Mark Smith's Analyst Perspectives

We are happy to share some insights about Akeneo Serenity drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.

We published the Ventana Research Value Index: Product Information Management, the distillation of a year of market and product research efforts. To assess functionality, one of the components of Capability, we applied the Ventana Research Value Index methodology and blueprint, which links the personas and processes for PIM to an organization’s requirements.

In all of our Value Indexes, we utilize a structured research methodology that includes evaluation categories designed to reflect real-world criteria incorporated in a request for proposal and vendor selection process for PIM software. We evaluated Akeneo and 15 other vendors in seven categories, five relevant to the product (Adaptability, Capability, Manageability, Reliability and Usability) and two related to the vendor (Vendor Validation and Total Cost of Ownership and Return on Investment). To arrive at the Value Index rating for a given vendor, we weighted each category to reflect its relative importance in an RFP process, with the weightings based on our expertise and research.

Akeneo, a worldwide provider of PIM that enables essential product experiences, was categorized as an Exemplary Vendor, ranking second overall in the Value Index. Akeneo was a Value Index Leader in Customer Experience; TCO/ROI, where it was ranked first; Validation; Product Experience; Capability; Manageability; Reliability; and Usability, where it was ranked first. Akeneo performed its best in the TCO/ROI category.

Its product, Akeneo Serenity PIM, is built on a cloud service platform where it has connectors, an Onboarder, Shared Catalogs with supporting analytics, and extensibility from its Marketplace.

Akeneo finished as a Value Index Leader in the highest number of evaluation categories, demonstrating its leadership and investment in PIM. Its lowest-performing category was Adaptability, where it could invest further in its breadth of integration. Though more could be provided about the customer experience it offers, Akeneo has committed to the operations and processes that will improve Validation.

This assessment was based on Akeneo’s product information management applications available at end of April of 2021, which was the Akeneo Serenity March release. Since the release of the Value Index, Akeneo launched releases in April and May 2021 that included proposals, a mass delete function, an activity dashboard user experience, a setting and connection menu, a product application programming interface and category tree synchronization improvements.

The role of PIM for every organization is to ensure the most accurate and engaging product information that can support the customer, enterprise and product lifecycle requirements. Providing effective product information is the foundation to providing an engaging digital experience that meets the needs for marketing, commerce and the digital shelf. Organizations should make PIM and product experiences a priority for continuous process improvement, and perform an assessment of existing process and technological approaches, adopt best practices and ensure the effectiveness of product information being utilized for revenue, operations and supply chain processes.

This research-based index is the most comprehensive assessment of the value of product information management software in the industry. Technology buyers can learn more about how to use our Value Index by clicking here and included vendors that wish to learn more can click here. Read the report here.

Regards,

Mark Smith