Read this article about Aprimo, one of our finalists, in the category Best Achievement in Operational Excellence to deliver Business Transformation, selected by the independent judging panel, for the 2019 Business Transformation & Operational Excellence Industry Awards program. Click here to read articles on other finalists.

Aprimo, a global provider of marketing technology solutions for content, operations, and performance, was divested from data warehousing giant Teradata in July 2016, kickoff off a global and cross-functional business transformation.

Founded in 1998 in Indianapolis, Aprimo--once considered one of the city’s brightest tech startups in 2007—was sold to Teradata for $525 million in 2011 but was only valued at $90 million in the 2016 sale.

But Aprimo’s new investors, Marlin Equity Partners, had faith in the company.

Though the company pioneered the marketing operations space, it was in a place of complex transition, as it was left with no operational infrastructure out of Teradata, and was facing increased competition amidst a changing market. Aprimo leadership sought a business transformation to help the organization stabilize, evolve, and regain its renowned status.  

CEO John Stammen---who came back to Aprimo to lead the effort--had a clear objective and scope for the company’s future.

“Our vision is to be the platform that connects the marketing ecosystem,” he said about the divestiture. Aprimo also sought to be the #1 global Marketing Resource Management and Digital Asset Management (DAM) technology company by 2020.

After extensive customer and market discovery, the company created a broad scope of strategic, operational and market-facing transformation initiatives designed to generate value and benefit customers, including standing up a new best-in-industry operating model, a series of acquisitions, multiple product enhancements, and a complete rebranding/relaunch.

The company’s two-year business transformation strategy included a full restructuring of the entire company, new operating principles, a new alliance program, an expansion of the product portfolio with acquisitions, and a migration of its solution to a SaaS-based model via the Microsoft Azure cloud platform. Aprimo also expanded its portfolio through M&A by acquiring Revenew and ADAM Software. Aprimo’s longer-term strategy focuses on continued innovation, expanded partnerships, entry into new markets, and outreach and education initiatives.

Aprimo’s business transformation deployment encompassed all divisions within the company, including its new headquarters in Chicago, and other offices in Indianapolis, Raleigh, London, Ghent, Amsterdam, Beijing, Manila, Melbourne, Birmingham, Paris, and Frankfort. All 400 employees—spanning leadership, sales, marketing, product, and other groups—were involved in the business transformation.

Aprimo not only has been able to connect the marketing ecosystem as it originally intended, but also transform itself into an Experience Command Center that manages all the behind-the-scenes activities involved in creating great customer experiences.

Aprimo is now seeing the benefits of its business transformation initiative, as it increased its customer base by 18% and new business bookings by 104% in its first year. The company is now growing its new SaaS solution at a rapid pace, with a majority of its customers now on the solution.

Further, Aprimo gained greater presence in the industry for its platform, receiving Leader recognition in three different Forrester Wave reports, for Digital Asset Management for Customer Experience, Marketing Resource Management, and Through-Channel Marketing Automation in 2018.

Other growth and industry recognition results include:

• 302% increase in new name pipeline

• 44% increase in active users for its Marketing Operations solution

• 53% increase in new website visitors

• 518% YOY increase in media impressions
  
  

Aprimo has come a long way with its business transformation. “The New Aprimo,” as it has been called during the transformation, is delighted to once again be an independent organization, Stammen said.

“We’re humble and we’re hungry,” he said. “We are grateful for our customers and we are eager to continue to the journey with them.”