How to Build a Scalable Content Operating Model for Global Digital Commerce

Digital commerce content rarely becomes complicated because creating one product asset is difficult.

The real complexity appears when that same process has to operate across hundreds or thousands of SKUs, multiple brands, markets, retailers, agencies and internal stakeholders while maintaining the quality, consistency, speed and agility needed to support the primary commercial objective: increasing sales.

A single SKU may appear straightforward: a brand provides a brief, an agency develops the asset, the brand reviews it, iterations take place and final approval is given. But multiply that workflow across multiple SKUs, agencies and brands and the operating challenge changes completely.

The focus therefore cannot simply be on producing more content or delivering it faster. The ultimate KPI is sales. Every element of the digital commerce content operation from governance and supplier management to content quality, re-use, automation, Agile delivery and performance measurement should contribute to creating more effective digital commerce experiences that can help drive sales.

This is why organisations operating at global scale need more than a content production process. They need a scalable content operating model that connects content operations to commercial performance.

A well-designed content operating model brings together the governance, processes, people, suppliers and technology required to create, manage, approve, adapt, deploy, measure and continuously improve digital commerce content. It also enables teams to work through structured Agile and Scrum sprints, with content scope agreed and locked for each sprint. This creates greater delivery control while allowing the organisation to respond to changing market and commercial requirements between sprints.

The objective is not simply cost reduction, higher quality or faster delivery in isolation. These are important operational levers, but their value lies in what they enable: better content, better digital commerce execution and, ultimately, greater potential to improve sales performance.

In this article, we explore how to build a scalable content operating model for global digital commerce, including governance, supplier management, Agile delivery, automation, AI, performance measurement and continuous improvement. We also examine lessons from the Unilever Content as a Service (CaaS) programme, where Neem provided client-side programme leadership across a complex global digital commerce ecosystem.

The question is no longer simply:

How do we produce the content?

It becomes:

How do we create, manage, approve, adapt, deploy, measure and continuously improve digital commerce content at scale in a way that ultimately supports sales growth?

This is where Content as a Service (CaaS) can provide a structured approach. Rather than treating content production as a collection of individual projects, CaaS establishes a governed operating model covering content operations, supplier management, quality, performance measurement, automation and continuous improvement.

The approach can also incorporate Agile and Scrum delivery, with content scope agreed and locked within each sprint. This provides a controlled way to prioritise work, maintain delivery focus and respond to changing requirements between sprints without allowing continuous scope change to undermine delivery.

Our Content as a Service (CaaS): The Complete Guide to Scaling Global Digital Commerce provides the broader view of this operating model. This article looks more specifically at how to build the operating model in practice, why Agile delivery matters and what organisations can learn from the Unilever CaaS programme.

What is a content operating model?

A content operating model defines how an organisation plans, creates, manages, adapts, approves, deploys and improves digital commerce content across its ecosystem.

It brings together the people, processes, governance, suppliers, technology and measurement required to deliver content consistently.

For a global organisation, that ecosystem may include:

• Business and brand teams

• Multiple markets and Business Groups

• Retailers and digital commerce channels

• Creative and production agencies

• Technology teams

• Content operations teams

• External delivery suppliers

• Search and optimisation specialists

• Quality assurance teams

• Automation and AI capabilities

Without a common operating model, each part of the ecosystem can develop its own way of working.

That can create duplicated activity, inconsistent quality, unclear accountability, slower approvals and limited visibility into overall programme performance.

A scalable content operating model creates a common framework for coordinating these moving parts.

The approved CaaS pillar describes this distinction clearly: Content as a Service is not a single process or technology. It is a structured operating model in which governance, delivery and continuous improvement reinforce one another.

Why does digital commerce content become complex at scale?

The first SKU is rarely the problem.

The problem is what happens when the process needs to support the second, hundredth or thousandth SKU particularly when different brands, markets and agencies become involved.

Consider a traditional workflow.

Brand → Agency → Review → Iteration → Review → Approval

For one SKU, this may appear manageable.

But introduce multiple SKUs, multiple agencies and multiple brands, and the number of interactions increases rapidly.

The SME material illustrating this transition captures the problem: what can appear “simple, straightforward and quick” in a single-SKU, non-CaaS delivery model becomes considerably more complicated when multiple SKUs, agencies and brands enter the process.

The issue is not simply volume.

It is coordination.

Multiple stakeholders create multiple dependencies

A global digital commerce programme may involve people who own the brand, people who own the market, people who manage the retailer relationship, agencies producing assets and suppliers managing delivery.

Each stakeholder may have legitimate requirements.

Without clear governance, however, those requirements can become additional dependencies within the delivery process.

 

The result can be:

• More approval stages
• More revisions
• More hand-offs
• More opportunities for inconsistent interpretation
• Greater supplier coordination effort
• Less visibility into where work is blocked

A content operating model addresses this by defining ownership, responsibilities, processes and decision-making structures.

Fragmented production creates duplicated effort

When different markets or suppliers solve similar content requirements independently, organisations can end up paying repeatedly for work that could have been standardised, adapted or re-used.

This is one reason content re-use is an important component of a scalable CaaS model.

High-quality content can be re-used where appropriate, reducing duplicated effort while improving operational efficiency and supporting faster delivery. The approved CaaS framework identifies content creation, adaptation, re-use, deployment and quality management as interconnected parts of content operations.

Limited visibility makes improvement harder

If programme performance is distributed across multiple suppliers and markets, leadership can struggle to answer basic questions:

• How much content is being produced?
• How quickly is it being delivered?
• Where are the bottlenecks?
• Which suppliers are performing against expectations?
• Where is rework occurring?
• What is driving cost?
• Is quality consistent?
• Which processes should be improved?

Without this visibility, continuous improvement becomes difficult.

A scalable operating model therefore needs measurement as well as delivery.

The shift from content production to content operations

One of the biggest changes involved in CaaS is moving away from thinking about content as a series of production tasks.

Content production is only one part of the system.

A mature content operation considers the complete lifecycle:

Create → Adapt → Re-use → Quality Check → Deploy → Measure → Improve

This changes the management question.

Instead of asking:

“How many assets did we produce?”

the organisation can ask:

“How effectively is our content operation producing the right content, at the right quality, at the right speed and cost?”

That is a much more useful question for a digital commerce leader.

It also creates a clearer connection between content operations and commercial performance.

High-quality digital commerce content can support better customer experiences and discoverability. Efficient delivery allows organisations to respond more quickly to launches, campaigns and retailer requirements. Better governance provides greater control over investment and execution.

The objective is therefore not simply to produce more content.

It is to create an operating model that allows content to contribute more effectively to digital commerce performance and, ultimately, create stronger conditions for sales growth.

What should a scalable CaaS operating model include?

A scalable Content as a Service model typically combines several interconnected capabilities.

1. Programme governance

Governance provides the structure around the operation.

It establishes:

• Clear accountability
• Roles and responsibilities
• Decision-making processes
• Performance reporting
• Escalation routes
• Quality expectations
• Supplier accountability

Good governance should not create unnecessary bureaucracy.

It should make it easier to understand who owns what, what needs to happen next and how performance is being managed.

The Unilever CaaS programme provides a useful example. Neem provided client-side programme management and established governance across internal stakeholders, agency partners, technology teams and delivery suppliers.

2. Standardised content operations

Standardisation is critical when an organisation operates across multiple brands and markets.

The objective is not necessarily to make every market identical.

It is to create a common operational framework within which appropriate market, brand and retailer requirements can be accommodated.

That can cover:

• Content creation
• Content adaptation
• Content re-use
• Deployment
• Quality management
• Search optimisation
• Performance measurement

Standardisation reduces the need for every team or supplier to reinvent the process.

It can also improve consistency, make performance easier to compare and create opportunities for greater efficiency.

3. Supplier management

Multiple suppliers can provide valuable specialist capabilities.

The challenge is coordinating them around a common business objective.

Supplier management within a CaaS operating model therefore needs to go beyond procurement.

It should address:

• Scope
• Responsibilities
• KPIs
• Quality
• Delivery performance
• Dependencies
• Escalation
• Continuous improvement

In the Unilever programme, supplier delivery was managed across Publicis, Accenture and Oliver Agency, with programme managers coordinating delivery across Business Groups, brands and markets. This helped align supplier activity with business priorities and strengthened governance, transparency and accountability.

4. Quality management

Scaling content should not mean choosing between quality and volume.

Quality needs to be embedded into the operating model rather than treated as an inspection performed at the end.

This means establishing agreed standards and quality controls within the delivery process.

For digital commerce, quality can include:

• Accuracy
• Completeness
• Consistency
• Brand alignment
• Retailer requirements
• Search optimisation
• Accessibility considerations
• Appropriate use of AI-enabled capabilities

The Unilever programme demonstrated improved quality, consistency and completeness of digital commerce content across brands, retailers and regions.

5. Automation and AI

Automation can remove repetitive manual activity from content operations.

Examples can include:

• Reporting
• Tracking
• Workflow management
• Data handling
• Repetitive content processes
• Performance monitoring

AI-enabled content capabilities can extend these opportunities further.

But technology should sit inside the operating model, not replace it.

Without governance, automation can simply make an inefficient process faster.

Without quality controls, AI can increase the volume of content that needs to be checked.

Without performance measurement, organisations may not know whether automation is actually improving the operation.

The Unilever programme incorporated automation and AI-enabled content capabilities alongside content re-use, supplier management and performance measurement.

The principle is straightforward:

Fix and govern the operating model first. Then use technology to improve it.

Where does Agile and Scrum fit into CaaS?

Agility is increasingly important in digital commerce because content requirements do not remain static.

Markets launch new products.
Retailers change requirements.
Campaign priorities shift.
New channels emerge.
Customer behaviour changes.
Accessibility expectations evolve.
AI capabilities develop.

A content operating model therefore needs both control and responsiveness.

This is where Agile and Scrum methodology can play a role.

An Agile approach breaks delivery into defined sprints, allowing teams to organise work into manageable delivery cycles.

For a CaaS programme, content scope can be agreed and locked for each sprint.

That distinction is important.

Agile does not mean that every stakeholder can continuously add new requests to an active sprint.

Instead, the operating model creates a controlled rhythm:

Prioritise → Define Scope → Lock Sprint → Deliver → Review → Learn → Reprioritise

This provides several benefits.

Clearer priorities

A sprint creates a defined delivery commitment.

Teams know what they are responsible for delivering, while stakeholders have greater visibility into what is and is not included.

Reduced scope creep

Locking content scope for the sprint protects delivery teams from continuous changes during execution.

New requirements can be assessed and prioritised for a subsequent sprint rather than constantly disrupting the current one.

Faster feedback

Sprint reviews create structured opportunities to examine what has been delivered and identify improvements.

Greater responsiveness

The organisation does not need to redesign the entire operating model every time priorities change.

It can adjust the next sprint.

This is an important distinction between speed and agility.

Speed is about how quickly content moves through the process.

Agility is about how effectively the organisation can adapt and respond while maintaining control.

A mature CaaS model should support both.

How can Agile delivery improve digital commerce content?

The commercial value of Agile delivery is not simply that teams work in shorter cycles.

It is that the organisation can create a more responsive mechanism for managing content against changing digital commerce priorities.

For example, suppose a retailer introduces a new content requirement.

In a highly fragmented operating model, the change may require separate conversations with multiple suppliers and markets. Requirements may be interpreted differently, and the change may compete with existing priorities without a clear mechanism for deciding what takes precedence.

Within a governed Agile CaaS model, the requirement can enter a structured prioritisation process.

The organisation can determine:

1. What has changed?
   
2. Which markets, brands or retailers are affected?
   
3. What is the business priority?
   
4. What work needs to be completed?
   
5. Which supplier or team owns delivery?
   
6. Which sprint should contain the work?
   
7. How will success be measured?

The result is not uncontrolled flexibility.

It is controlled responsiveness.

That is particularly important when digital commerce content is supporting multiple markets, brands and retail environments simultaneously.

How should CaaS performance be measured?

A scalable content operating model needs an executive performance scorecard.

The most useful measures should cover both operational performance and business value.

Cost efficiency

Measure whether supplier consolidation, content re-use, automation and improved processes are reducing unnecessary operational cost.

Content quality

Measure whether content remains consistent, complete and fit for purpose as delivery scales.

Delivery speed

Measure turnaround times, throughput and unnecessary delays.

Supplier performance

Measure whether delivery partners are meeting agreed business and operational priorities.

Programme governance

Measure whether stakeholders have the visibility and accountability required to manage the programme effectively.

Continuous improvement

Measure whether performance data is actually leading to improvements in the operating model.

These measures are consistent with the CaaS performance framework established in the broader pillar page.

But mature programmes should go further than operational metrics.

The ultimate question is whether improvements in cost, quality, speed and agility are helping the organisation create more effective digital commerce content.

That is where the connection to sales becomes important.

CaaS should not be positioned as a mechanism that automatically increases sales. Rather, better content operations can create the conditions for stronger digital commerce performance through higher-quality content, more efficient delivery, improved discoverability and the ability to respond more effectively to commercial opportunities.

What can global organisations learn from the Unilever CaaS programme?

The Unilever programme demonstrates why the operating model matters.

Unilever was operating across multiple Business Groups, markets, brands, retailers and agency partners. As digital shelf requirements expanded, content creation and deployment became increasingly complex.

Neem’s role was not simply to produce content.

Neem provided client-side Content as a Service programme management, establishing a governance framework that coordinated stakeholders, agency partners, technology teams and delivery suppliers.

The operating model brought together:

• Content creation
  
• Content adaptation
  
• Content re-use
  
• Deployment
  
• Quality management
  
• Search optimisation
  
• Automation
  
• Performance measurement
  
• Supplier management
  
• Continuous improvement

This transformed content delivery from a fragmented collection of activities into a more structured global service.

What were the outcomes?

The approved case-study evidence identifies several outcomes.

The programme delivered consistent programme KPIs across participating markets over multiple years.

It improved the quality, consistency and completeness of digital commerce content across brands, retailers and regions.

It generated significant cost efficiencies through supplier consolidation, content re-use, automation and AI-enabled delivery.

It increased governance maturity, supplier accountability and performance management.

The programme also managed an approximately €8 million annual programme through a structured global delivery model and contributed to an award-winning Digital Commerce capability.

The important lesson is not that every organisation should reproduce the Unilever model exactly.

It is that complexity requires structure.

When content operations span multiple markets, brands and suppliers, the operating model becomes a strategic capability.

Five principles for building a scalable content operating model

The Unilever experience points to five principles that organisations can apply when designing their own CaaS model.

1. Govern before you scale

Adding more suppliers, markets or content volume to an unclear process usually increases complexity.

Establish governance, ownership and decision-making before attempting to scale delivery.

2. Standardise the process, not necessarily the output

Global organisations need consistency, but markets and retailers may have different requirements.

A good operating model standardises the way work is managed while allowing appropriate adaptation of the content itself.

3. Use Agile to create control and responsiveness

Agile and Scrum should not become an excuse for uncontrolled scope change.

Define and lock content scope for each sprint, deliver against that commitment, review performance and use the learning to inform the next sprint.

This creates a predictable delivery rhythm while retaining the ability to respond to changing priorities.

4. Treat suppliers as part of the operating model

Suppliers should not operate as disconnected production islands.

They need clear accountability, measurable KPIs and alignment with the organisation’s business priorities.

5. Measure the operation, not just the output

The number of assets delivered is only one measure.

Leaders should understand cost, quality, speed, supplier performance, governance and continuous improvement and how those operational improvements contribute to better digital commerce performance.

What is the relationship between CaaS and sales growth?

This is ultimately where the operating model needs to connect back to the commercial purpose of digital commerce.

A CaaS programme is not a sales channel in itself.

It does, however, influence the operating conditions in which digital commerce content is created and managed.

The relationship can be understood as:

Better governance

→ clearer accountability and decision-making

Better content operations

→ more consistent creation, adaptation, re-use and deployment

Better supplier management

→ stronger delivery performance and accountability

Automation and AI

→ greater operational efficiency and repeatability

Agile sprint delivery

→ greater responsiveness to changing requirements

Cost + Quality + Speed + Agility

→ more effective digital commerce content operations

→ stronger conditions for digital commerce performance and sales growth

This is why the business case for CaaS should not be reduced to content production cost.

The broader opportunity is to create a more scalable, measurable and responsive digital commerce capability.

The approved CaaS pillar similarly positions the business value around reduced cost, increased speed and measurable quality, while highlighting the potential for high-quality content and more efficient delivery to support online sales growth.

How do you know if your organisation needs a CaaS operating model?

You may need to rethink your content operating model if:

• Multiple suppliers are producing similar content independently.

• Different markets follow different delivery processes.

• Approval cycles are becoming longer as content volumes increase.

• Teams spend significant time coordinating suppliers rather than improving content.

• Nobody has a complete view of programme performance.

• Content quality varies across markets or retailers.

• Re-use opportunities are difficult to identify.

• Automation is being introduced into fragmented processes.

• AI is increasing content volume without a corresponding governance framework.

• New requirements repeatedly disrupt active delivery.

• Increasing content volume is increasing operational cost faster than commercial value.

• Your organisation is producing more content but becoming no more responsive.

The last point is particularly important.

More content is not necessarily a sign of a better content operation.

If content volume is increasing while cost, complexity and coordination effort are also increasing, the organisation may need to improve the operating model rather than simply add production capacity.

Frequently Asked Questions

Qs. 1 | What is a content operating model?

A content operating model is the framework an organisation uses to manage how content is planned, created, adapted, approved, deployed, measured and improved. For global digital commerce, it brings together people, processes, governance, suppliers and technology to support consistent content delivery at scale.

Qs. 2 | What is Content as a Service?

Content as a Service (CaaS) is a structured operating model for creating, managing and delivering digital commerce content across brands, markets and retailers. It combines governance, content operations, supplier management, performance measurement and continuous improvement rather than treating content as a series of isolated projects.

Qs. 3 | Why is Agile useful in CaaS?

Agile provides a structured delivery rhythm that allows content teams to prioritise and deliver defined work in sprints. When content scope is agreed and locked for each sprint, teams can maintain delivery focus while using reviews and subsequent sprint planning to respond to changing requirements.

Qs. 4 | Does Agile mean content scope can change during a sprint?

Not necessarily. In a governed Agile CaaS model, content scope can be agreed and locked for the sprint. New requirements can then be assessed and prioritised for a future sprint. This protects delivery focus while retaining organisational agility.

Qs. 5 | How does CaaS improve content quality?

CaaS embeds quality management and standardised processes into content operations. This provides greater consistency across brands, markets, retailers and suppliers while making quality measurable as content production scales.

Qs. 6 | How can CaaS reduce digital commerce content costs?

Cost efficiencies can come from supplier consolidation, content re-use, automation and more efficient internal processes. Reducing duplicated effort and fragmented delivery can also improve the efficiency of content investment.

Qs. 7 | How does supplier management support CaaS?

Supplier management establishes clear responsibilities, performance expectations and accountability across agencies and delivery partners. It helps ensure supplier activity remains aligned with business priorities and the wider content operating model.

Qs. 8 | Can AI be part of a CaaS operating model?

Yes. AI-enabled content capabilities can support more efficient content operations, but they should operate within appropriate governance, quality management and performance measurement frameworks. AI is a capability within the operating model, not a replacement for the operating model itself.

Qs. 9 | How should a CaaS programme be measured?

A CaaS programme can be measured through cost efficiency, content quality, delivery speed, supplier performance, programme governance and continuous improvement. Organisations should also consider how these operational measures contribute to broader digital commerce performance.

Qs. 10 | Can CaaS support sales growth?

A well-designed CaaS model can create stronger conditions for digital commerce sales growth by improving the quality, consistency, discoverability and efficiency of content operations. CaaS should not be presented as an automatic sales-growth mechanism; rather, it strengthens the operational foundations that enable digital commerce content to perform more effectively.

From fragmented content delivery to a scalable digital commerce capability

The challenge facing global organisations is no longer simply producing enough digital commerce content.

It is creating an operating model that can manage growing volumes without allowing complexity to overwhelm cost, quality, speed or responsiveness.

That requires more than a production supplier.

It requires governance.
It requires standardised content operations.
It requires effective supplier management.
It requires automation and appropriately governed AI-enabled capabilities.
It requires measurable performance.

And increasingly, it requires an Agile delivery model that provides both control and responsiveness, with content scope clearly defined and locked within each sprint.

The Unilever Content as a Service programme demonstrates what this can look like at global scale. Through client-side programme leadership, structured governance, supplier coordination, standardised content operations, automation and performance management, the programme created a more scalable approach to one of the world’s most complex digital commerce ecosystems.

The wider lesson is simple:

The goal is not to create more content. It is to build a better content operation.

One that can deliver the right content at the right quality, cost and speed while remaining agile enough to respond to changing markets, retailers and commercial priorities.

For a deeper explanation of the model, see Content as a Service (CaaS): The Complete Guide to Scaling Global Digital Commerce.

To see how these principles were applied in practice, explore the Unilever Content as a Service (CaaS) Programme case study.

And if your organisation is managing growing content complexity across brands, markets, retailers or suppliers, the question may no longer be whether you need more content production.

It may be whether you need a better content operating model.