BRE Reduces Digital Footprint by 88%

Key Takeaways

Increase efficiency with a simplified tech stack. With Liferay DXP, BRE consolidated technologies, unified content, and also saved operational costs.
Build with the entire customer journey in mind. BRE’s public website, customer portal, and ecommerce store all give users the same great experience.
Make day-to-day solution management easier. BRE went from 81 sites to 9, in the process reducing the burden on IT teams and empowering content creators.

About BRE

With more than 100 years of experience, the Building Research Establishment (BRE) is at the forefront of science-based solutions in construction in the UK. BRE serves government and commercial markets with services, products, and educational resources.

Digital Experience Challenges

Lack of visibility, discoverability, and brand cohesion for digital solutions. BRE had 81 sites hosted on multiple platforms with multiple logins, which negatively affected the overall user experience.
Increasing security risks and higher costs. BRE’s systems and processes didn’t allow for easy governance.
Outdated content. It was difficult to manage, audit, and update content across so many sites.
Time-consuming manual processes. Legacy technology wasn’t functioning correctly and could only handle limited customer data, inhibiting efficiency.

Finding the Right Platform

In order to achieve the unified digital experiences BRE wanted for their public website, they worked with solution partner Foolproof to find the right Digital Experience Platform (DXP.) BRE needed a DXP that would address current needs as well as future goals like lead generation.

After a thorough selection process, BRE chose Liferay DXP for its strong personalization, data and content management, and integration capabilities.

The Implementation Process

A critical part of implementation involved creating a design library and system with assets that the team could reuse across sites as well as rules for maintaining brand consistency. The design library also enabled BRE to meet site accessibility standards.

After creating a detailed plan with Foolproof for content migration to Liferay DXP across 1000+ pages, BRE put into motion a cross-referencing process that made it possible for content creators and editors to work in tandem with the developers building pages.

With the migration, BRE was able to consolidate 81 sites down to a streamlined 9, dramatically reducing their digital footprint.

Two New Solutions

In addition to the public website, BRE built two new digital solutions on Liferay DXP, the customer portal BRE Hub and a new ecommerce store.

BRE Hub gives customers:

A single entry point that replaces multiple sign-ins
Simplified self-service and better personalization
Access to courses, resource and order updates, and support

The ecommerce store offers:

An end-to-end purchase journey that spans the entire product catalog
Opportunities for cross-selling and up-selling

Results

With their public website, customer portal, and ecommerce store on Liferay DXP, BRE has reaped many benefits:

Major cost savings and improved operational efficiency as a result of simplifying their tech stack.
A consistent brand identity across all solutions that makes BRE instantly recognizable everywhere.
Better, more unified customer experiences now that content is easier to find and can get updated faster.
Opportunities to iterate based on analytics about user behavior.
Increased sales with the streamlined purchasing experience.

Future Plans

BRE continues to evolve as a company and provider of critical resources for the construction world. With Liferay DXP as the technology foundation of their more consolidated, unified tech stack, BRE can keep innovating their digital solutions.

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