Success story
Office Depot: central image data and catalog production for Europe
Since 2005, apollon has been supporting Office Depot Europe with OMN: a central portal for image data, printed products and pages, through which the advertising departments of all connected countries work in one consistent process. Mr. Vigener, Director Media Production Center, talked about the partnership in an interview.
At a glance
Industry
Business supplies and services for companies: mail order, web, retail
Presence
thirteen countries with the core brands Office Depot and Viking, retail stores in France and Sweden (at the time of the interview)
Solution
OMN – central portal, image data management, catalog production, automated image workflows
Partnership
since 2005
Operation
updated to OMN 6 in the cloud in 2024
“OMN (Online Media Net) is a tool that optimally adapts to changes and needs and constantly evolves with time.”
Mr. Vigener, Director Media Production Center at Office Depot Europe
Initial situation
Rebuilding prepress
Before OMN
- Prepress department had to be moved to Europe after the acquisition of Viking Direct
- Advertising departments at many locations in different countries
- Large volumes of image data that must be available everywhere
Office Depot Europe offers business supplies and services for more effective work – from the classic range of paper, office supplies and stationery to new technologies, printing and document services, corporate services, facility equipment and furniture, and school supplies. Customers value the product variety, fast service and reliable delivery as well as web, print, call center and account management; key accounts receive complementary services ranging from managed print services to storage provisioning.
When Office Depot acquired Viking Direct in 2005, the Viking headquarters in Los Angeles was closed and the prepress department had to be transferred to Europe. Office Depot therefore looked for a service provider that could quickly turn this idea into a practical solution.
At the same time, digitalization was changing the office products market: market volume is shrinking, online retail is gaining importance and flexibility is becoming increasingly important. According to Mr. Vigener, print volumes in classic mail order have halved; the catalog increasingly takes on the task of bringing customers online. A major challenge is to adapt internal processes quickly to changing conditions.
Project objectives
What Office Depot wanted to achieve
01
Consistent across all locations
Departments at different locations should work in the same way; processes should be controlled transparently and effectively.
02
Manage assets centrally
Data and images are identical in many countries – so instead of being managed locally, they should be managed centrally and be directly available for new portfolios in other countries.
03
Image data reliably available
Image data and pages should be available securely and without interruption at all locations.
04
Automated image processing
The system should provide automatic interfaces and processes for image processing such as masking and avoid duplicate images.
The solution
One central portal with OMN
After a selection process with several suppliers, Office Depot chose Meyle+Müller and apollon for their experience in mass catalog production. At that time, OMN was already in use at two German mail order companies. Together, they developed a concept combining apollon’s expertise with Office Depot’s requirements: a highly automated workflow.
One process for all countries
Through the platform, the local advertising departments deliver data from all connected countries to apollon as part of one consistent process.
An in-house portal for all departments
A portal gives all departments access to all assets, printed products and pages. The call center, merchandising and marketing use it actively.
Image workflow with incoming checks
Incoming images are checked automatically in OMN – for example for naming convention and color space –, assigned to the respective country, passed on for clipping if needed, archived and delivered. Reports in the OMN front end show the status.
Avoiding duplicate images
An automated image comparison function helps avoid duplicates.
Moving forward with OMN 6
In 2024, the solution was updated to OMN 6 running in the cloud.
In figures
2005
start of the partnership
13
countries in one consistent process (at the time of the interview)
2
core brands: Office Depot and Viking
“The approach ensures that assets and products that need to be quickly integrated into a portfolio in another country are directly available.”
Mr. Vigener, Director Media Production Center at Office Depot Europe
Results
What the solution delivers
Lower processing costs
Central management of all assets reduces processing costs and avoids redundancies.
Fast in new countries
Assets and products that need to be added quickly to a portfolio in another country are directly available.
Transparent processes
Processes can be controlled transparently and effectively across locations.
In use for the long term
Despite the company’s restructuring, the solution is still in use – because OMN adapts to change and allows continuous improvements and updates.
Outlook
Further automation
In the interview, Office Depot announced plans to further automate part of its processes with a cloud-based OMN extension, new plug-ins and additional functionality. In 2024, the solution was updated to OMN 6 in the cloud and the image workflow was re-implemented.
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