Zarlink Semiconductor

THE CHALLENGE

Updating the website in a timely fashion

Zarlink Semiconductor’s previous website used a RedDot CMS, which ran on LiveServer 4.0 technology and allowed site content to be managed by multiple departments within the company. However, Zarlink needed additional help implementing site updates and making the entire process easier to manage.

Merging the content of two different sites

Shortly after updating its site, Zarlink merged with a company called Legerity. All of the new content and product data needed to be incorporated into the Zarlink website. As Legerity had its own business practices with regards to how it password-protected white papers, articles and other forms of content, our team needed to determine the most effective and user-friendly way in which to merge the two sets of content.

OUR SOLUTION

Prioritizing the issues

First, RealDecoy prioritized the issues that needed to be addressed with the existing Zarlink site, which involved some investigation into how LiveServer was interacting with the RedDot CMS. It turned out that Zarlink had content publication issues, forcing our team to examine how the system was originally architected and how Zarlink was trying to use the system.

Looking closely at all of the issues – including hardware, software, workflow and business-related issues – we prepared a variety of large- and small-scale solutions to address Zarlink’s content publication issues.

In the end, RealDecoy restructured the existing content on the site, fixed issues with protected content, and improved administration tools by automating certain processes.

Improving customer access to information

As a result of the significant upgrades to the site’s architecture, Zarlink’s customers and partners were able to intuitively search and access technical information on more than 600 products in the Zarlink portfolio, along with relevant white papers and articles. This was made possible by the implementation of the Verity K2 search engine, which provided highly customized, advanced search results for Zarlink customers in a fraction of a second.

In addition, RealDecoy connected Zarlink’s new website to its internal product database in a way that granted users instant access to the newest, most up-to-date product information. This level of integration made Zarlink more open to the public by keeping its customers informed and openly demonstrating the company’s dedication to customer support. The site also featured privileged content areas, allowing the Zarlink sales division to grant access to preferred customers and create value-added relationships.

Planning the content migration process

Once the site was launched, the next milestone was the migration of content from Legerity’s website to Zarlink’s. Our team provided Zarlink with a proof-of-concept beta, which detailed exactly how the system was going to handle all of the data records and the permissions associated with these records. This proof-of-concept was quickly approved by Zarlink, allowing RealDecoy to begin the content migration process.

Providing expert training and support

RealDecoy’s role with the Zarlink site didn’t end with content restructuring and migration. Our team also provided training documentation and in-person training sessions for system administrators and content managers. These sessions focused not only on the solutions that were put in place, but also on best practices for how to effectively use the RedDot CMS throughout the course of the project. RealDecoy trained Zarlink staff on the unique functionality specific to the system we built for the company.