Michelin Experiences transforms digital delivery with Sitecore Content Hub

Michelin Experiences is expanding into new countries and new formats. No longer just a series of guidebooks, Michelin now offers access to its restaurant reviews via international websites and apps. But by going digital, the company needs to commit to more regular updates than the traditional annual publication.

Restaurant images are a vital part of helping consumers make choices about where they might want to eat or drink. “We need to ensure that pictures are current and accurately reflect the restaurant environment to keep both consumers and restauranteurs satisfied,” explains Jacobo Fernandez-Iglesias, Digital Strategy & Data-Driven Marketing at Michelin Experiences.

The company must manage a huge volume of raw image files to populate both digital and printed publications, but the process was complex and lengthy. “To streamline image processing, we needed a modern content management solution that offered breadth of functionality and would integrate seamlessly with our existing technology ecosystem,” Fernandez-Iglesias explained.

Michelin Experiences turned to IT consultants Aliznet to help benchmark the solutions on the market before selecting Sitecore Content Hub. “We chose Sitecore as it proposes a neat digital experience for end users, i.e., the people that manage the content of the guide. It also integrates very well with APIs and event-based systems like Azure EventHub,” explains Olivier Jauze, Senior Fellow at The Michelin Digital Transformation & Information Systems Division.

“These integration capabilities proved to be extremely successful in our data pipeline,” he continued. “Content Hub become an event generator directly feeding our website and apps, so they are always up to date.” As part of the transition from its legacy solution, Aliznet helped Michelin Experiences migrate 120,000 images as raw files, along with their metadata, and Michelin went live on Sitecore Content Hub one year ago.

Around 155,000 images and 60,000 review translations are currently managed via Sitecore Content Hub, supporting 28,000 restaurants worldwide. To simplify the image submission process, Aliznet seamlessly integrated an online app so restaurant owners and managers can view, delete, and upload images. More than 10,000 images have been uploaded so far.

As well as being used to capture, store, and process restaurant images, Sitecore Content Hub also helps Michelin track the translation process. Every review is available in English as well as the local language, and using Sitecore, the team can simplify version control and ensure translations are timely and accurate.

Michelin Experiences has reduced the time to market for restaurant images from days to minutes with Sitecore Content Hub, enabling much greater agility. Michelin’s employees are happier too with a more efficient and modern workflow. As images are automatically rendered in Sitecore to be digital-ready, the Michelin team no longer has to manually convert them. “As with all IT projects, particularly when they involve migrating vast volumes of data, there were some challenges,” comments Fernandez-Iglesias. “But thanks to a collaborative approach between our team at Michelin, Aliznet, and Sitecore, we now have a very stable and high performing solution.” With more effective image and translation management, Michelin now has the scalability it needs to support global growth as it expands its esteemed restaurant reviews into new countries.