Supporting Safariland to Achieve Digital Success

Safariland are world leaders in the law enforcement and defence technology market and set the standard for excellence and innovation within the industry. They have been providing trusted life-saving equipment for law enforcement, military, outdoor recreation, and personal protection use for 55 years, and their products have saved more than 2,000 lives in that time.

However, with a vast and complex range of products comes the difficult challenge of consolidating and finding a place to hold all product information in a central user-friendly place and the further challenge of sharing the appropriate and markedly different pieces of that information with Commercial and Government buyers.

The Situation

One of the biggest challenges that Safariland faced was unifying their product information. Each team member had a vital role to play in building up the product experience, but not having one source of truth to hold this information meant they had many PDFs and Excel sheets fragmented across the business causing product information silos, with no one knowing where to find the most up-to-date information. We all know that poor, incorrect, or simply missing information leads to internal and external frustration, lost orders and ultimately decreased revenue and Safariland needed a solution, fast.

In a bid to find a software company that could understand their complex needs and find the solutions to their challenges, the team at Safariland approached many suppliers but found that the one-size-fits-all “off the shelf” approach was not beneficial or suitable for their requirements.

And that’s when Hark Solutions stepped in.

The Solution

Safariland were attracted to the team at Hark because of our bespoke and flexible software solutions, coupled with our expert team of Data Specialists who were ready to take on the task, and from that point on a great partnership was born!

Our Data Specialists worked collaboratively with the Project Team at Safariland to familiarise themselves with the complexity of the existing data, even before the contract was signed, to ensure a complete knowledge of the desired outcomes from the project. It was agreed that a Master Style aWorkbook catalogue would be produced that could be easily updated when product information changed. This would give their end users access to the most up-to-date version of their range, tailored to meet the needs of both Government and Commercial customers, and would save time and resources by negating the need for a print catalogue.

But before an aWorkbook catalogue could be produced, work needed to be undertaken to centralise all the product information, including images, videos, PDFs, and marketing materials firstly into our catalogue creation software and then, on its release, into aHub, our cloud-based product information management system.

It’s safe to say that our experts transformed Safariland’s data, and their product information was enriched and cleansed to build the foundations of a data set able to deliver consistent, accurate information whenever and wherever it is needed. Getting rid of those infuriating, time-zapping silos and providing them with one source of truth!

Our team then had the complicated task of recreating Safariland’s Master Style guide in aWorkbook, our digital sales tool. aWorkbook provides Safariland’s Sales Team with a vital tool to support their sell-in and enables them to guide their buyers through a connected brand journey, encompassing all appropriate product ranges and brand materials, including videos, images, and technical spec PDFs.

Safariland were eager to manage their own product information in aHub and update their aWorkbook catalogue internally, so communication and training was essential to make sure that once we handed over the virtual ‘key’ the Project Team would be comfortable with what they were doing moving forwards. We provided them with an extensive, personalised training programme, accommodating time zone differences, and taking them step by step through how they could make their data and assets work harder.

Once training was complete, Safariland were provided with recordings of each training session, full access to our Knowledge Base and personalised PDFs to support them in reaching their business successes. But of course, we don’t leave them there, our team is available for assistance as and when the Project Team at Safariland need it. That said, we have found that by providing a solid training regime and effective communication from the beginning, Safariland are very self-sufficient and are maintaining their catalogue independently.

Summary

Not only are Safariland reaping the benefits of having their complex product information unified, enriched and up to date in one accessible place available to the business, they have reduced their Carbon Footprint and improved sustainability by replacing their print catalogues with a digital solution. Safariland now have the software, the knowledge, and the manpower, to empower their teams to achieve their business success, saving them time and money along the way.

Key Benefits for Safariland

Unified, enriched, up to date and easily accessible product information held in a cloud-based product information management system
Huge time saving for internal departments and external customers
Reduction in Carbon Footprint with a complete move to digital catalogues
Enhanced communication between departments
Connecting buyers to the brand through their digital catalogue

“Hark was able to provide our organization with a real-time product catalog and assortment builder. In a world where everything is digital, we needed a solution that would move us out of printing thousands of catalogs a year that would mostly sit on a desk with others. And with a product catalog with over 5000 products that were constantly changing, the minute we hit the print button, it was outdated.

Hark’s aWorkbook platform has streamlined our catalog process, saved us thousands of dollars, and put the control back in our hands. Their in-house support team has been incredibly supportive through the build process and is always responsive daily.”

– Tim Drnec, VP Sales & Marketing