This case study illustrates how IC Intracom, IT distribution leader with 30 brands and thousands of SKUs, transformed its digital catalog management by moving from Akeneo Community PIM to Akeneo Product Cloud (SaaS) PIM. The article analyzes the role of the partnership with Webgriffe and the concrete benefits derived from adopting Enterprise features like the Rules Engine for smart automation and the native Asset Manager, which allowed them to turn operational complexity into a competitive advantage.
IC Intracom: 30 brands, thousands of SKUs, and the need to move fast
At Webgriffe, we believe technology must be a business enabler, not just an operational tool. When we talk about "migration," we don't just mean a series of software activities or moving data and code from one server to another we mean building real competitive advantage.
It's with this vision that we worked alongside IC Intracom Italia, a leading distributor of professional electronics and networking equipment (with proprietary brands such as Techly, Manhattan, and Intellinet). For a company that promises 24/48-hour shipping and manages a vast, deep catalog, efficiency is the only viable path.
We took on a challenge born from the fact that the Community version of Akeneo PIM, while solid, required too many manual interventions and custom developments to keep up with the desired pace of growth. The answer was migrating to Akeneo Product Cloud (SaaS).
The role of a PIM and the value of Akeneo Product Cloud
For anyone not yet familiar with it, a Product Information Management (PIM) system is a strategic solution born to solve the complexity of managing vast, dynamic product catalogs. In many companies, essential data, descriptions, images, technical specifications is often scattered across departments (marketing, purchasing), hidden repositories (local or shared network folders), and different formats (Excel, PDF, ERP), making it difficult to find accurate, up-to-date information quickly. A PIM system centralizes product master data and related information, optimizing workflows, reducing human error, and ensuring data consistency across all channels.
What we at Webgriffe always tell our clients is that every second saved in managing data and sharing it with various stakeholders can translate into greater efficiency and optimization of internal costs.
Akeneo Product Cloud is the cloud-based PIM platform that brings the PIM concept to the Enterprise level. Designed to centralize, enrich, and distribute product information across every touchpoint, Akeneo offers advanced tools that transform operational efficiency: it includes the Rules Engine for intelligent automation of attribute population and the application of fallback logic, integrates a native Asset Manager (DAM) for centralized, seamless management of digital assets such as galleries and documents, and leverages Akeneo Activation to natively connect the catalog to marketplaces like Amazon, accelerating omnichannel strategy and reducing time-to-market.
Intelligent automation: the power of the Rules Engine
One of the main operational limitations we wanted to overcome was the time spent on manual data entry. In managing complex catalogs, data quality often risks depending on human error. By adopting Akeneo Product Cloud's Rules Engine, we flipped the perspective: now the system works for the company, not the other way around. We configured rules for the automatic population of certain attributes if one piece of data is present, the system can calculate or derive others automatically, or apply intelligent fallback logic across channels. The tangible results weren't long in coming: fewer custom developments, fewer manual Excel imports/exports, and the certainty that data stays consistent at all times without generating unwanted effort for the team.
Visuals at the center: an advanced approach to media management
In B2B as in B2C, the image sells. The Community version of Akeneo forced IC Intracom to manage image galleries and attachments through hybrid solutions, ZIP archives, or third-party plugins that were often rigid and poorly scalable. By switching to Akeneo Product Cloud, we unlocked the native Asset Manager. This integrated DAM (Digital Asset Manager) let us manage galleries, technical documents, and digital assets centrally and seamlessly, eliminating the need for complex external integrations (such as custom scripts to unzip archives) that were weighing down the workflow. Now every product is enriched with the correct media, ready to be distributed across any touchpoint (website, web app, catalog, etc.).
Omnichannel acceleration: targeting Amazon
Omnichannel sales strategy remains a key driver for IC Intracom. Adopting Akeneo Activation made it possible to natively connect the catalog to marketplaces (particularly Amazon), managing up to two dedicated channels without friction. Where hours of "data collection" and manual checks were previously needed to align offerings across marketplaces, the flow is now automated, drastically reducing time-to-market.
Beyond the code: partnership and architecture
As a partner, our role was twofold:
Strategic: thanks to our technology partnership with Akeneo, our Customer Success Management team was able to support IC Intracom in negotiating with Akeneo's sales team, securing sustainable terms and proposing a SaaS model capable of eliminating systems maintenance costs entirely.
Technical: our Software Development team completely redesigned the integration architecture. Adopting Akeneo's new Event Platform required rewriting the logic of our Middleware (Enterprise Service Bus) to handle the new payloads ever more efficiently and ensure real-time synchronization with the ERP and Magento Open-Mage — all tested on a new Staging environment for a "zero-risk" release.
The Results
The true measure of success is the impact on people's everyday work.
"Moving to Enterprise changed the way we work. We used to spend hours cross-referencing Excel files to populate attributes or fix images for the web. Today, thanks to the rules engine and native asset management, these tasks happen automatically. We've recovered valuable time to dedicate to our commercial strategy on Amazon and other channels, with the confidence that our data is always correct."
— Massimo Mercurio, IC Intracom Italia
This migration wasn't just a technical upgrade it's concrete proof of how the right technology, guided by a strategic vision and the right partner, can turn paralyzing complexity into an unprecedented competitive advantage.
It's time to stop managing data and start governing growth, redefining the boundaries of business scalability.
