The Boston edition of Akeneo Unlock 2024 – formerly Akeneo PIM Summit (APS) just wrapped up, and the list of new and updated features is now available. From AI-powered onboarding improvements and translation capabilities to a new app for Salesforce, here is our full breakdown of the biggest and best announcements made at the event. 

AI-Powered Improvements

Akeneo sprinkled AI updates throughout its platform in this year’s Spring Release. Here are the features that now have a fresh, new AI-powered coat of paint thanks to Akeneo’s acquisition of Unifai in 2023.

Akeneo Supplier Data Manager

The Akeneo Supplier Data Manager is a portal for collecting, managing, and enriching supplier-provided product information and assets for retailers and distributors. The new version of Supplier Data Manager now has native AI capabilities to help automate the data onboarding process and improve efficiency. 

Akeneo states that this new addition will help eliminate manual tasks and reduce the chances of errors or discrepancies while speeding up time-to-market and improving data quality. 

Maintaining supplier relationships and making the data onboarding process as smooth and frictionless as possible is definitely an area that could benefit from the addition of AI, and we’re excited to see how this new addition saves our clients some time and headaches. 

Product Content Copywriting and Translation

The Akeneo Spring Release also brings some exciting AI enhancements to its Product Information Management (PIM) system. Users of the Akeneo PIM can now use generative AI to write bulk product descriptions and copy across over 50 languages, all in mere minutes. 

To write romantic copy in bulk using AI, users will simply need to configure and prompt the AI inside the PIM for any attributes they want to enrich with an AI assist. Copy can be generated using your company’s tone of voice while respecting attribute validations such as character limits. 

Most importantly, the AI tool can be configured to reference values in certain other attributes when writing copy, and that configuration can be set on a per-attribute basis. For example, you can have your long description reference color, fabric, and care instructions with a directive to make it descriptive and, at the same time, have your short description reference your long description with a directive to make it more concise.

Once generated, the AI tool can take that same romance copy and translate it into 50 different languages, so everything can be localized without needing a separate translation workflow. This speeds up the day-to-day product catalog enrichment process and helps businesses expand to new markets and geographies with less friction. 

As a Quebec-based business with clients who often require everything to be available in both French and English, the ability to write unique copy and localize it in a few clicks means that our clients using Akeneo will be able to adapt all their product information to both languages much faster than before, leaving them with more time to focus on business growth. 

Better Workflows and Teamwork Capabilities

Newly Configurable Enrichment Workflows can help guide users through the enrichment process to ensure all published content has passed relevant quality checks. Users can create up to 20 workflows with specific instructions, steps, and timelines that team members must follow throughout the enrichment process. 

When workflows are enabled, employees will see what products need to be enriched on a task list with associated due dates. This ensures that everyone has visibility on what work needs to be completed and when.  

Finally, Simultaneous Work Capabilities is an exciting new feature that we’ve been hoping to see added to Akeneo for a while now. This gives team members real-time visibility on content changes happening in the PIM to prevent conflicts and help coworkers collaborate on tasks. 

Knowing what the rest of the team is working on and avoiding undoing someone else’s work by mistake should save teams a lot of time, stress, and extra discussions outside the PIM.

New PIM App for Salesforce AppExchange

Merchants using Salesforce will be happy to hear that Akeneo has launched a brand new PIM App on the Salesforce AppExchange, available now. 

Offering a multitude of features to support teams on Commerce Cloud (B2B, B2B2C), Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Experience Cloud, this new app aims to bring high-quality product information and assets into Salesforce to improve sales and offer customer service teams instant access to product information to better serve customers. 

When everyone has better visibility and access to accurate, up-to-date, and localized information, it's much easier to offer better support to people, increasing the likelihood of return customers and increased sales.  

More Akeneo Activation Channels

In addition to the previously announced Amazon, Macy’s, and Zappos activation destinations at last year’s Unlock Summit, Akeneo has added even more destinations, including Grainger and Wayfair, to its list of channels. This will enable the syndication of product information across channels while also easily adhering to each platform's unique requirements.

Currently, over 250 activation channels are available as part of the Akeneo Product Cloud: Activation for Retail, and we can surely expect the addition of even more over time. With improvements like these, our clients will be able to access even more potential customers across platforms with less friction. 

Honorable Mentions

While the aforementioned features were the highlights of the summit, here are some additional announcements that we’re excited to see and learn more about:

• Product Family Templates - Speed up catalog modeling through the use of templates. 
• Business Analytics Updates: Business Analytics will now enable more data-driven support for prioritizing an organizational PX Strategy, using the right data to make informed decisions, increasing visibility on product content impact, and more. 
• Akeneo App Marketplace Addition - Akeneo has been working hard to add new apps to its marketplace. The latest update introduces new applications that utilize artificial intelligence to enhance images, create written content, and adapt content for different markets. Additionally, various Content Management Systems (CMS) and Digital Asset Manager (DAM) apps are included. 

To view the full list of announcements from this year’s Akeneo Unlock 2024 summit, read Akeneo’s blog article or access the press release here.

Conclusion

The latest Akeneo Spring 2024 updates promise improved productivity and flexibility for ecommerce merchants and cements Akeneo as a global leader in product data management. New AI-powered features streamline processes, increase accuracy, and simplify translations while expanded channel activations widen market reach. Overall, we’re certain that these innovations will offer better product management and higher conversion rates, and we’re excited to see how our clients use these new features!

As a certified Akeneo Solutions Partner, Blue Badger offers everything you need to implement a PIM solution for your business. From mapping and configuration to making your upstream and downstream connections, we’d be happy to find and implement the right PIM configuration for you. 

Additionally, we offer services like the design and development of custom themes and apps, strategy, conversion rate optimization, performance marketing, and more. Let us help you build an ecommerce ecosystem that you can rely on. Get in touch with us today to learn more.