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Wacker Chemie AG Relaunches Web Site based on FIRSTspirit Integration Platform
The global chemical company Wacker has revamped its corporate Web site (www.wacker.com). The basis of the relaunch is the FIRSTspirit Enterprise Content Management system created by the e-Spirit software house in Dortmund, Germany. The goals of the new web platform are threefold: to present a clear, user-friendly portfolio that appeals to customer target groups, to improve the support of sales, and to further enhance the positive image of Wacker.
More current and clear structure
The Wacker Group is a globally operating chemical company with a total of about 14,400 employees working in the five business divisions of silicones, polymers, fine chemicals, polysilicon, and siltronic for the semiconductor industry. Initially, the part of the Web site relevant to the company as a whole was redesigned. This included the homepage and the content for Wacker Group, Press & Media, and Careers. Special attention was given to improving the currency of information, achieving a richly varied and engaging design, and providing a clear structure of content void of overlapping and repetition. Minimizing redundancy allowed the previous total of 5,500 different subpages (in the German language version) to be considerably reduced. A special multimedia highlight is provided by films that have been tailored to specific topic areas which, for example, depict how Wacker products are integrated into various end products.
Automatic language recognition
The new version of the site is currently available in German, Chinese, and English. Other languages will become available following coordination with the various business divisions and will also be managed by FIRSTspirit. An additional bonus is that the new system, based on FIRSTspirit, automatically recognizes from which country the user is accessing the site, thereby automatically adjusting to the corresponding language. Previously, all visitors to www.wacker.com were presented with a default English version.
Into the future: Looking at the company from a user’s perspective
In a second project phase, FIRSTspirit will again be employed to restructure additional content - in close cooperation with the Wacker business divisions - in order to adapt more precisely to market demands. At the same time, previous Web sites that were specific to a particular country will be integrated into the new centralized site, of course continuing to take into account regional differences and considerations. A universal business division structure is in the works. "By taking this action, we would like to present the comprehensive Wacker know-how along with its products from an industry perspective, meaning independent of the internal Wacker structure,” explained Lutz Bannies, Director of Communication Services in Central Corporate Communications.
The feedback since the relaunch has been overwhelmingly positive. During initial testing, the navigation, design of text and graphics, and depth of information were all rated as very positive.04.04.2006, Marc Kleine
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