Shipping Digital Transformation: Content Modeling and Localization That Scales 1 1

Housekeeping 2 ● This webinar is being recorded; we will share the recording and slide deck with all registrants shortly -- keep an eye on your inbox! ● Please add your questions in the Q&A box, we will answer them after the presentation during the live Q&A session at the end ● To get in touch, write to us at [email protected] ● Join the conversation on Twitter with #CTFwebinar Before we dive in...

Introductions 3 Aleks Dubinskiy Software Developer & System Analyst at DFDS Stephanie Perozo Sr. Product Marketing Manager at Contentful

4 Faster time to market Entering a new market within 2 minutes Saving time on manual process More cost efficient Faster translation workflows for 66% of their content Improved results Contentful is the leading content platform for today’s digital-first era. Our software helps global brands accelerate content at scale, to engage audiences with innovative digital experiences across channels, markets, business units — and stages of the customer journey.

The Digital Innovation Gap: Insights from the biggest CMS survey ● The content explosion is putting a strain on creators, developers and businesses ● The pace of the digital-first era requires a new digital playbook to help businesses create, iterate and launch faster ● The right tools and skills within your organization can empower builders Source: The Digital Innovation Gap: the industry’s largest ever survey of CMS 5

6 The new digital playbook is part of our DNA “Before a problem lands on a developer’s desk, there needs to be an understanding between business stakeholders and content creators about what is possible and what the return on investment is.” Aleks Dubinskiy Software Developer, Technical Writer, System Analyst and future trends enthusiast 6

DFDS: A tech company with a few ships Making waves in the shipping and logistics scene DFDS, a shipping and logistics company, operates B2B and passenger transport networks all across Europe. ● 37 routes ● 31 global offices ● 26 markets with web presence ● 5.4 million passengers moved ● 417,000 tons of goods shipped! → A LOT OF CONTENT! 7 How DFDS lost its head: Digital transformation and content management at scale, part one

8 Main challenges before Contentful: ● Large amount of content marketing materials in many languages ● Content across channels and markets ● No comprehensive content strategy From shipping goods to shipping content Identifying areas to optimize as we scale operations

● Centralized content management across markets and distribution channels ● Single source of truth - content all in one place, and not scattered across different locales, CMSes and source code What we wanted (And mostly achieved) 9

But how do we get there? 10 Limited resources Needed to understand what CAN be done Some aspects unclear or underestimated

Step 1: Understanding parts of the puzzle Aligning on the strategy with key cross-functional players 11

Step 1: Understanding parts of the puzzle External audiences and channels 12 ● Ability to reach customers on many channels ● Client-facing channels like the web and mobile presence We were well prepared for this!

Step 1: Understanding parts of the puzzle Understanding parts of the puzzle 13 ● Operational efficiency: data organization, reusability and maintainability ● Processes around content management and content evolution. ...this was not on our radar

Defining a new way of working Automation to the rescue 14

Developer approach ● To most developers, the idea that content should be managed programmatically seems fairly obvious. Step 2: Using code for content management Achieving business objectives with code 15 But how do we know what should be done with code and what does not need to be? ● Before a problem lands on a developer’s desk, there needs to be an understanding between business stakeholders and content creators about what is possible and what the return on investment is.

Simple content tasks that are better off automated (with CMA) ● In-text search/replace ● Eliminating “dead” content ● Going live with a campaign or a whole new market Step 2: Using code for content management Achieving business objectives with code 16

Advanced content tasks ● Importing translations from a 3rd-party translation vendor (Vistatec) ● Big development effort ● Big payoff Step 2: Using code for content management Achieving business objectives with code 17

18 Objective Before After Results Going live with all the content for a new country 1 x (8hr) workday of error-prone, manual work Less than 2 minutes execution 240 x Faster time to market Optimizing translation workflows 25 months Less than 24 hours 66% of the content volume (over 100,000 entries) automated Migrating and managing content Slow, manual and heart-wrenching operations automated with the Content Migration API and Content Management API (CMA) A clean and flexible data model (priceless)

19 “As a developer who spends a great proportion of time integrating systems I immediately took to Contentful’s API’s. Their documentation, samples, easy-to-get-started sandbox, and support meant I was productive in a very short space of time. As I worked with Contentful more and more it was also great to see communities focused around complementary frameworks like Vue.js.” - Phil Ritchie, CTO, Vistatec

Step 3: Content modeling at scale Structuring content for any channel, language or device 20 What we wanted ● Easy to maintain ● Broken down into manageable and reusable chunks ● Aligned and consistent across languages (with exceptions allowed) ● Consistent look and feel ● Distributable across multiple channels

Step 3: Content modeling at scale Cross-functional teams working team 21 ● How we came up with our content model ● Cross-functional collaboration between ○ UX - ensuring presentation ○ Editors - aligning content across markets ○ Developers - automating the boring bits ● Main message: the Content Management API (CMA) lets us evolve over time, as teams change, business needs evolve

Step 3: Localized content across markets 22 Russian English

Step 3: Content strategy meets code Building blocks for scalable content management 23

24 “DFDS went from about 20 separate websites, all locally managed, to one website for 26 markets, all centrally managed. We could not have done it without a platform like Contentful. It was still painful, we made many mistakes, but our overall solution is such a vast improvement, with so much room to grow, that Contentful has become a nearly indelible part of DFDS’ web presence.” -Fadrique Avalle-Arce, DFDS Webmaster

25 Our data model now allows for reuse of over 100,000 entries → Every entry is reused an average of 1.7 times (~40% reduced content volume) Visual Consistency The presentation blocks have a well defined look and feel. → The info block and media block are consistent. Content Reuse Easier Maintenance Maintaining pages and correspondence is easier across locales. → Elements and platform components can easily and quickly be reused. Faster time to market Creators save time by not having to create pages from scratch. → Eliminated the need for error-prone operations Advantages of a content platform

Key takeaways 26 The mental shift: Balancing complexity and cost with long term benefit The business shift: Optimizing processes to scale content across our digital footprint ● Automating processes ○ Understand what you can optimize across your business ● Flexibility and scale ○ Setting up a content model that be adjusted along the way ● Complexity: ○ The model is complex, which makes it harder for editors to get started ● Cost of transition: ○ Balance the low maintenance costs with the cost of transitioning from legacy CMS to a content platform 1. 2.

Tackling content management from every angle Detailing best practices from digital transformation to process automation 27 Let’s keep the conversation going! Reach me at @AleksDubinskiy on Twitter or via LinkedIn

A. Cross-functional agility to iterate quickly B. Flexibility to launch new concepts more often C. Ability to customize solutions to fit my needs D. Scalability: start small and go big over time E. Reliable, low-risk and highly resilient infrastructure 28 Poll: What would help you deliver on business results faster?

Thank you, let’s jump into the Q&A!