Legrand

The Client

Legrand is a global specialist in electrical and digital building infrastructures. Legrand maintains a digital presence across multiple markets, with its Web Factory serving as the central platform for website management and content distribution. Before this project, Legrand struggled with an unstable platform that hindered digital growth and created excessive operational costs.

The Situation

Legrand's previous Web Factory implementation using Acquia's Site Factory and Content Hub faced operational challenges. The platform suffered from high costs due to inefficient hits management, poor frontend performance, persistent technical instability, and problematic content synchronization. These issues prevented Legrand from managing its digital ecosystem effectively and limited its ability to roll out new websites. Acquia partner, Capgemini, stepped in as the new integrator, stabilizing the platform and putting the project back on track.

The Challenge

Capgemini encountered several technical hurdles in transforming the Legrand WebFactory:

• Excessive bot traffic consuming platform resources and increasing costs
• Ineffective cache implementation causing performance issues
• Problematic Content Hub configuration leading to synchronization failures
• Massive database sizes with multiple websites exceeding 50GB each, collectively consuming 800GB of the 1TB available disk space
• Inefficient redirection management through .htaccess files
• Need to maintain continuous operations while implementing fundamental technical changes

The Solution

Capgemini’s transformation strategy for the Legrand Web Factory platform included:

Strategic planning: Capgemini defined a prioritized action plan and roadmap focusing on technical stabilization before delivering business value features, ensuring a solid foundation for future enhancements.

Bot traffic management: The team mitigated excessive traffic using Acquia Edge with Akamai, reducing unnecessary hits to the platform.

Cache optimization: Capgemini collaborated with Acquia Professional Services to analyze the existing cache implementation and develop a targeted optimization plan.

Content hub reconfiguration: Partnering with Acquia Professional Services, Capgemini rebuilt the Content Hub configuration from development to production, including comprehensive team training and upskilling.

Database optimization: The team addressed the issue of oversized databases, implementing solutions to reduce their footprint and facilitate future growth.

Redirection enhancement: Capgemini improved performance and reduced hits by migrating redirections from .htaccess to Akamai, creating a more efficient system.

Collaborative approach: Throughout the project, Capgemini established close collaboration with Acquia teams (TAM, Ops, Professional Services, and Edge Professional Services) during the design and delivery phases.

Acquia's platform provided the technical foundation, while Capgemini's expertise in optimization and stabilization reinvented WebFactory into a reliable, efficient system capable of supporting Legrand's digital ambitions.

The Results

The new Legrand Web Factory platform created real, measurable improvements:

Reduced support burden: Support tickets decreased to 25 per month, improving efficiency and reducing operational overhead.

Bug reduction: The backlog of platform bugs decreased by 45% in just 5 months, creating a more stable environment.

Successful rollouts: Capgemini completed rollouts of all 22 targeted websites within six months.

Cost efficiency: The company reduced platform costs substantially through hit reduction to 15 million per month, down from previous levels.

Storage optimization: The teams reduced the database size by 70%, allowing for future website rollouts without infrastructure constraints.

Stabilized synchronization: Content Hub synchronization stabilized completely, eliminating the previous need for manual content fixes during synchronization processes.

The new Web Factory is a reliable digital foundation for Legrand's online presence. The successful stabilization demonstrates the effectiveness of Capgemini's strategic approach and technical expertise in optimizing Acquia's powerful platform capabilities. The solution positions Legrand for continued digital growth and improved operational efficiency across all markets.