From Spreadsheets to Speed: How Starkey Enabled Product Agility with the Akeneo App for Salesforce
It's a great tool for expediting your product information process into Salesforce.
Starkey is a privately held global hearing technology company headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. With a presence in over 100 markets globally, Starkey is known for its innovation in the design, development, and distribution of advanced digital hearing systems.
Committed to helping people hear their very best, Starkey delivers personalized, high-performance hearing solutions through a trusted network of hearing professionals. With a focus on comfort and cutting-edge technology, Starkey continues to set the standard in hearing health worldwide.
Before adopting Akeneo, Starkey relied on a homegrown solution alongside a traditional CMS tool. Product data was imported into Sitecore and then exported into database views that powered the company’s eCommerce site, a portal used by customers to order hearing devices and accessories.
Over time, this custom-built system grew increasingly complex and fragile. Managing product information required deep technical expertise, with even minor updates or fixes demanding support from IT.
Tasks like debugging .NET code, maintaining database tables across multiple environments, and adapting to new product types became burdensome and time-consuming. The system also struggled to support Starkey’s highly configurable hearing aids, which included numerous product variations.
Because this legacy setup had been in place for over a decade, it was tightly woven into Starkey’s operations. The team had understandable concerns about whether a new platform could meet their specific needs, or fully replace what had become embedded in their technical DNA.
Without a centralized, user-friendly solution, Starkey struggled to scale its product information management (PIM) efficiently, empower non-technical users, and keep pace with frequent product launches. Finding a system that could reduce IT bottlenecks, simplify enrichment, and support cross-functional collaboration was essential for moving forward.
The biggest wins are the ease of enrichment and our time to market for the eCommerce team being significantly better.
Starkey implemented Akeneo Product Cloud, paired with the Akeneo App for Salesforce to modernize their approach to product information management and eliminate the inefficiencies caused by legacy, homegrown systems. Their goal: reduce IT bottlenecks, simplify enrichment, and improve time-to-market for complex, highly configurable hearing devices.
With Akeneo’s tailored import tools and flexible data mapping capabilities, Starkey seamlessly integrated product data from both their ERP system and their existing product data table. This allowed the team to update product information on a regular cadence, automating what used to be a tedious, manual process that required technical support and database access.
The Akeneo App for Salesforce played a critical role in replacing Starkey’s former export system, which was fragile and deeply reliant on custom code. With the new app, product data is now published directly to Salesforce Commerce Cloud in a structured, scalable way, freeing developers from debugging .NET code or managing backend environments.
To support their highly configurable product catalog, Starkey leveraged reference entities within Akeneo, enabling them to manage options like battery types, finishes, and other device attributes without creating data chaos. This flexibility allowed them to easily associate dynamic combinations with specific products, significantly simplifying setup for custom hearing aids.
Even during compressed timelines, Starkey was able to accelerate their time to launch and significantly reduce pressure on the eCommerce team with the Akeneo App for Salesforce. Enrichment became easier to manage, enabling quick updates and real-time site visibility. Tasks that once demanded deep technical expertise could now be handled by non-technical users, freeing up technical resources to focus on quality assurance, business analysis, and strategic growth.
Akeneo’s intuitive interface also made adoption easy across teams. More employees now actively manage product data without relying on developers, increasing autonomy and reducing internal bottlenecks. Exporting updated products is as simple as selecting what’s changed in the last 24 hours, empowering users to react quickly and keep the eCommerce site current without waiting on IT.
Starkey plans to further leverage Akeneo’s localization capabilities and AI-powered enrichment to support expansion into new markets and simplify attribute completion. Thanks to the solid foundation established during implementation, the team is well-positioned to scale globally without needing to revisit or rebuild their setup.
By modernizing their product data infrastructure with Akeneo and its App for Salesforce, Starkey is positioned to launch faster, scale smarter, and deliver better experiences to both internal stakeholders and end customers.
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