) that helps the product managers to control and improve the quality of product data.

"Thanks to their expertise in the Appian platform and a true sense of customer service, Anone's consultants led the project to success and contributed to our client Antalis' challenges. We are pleased to collaborate with Appian, the world leader in low-code, with a rich and efficient platform that is simple and fast to implement. Appian is our strategic partner." - Viet Nguyen. Anone, Managing Director.

Thanks to the implementation of this application, which involved 80 users, the process has been both accelerated and secured.  This was accomplished mainly by simplifying the collaboration between product managers and master data teams, and by reinforcing product managers maintenance process responsibilities. 

Additionally, users now have better visibility of available marketing content, allowing them to repurpose it across different brands/sub-brands, both centrally and locally.

Philippe Menillet, Antalis CIO, concludes by saying the following: 

“The project has been a real success. We've been able to deploy it throughout Europe, and the UK will be going live next year. 

The ROI is measured in terms of workflow improvement and freeing up time to focus on other strategic projects. 

Appian is a great, easy-to-use tool and both Appian and Anone have been very flexible in working with us to meet our requirements.”