Meet inriver Champion: Danny Langlois

We are happy to introduce to you Danny Langlois. He is one of the inriver Champions and a partner.

We asked him 10 questions 👇

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I'm based near Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Always related to inriver, I did many roles over the years, but this makes me versatile. I started as a C# developer, then team lead, and up to Director of PIM practice where I was making sure to have the same technical standards throughout the company in the PIM department. I also supervised a team of 4 developers that were working on an internal framework to use plug & play extensions from customers to customers. Then I realized I was missing the coding part, so I changed for the role of Solutions Architect which is my current position. I've been involved in 30+ inriver projects, sometimes closely, sometimes as an expert to guide the principal working on it. 

2. How long have you been working with inriver PIM?

I did my inriver developer certification back in September 2014 in Chicago, and never stopped working with it since, so almost 8 years now! 😱 Time flies! It gives an idea, inriver was on-Premise at this time and the portal didn't even exist 😉 

3. In your opinion, what are the 3 best things about inriver PIM?

1. Its elastic data model! Even if it adds complexity for syndications, having the perfect model for the customer's needs is key! It prevents repeating the same information over and over which increases the enrichment time.
2. Highly customizable with the extensions and HTML Templates. Nowadays, it's difficult to find the perfect solution that answers all our needs, so inriver allows you to create what is missing. 
3. All cloud! No need to configure, maintain and monitor on-Premise servers, inriver takes care of it. Debugging an extension is one thing, but debugging a server issue, it's another! Not everyone has all the skillsets. 

4. If someone has a question about inriver PIM, what topics do you prefer to answer?

Technical matters! I can handle business questions, but I feel I bring more to the table by helping someone with technical questions. So all types of extensions, existing inriver adapters such as the Magento adapter, HTML Templates, the inriver Integration Framework, the Remoting/REST API, etc...

5. What advice would you give to someone who is starting to work with inriver PIM?

It's a good thing to ask them what are they looking for. Inriver is PIM, not a PLM, not a DAM, not an ERP, etc... It can do some of all that since it's highly flexible, but it has its limit. It's important they understand what a PIM is and what it should do. Once they understand the concept and if inriver is a fit, then we can start discussing the implementation by doing workshop sessions to understand the business. 

It's also important to consider the internal impacts of having a PIM. You need to be ready for change management if a lot of departments are involved. A lot of processes may change or even be replaced when automated by the PIM and it's possible to have pushbacks from people who are afraid to lose their position.

Discover the other 5 questions and get to know more about Danny in the video below 😉👇

Want to know more about Danny Langlois? Feel free to leave him a question in the comments and connect with him on LinkedIn.