*This was an original case study created by DNN Corp. in collaboration with Fortuitas.
An Extranet for Sales and Partner Enablement
Mars Brazil is a division of Mars Incorporated, a global manufacturer of confectionery, pet food and other food products. The Petcare division in Brazil distributes PEDIGREE®, the largest dog food brand in Brazil and WHISKAS®, the largest cat food brand in Brazil.
Mars Brazil had a sales extranet with high costs, low adoption and low usage. They looked for a new, cost-effective solution with social features that would be easy to maintain and support an increasingly mobile user base. Working with Fortuitas (a DNN Advanced Certified Partner), Mars Brazil launched a social extranet, using DNN’s Evoq Suite in the Cloud. The new extranet encouraged usage from employees, customers and distributors. The site is mobile-friendly using responsive design. In addition, contributors are empowered to independently manage content, without IT involvement.
The old extranet struggled to sustain activity and interest. Evoq Social combines collaboration features with gaming mechanics to keep Mars’ users engaged and active. Instead of engaging on public social networks, Mars draws social interactions into their extranet, a property they can track and manage.
There were several pain points that the company was looking to address, and when it came to a solution, DNN Evoq social meant that they could tackle the issues head on. What they were looking to solve was…
1.) The old extranet was designed for viewing from desktop computers only.
2.) Content updates required that a request be submitted to the vendor.
3.) Limited collaboration with Mars partners.
So how did DNN Evoq fit into the equation?
DNN Evoq was cost effective, easy to manage and secure.
On their former extranet, all changes (even changing a word on a single page) required a request to a vendor. The new, DNN-powered site empowers administrators and end users to preview and implement changes on their own. The site runs on DNN’s Evoq in the Cloud, a fully managed and secure service that passed an extensive security assessment from Mars’ IT organization.
DNN’s Evoq Content CMS (Content Management System) puts Mars in complete control of content updates. Users can create and modify pages and have those changes published immediately. In addition, with granular permissions and workflow, certain sections of the site can implement review and approval before updates are pushed live.
A scalable model for managing content.
Successful websites depend on fresh and updated content. Mars uses the granular permissions feature of Evoq Content to empower particular users to manage entire sections of the site. In addition, areas that require editorial oversight (e.g. the homepage) use Evoq Content’s HTML Pro feature to enable workflow between content contributors and content approvers.
Mobile-ready for a growing mobile workforce.
Because the Field Sales team of Mars’ Petcare Division spends a lot of their time outside the office, they often access the extranet from their mobile devices. The Mars extranet utilizes the responsive design features of Evoq Social, which dynamically adjusts page elements based on the viewing device. Features of the extranet are fully functional whether users are on desktop, tablet or smartphone.
Secure collaboration with partners.
Mars’ Petcare Division leverages Evoq Social’s Groups feature to manage secure, access-controlled collaboration with leading partners, such as Walmart. Within the “Walmart Group,” Mars employees from Sales, Communications and Corporate Affairs can securely communicate with their contacts at Walmart. DNN’s Evoq Social facilitated this partner enablement, which was not possible on the old extranet.
Digital Asset Management.
Extranets are rich in the number of documents and files they house. Mars utilizes Evoq Content’s Digital Asset Management (DAM) feature to make it simple and easy for end users to organize and manage their assets in a folder structure.
Over the years, DNN has shown that the platform performs well as an intranet for medium and large businesses. This is why Mars Incorporated chose to use the platform, with the combination of community features and the security needed for such a large-scale operation, it became a "no brainier" in choosing DNN Evoq.
To download the original case study for Mars, Whiskas & Pedigree, please click on this link.
