About the Client
A leading global manufacturer of industrial and automotive components, headquartered in India, with a presence across fasteners, powertrain components, and advanced engineering products. The organization operates multiple divisions serving diverse industries such as automotive, wind energy, construction, and aerospace.
Renowned for its engineering excellence and product innovation, the company works with some of the world’s top OEMs and tier-1 suppliers, and continues to invest in digital initiatives to enhance customer engagement and streamline operations.
The Challenge
The client’s product showcase and enquiry management processes were fragmented and heavily manual.
- Reliance on Excel sheets, brochures, and siloed websites for sharing product information.
- Inconsistent product categorization across divisions.
- No single source of truth for product specifications, images, and technical documents.
- Lack of enquiry tracking and visibility for both marketing teams and customers.
- Dependence on IT teams for updates and content changes.
These inefficiencies made it difficult to ensure brand consistency, provide up-to-date information to customers, and scale to new divisions.
The Solution
To overcome these challenges, a Digital Catalog Portal was developed on SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), designed with two distinct layers.
External Portal (Customer-Facing)
- A global catalog accessible to anyone without login.
- Division-wise product navigation and category filters.
- Rich product content including multiple images, 360° views, downloadable technical documents, and dimensional data.
- Smart enquiry handling allowing customers to raise queries directly from the product page, with copies sent to both admin and requester.
- “Related Products” and “Customers also viewed” recommendations.
Internal Admin Portal (Division-Owned)
- Role-based access with Super Admin and Division Admins.
- Each division manages categories, products, images, attributes, and visibility.
- Ability to mark products as public or restricted.
- Configurable product attributes such as size, weight, and wind resistance without developer dependency.
- Built-in ticketing for enquiry tracking.
Key Features
- Division-Level Ownership: 48 divisions empowered to manage their own catalogs.
- Configurable Attributes: Flexible metadata for diverse product types.
- Smart Enquiry Flow: Centralized enquiry log with auto-notifications.
- Enhanced UX: 3D product views, multiple images, and intuitive filters.
- Scalability: Designed for phased rollout across all divisions.
Technology Stack
- Frontend: SAP Fiori / UI5.
- Backend: SAP CAP (Node.js).
- Database: SAP HANA Cloud.
- Storage: SAP Object Store for images and documents.
- Deployment: Multi-Target Applications (MTA) on Cloud Foundry.
Outcomes & Business Impact
The Digital Catalog Portal delivered measurable improvements in operational efficiency and customer engagement.
Centralized Catalog
Single source of truth for product information.
Reduced IT Dependency
Division admins self-manage content.
Faster Rollouts
10 weeks to launch both external and internal portals across 5 sprints.
Improved Customer Experience
Rich product exploration without requiring e-commerce functionality.
Query Transparency
All customer enquiries are logged and tracked digitally instead of being scattered across emails.
Future Scope
The roadmap includes:
AI-Powered Image Search
Proof-of-concept initiated for advanced similarity search.
Analytics Dashboards
Product visibility and enquiry trends using SAP Analytics Cloud.
Advanced Configurations
Customer-specific product visibility based on segmentation.
Mobile Enablement
Fully responsive design for on-the-go access.
E-Commerce Enablement
Potential to evolve the catalog into a transactional platform, allowing customers to move from exploration to direct purchase within the same portal.
