Vaisala upgrades global eCommerce to the Conga Advantage Platform

Challenge

As a global company with over 300 product families, Vaisala serves customers’ needs in diverse applications from meteorology and renewable energy to industrial processes and life science. This variety in their practices requires a robust eCommerce solution that can support and evolve with the needs of each business unit—something they struggled to achieve currently.  

Vaisala was aware of the growing demand for a self-service eCommerce channel that would allow their customers to place an order anytime, from anywhere. Unfortunately, their existing solution was heavily customized, which made maintenance and troubleshooting challenging.  

As they explored their options, the team identified several must-haves. First, the solution needed to be headless and API-driven to support the diverse eCommerce needs of each business unit. Second, the solution needed to be compliant, standardized, and able to support a seamless customer experience long-term. That meant a solution that could easily scale in the future without adding more headcount to the sales team.  

Third, and most importantly, the Vaisala team wanted a partner that was more than just an eCommerce vendor. Recognizing that their true strength lies in designing first-class measurement instruments, Vaisala sought a strategic partner who could consult with them to manage their eCommerce upgrade project–allowing their team to focus on driving innovation and delivering value to their customers.  

Solution

When Vaisala’s team learned that the Conga Advantage Platform could meet all these needs and provide the crucial eCommerce standardization they were looking for, Vaisala didn’t wait long to move the back end of their existing eCommerce engine away from Salesforce. Conga’s cloud and API based digital commerce solution aligned with Vaisala’s ambitions and proved that the Advantage Platform was the right solution.  

Standardizing their processes was one of the benefits they gained. The move to the Advantage Platform involved the migration of 21,000 users, 2,500 active products, and 13 price lists across 129 countries.  As an existing Conga customer, Vaisala knew how to build close collaboration during the project to ensure smooth go-live. Before the go-live, Conga’s team provided training and a knowledge transfer, helping Vaisala create all the documentation they needed for the new system.  

The transition from a purely Salesforce-based platform to the Advantage Platform helped Vaisala’s eCommerce team bypass the performance issues. With the Advantage Platform and Conga Digital Commerce, the team separated Vaisala’s front-end eCommerce channel from the back end.  

Another significant benefit was the Advantage Platform’s admin tool, which improved Vaisala’s troubleshooting capabilities. This gave business staff visibility into orders, quotes, and ongoing issues in real time without the need to rely on technical teams to investigate.  

The Advantage Platform’s automated upgrades with Conga Digital Commerce also meant that Vaisala’s eCommerce system is always up-to-date—making overall system maintenance much more efficient and ensuring customers on the front end continued to have a quality, seamless experience. 

Results

Since adopting the Conga Advantage Platform, Vaisala immediately noticed the effect of less customization, which makes maintenance easier. Customizations reduced by 35%—checking off one of their most important objectives.  

Also, a more recent version of the coding language allows Vaisala to meet IT security standards.  

Vaisala’s customers have benefited from the move to the Advantage Platform—whether that’s ordering new instruments, spare parts, or repair and calibration services. Some stages of the ordering funnel perform better after the change.  

As Vaisala continues to use the Conga Advantage Platform, the company derives value from Conga’s ongoing partnership and expertise.  

“One piece of advice I’d give to others who are trying to embark on a Conga Advantage Platform journey is to let Conga challenge you,” Agarwal noted. “Don’t try to put your requirements in a box. The market is changing way too quickly. Our customers are demanding more and more. We can learn from other requirements and other customers, and that is the role that Conga can play.”  

For other organizations with complex eCommerce workflows who seek better performance—and may be considering migrating away from their Salesforce-based platform—Martins encourages them to give the Advantage Platform serious consideration.