A long relationship
Informa was established in 1998, although some brands have a history dating back much further. Through growth and acquisition, Informa has become a prominent international events, intelligence and scholarly research group with over 11,000 employees in 4 divisions in over 43 countries.
The relationship between AdvantageCS and Informa dates back to 1999 when ACS signed Duke Communications, who was soon sold to Penton Media. AdvantageCS signed Penton Media in 2002 and Informa acquired Penton Information Services in 2016. They began using Advantage for eCommerce in 2003.
Informa operates 70+ websites on Advantage, via their Informa Intelligence division.
Choosing Cider
Although Informa was using a previous Advantage eCommerce solution, they evaluated other options before determining that Cider was their choice. Major factors in this decision were cost, time to market, and the knowledge that Cider resolved issues they had experienced in the previous generation.
Informa’s primary objective was to have an eCommerce solution that would be maintained and supported by AdvantageCS in lockstep with their core Advantage platform. Beyond that, they wanted a solution that allowed for quick and easy site standups, users and marketers to be able to create their own landing pages, and which had greater security.
Flexibility and stability
Informa was in the middle of absorbing the former Penton properties when they determined Cider was a fit for their next generation eCommerce. During this time, there were several staffing changes in the core web team, scores of IT staff were assigned to new roles and projects, and budgets became incredibly tight. To help them through this, AdvantageCS sent out a team of Cider experts and trained the staff (twice) on Cider use as well as assigning a Cider point of contact to ensure they made it over any hurdles encountered before anyone had time to log them as an issue.
The Result
Cider allows the Informa Advantage team to move quickly on their web and marketing objectives, usually without having to involve the larger IT organization. This is a huge plus for them with their highly compartmentalized organization and closely scrutinized budgets. Without a doubt Cider was a HUGE win for Informa and Advantage, says Carver Bonine, Business Systems Engineer in Informa’s Enterprise Technology Services group. The team all went above and beyond to make this work – and work well – for us. Ultimately, it was AdvantageCS’ commitment to the Cider platform and determination to get Informa live on Cider that led to our success.
