SNK named Ibexa Partner of the Month for December

The full name of SNK, the Munich-based digital agency, is “schoene neue Kinder” – or “beautiful new children”. Like any good parent, SNK is passionate about its digital children and will do what it can to make them successful.

“We look after B2B projects from strategy to touch points all the way to lead generation,” says Michael Kirchberger, Lead Consultant B2B at SNK. “With our four core disciplines of branding, UX/UI design, development, and online marketing, we create grown-up solutions that cover the entire digital customer experience lifecycle.”

Two years ago, SNK identified a gap in its technological offer to predominantly mid-sized businesses that needed a flexible yet complete platform for all their services and digital communications. “We scanned the market for almost two years and talked to different vendors. We came to the conclusion that Ibexa was the best fit for our customers and our agency skills. In April, we joined the Ibexa Partner ecosystem.”

SNK is our Partner of the Month for December.

A few weeks after becoming part of the Ibexa family, Kirchberger and his team joined the Ibexa booth at OMR, the annual digital festival in Hamburg. “This was a new experience for us, but everyone at Ibexa was very incredibly helpful,” says Kirchberger. Undeterred, SNK also participated in the DMEXCO digital conference in Cologne. 

“This is where we really engaged with our target market and learned a lot about their needs and problems, and how we – and I mean Ibexa and ourselves – could help these companies reach their digital objectives.”

SNK has high-profile customers such as Siemens and SAP, but the bulk are what Kirchberger calls “hidden champions” of German manufacturing: traditional businesses that are leaders in their field but largely unknown outside it despite their global presence and revenues that can be as high as €5 billion. 

“These manufacturers typically have an engineering mindset that revolves around the product,” says Kirchberger. “This is why so many very successful German businesses have what you could call a digital deficit. But the good news is, they realize it. They understand they have to modernize the way they interact with their customers. And this is the profile of the companies we talked to at OMR and DMEXCO.”

As a result of these dialogues, SNK is now in advanced talks with several companies to initiate projects on the Ibexa Digital Experience Platform (DXP). 

“They are very different from each other and are looking to solve very different problems,” says Kirchberger. “The fact that we are recommending Ibexa DXP as a good fit for all these different use cases shows you the versatility of the solution.” 

“What they all like – and need – about Ibexa DXP is that the platform can consolidate their digital infrastructures. CMS, eCommerce functionality, service portals, personalization, whatever it may be, Ibexa puts them all under one roof for a unified and optimal experience.”

“The route to digital maturity will be unique to each business,” Kirchberger emphasizes. For some this means building a PIM natively in Ibexa DXP; others want to move into eCommerce for spare parts and accessories, now or in the near future; some need to rationalize a digital estate that spans different business arms and markets on a single platform. “Ibexa DXP offers a solution for all these different problems – one that is never more complex than it needs to be for the specific requirements of each business.”

“That is the advantage of Ibexa’s modular architecture and tiered subscription model,” adds Kirchberger. “Businesses can advance at their own pace while staggering their investment. The decision-makers we are talking to have immediate requirements, but most also have a wish list of functionalities for the future. With Ibexa DXP that future is wide-open to them as their needs change.” 

Kirchberger is confident that Ibexa DXP is the right technology for a large and varied target group of B2B companies. “We feel confident about the way we are progressing with these early projects. We only joined the Ibexa ecosystem a few months ago but we already consider the partnership a great success.” 

“For two reasons. The strength of SNK has always been to create unified digital experiences. It’s not, now we’re in the shop, now we’re in the service portal, now we’re on the site itself. No, it’s just one layer, one experience. And Ibexa DXP has the same approach and is a great enabler of it.

“The final thing I want to highlight is that Ibexa is very open to our ideas. We are planning some joint marketing events for next year, preferably something a little different from the usual webinar. And we are thinking about this together – as partners. And I can see a future where we go to Ibexa and suggest they build this or that functionality if we feel there is a big need for it among our clients. And I know Ibexa would be open to this.

 “If we are on the same page and work closely together, we instill trust and confidence in our clients – and that is the recipe for great results,” Kirchberger concludes.