Cultural match and shared focus
Customer Intimacy: close to the employees
“Cultural match and shared focus”
In IT services, the explicit demand of the customer often entails an implicit desire. To provide the optimal answer to this unspoken need, the business objectives have to be clear to all parties involved. Levi9 Technology Services believes that the right response to the customer demand happens at three levels: the customer itself, the end user, and last but not least, the employee.
People in tech love it when they make the difference. Software development teams are most effective when all parties understand the context in which the product is going to be used by the end customer: the intended goal, user-friendliness and the business value. Levi9 is helping one of its clients build a platform to contribute to reducing CO2 emissions. Making this explicit in the performance indicators for the development team is one of the ways that Levi9 is increasing their engagement; the sense of social responsibility then becomes an additional motivation for achieving the objectives. But it starts with a deeper insight into the culture, objectives and needs of the client.
Employees involved
Regular, and preferably informal, personal contact with all parties is one of the keys to getting at the real customer demand. IT service providers try to do this at three levels:
The customer itself – In IT services, by definition the customer demand goes beyond the wishes and requirements of the individual customer or that one contact person. It always involves more people and more departments. Their needs and desires can be very different depending on the internal coordination. The real customer demand is the greatest common denominator of all the individual demands.
The end users – The customer demand is also the demand of the end users. It often happens that companies get bogged down in interpretations and assumptions here. That’s why it’s important to verify that the company really knows its end users. As the IT services provider, that might mean that you have to go talk to the end customers yourself. To be sure that the functionality you are delivering answers to what they actually want.
The employees – As IT services provider, you also have to get up close with your own personnel. This is as important as knowing the customer and the end users. Because even the smallest wrinkle in their interaction with the customer or the end user can have a number of ripple effects that can work against you. And that’s bad for the customer and bad for your own people.
“The interaction with Levi9 is always about a shared focus on making the best possible product” Johan de Groot, Faktor co-founder and CTO
Johan de Groot, Faktor co-founder and CTO
Partnership means startup on steroids
Faktor’s explosive growth and sensational success are the stuff of adventure novels. His company was recently purchased by LiveRamp, but chief technology officer Johan de Groot is still working closely with Levi9 on further growth in the field of consent management. “We went through the learning curve as partners, and we’re still learning.”
“At that time, Faktor was one of the few parties that foresaw the rise of data privacy legislation and took it seriously”, explains De Groot. “Even then, we understood that when a company handles the personal data of its users properly, on the basis of consent, everyone wins.” Faktor launched in 2017 with four employees and the backing of several angel investors. “We knew we had to get off the ground by 25 May 2018, the day the GDPR went into effect. That meant we had to go very fast from an idea to a minimum viable product to a fully operational and scalable solution. And we did, thanks to our partnership with Levi9.”
A lot of the strength comes from the broad-based synergies between all parties involved, including the people of Levi9 in Amsterdam and the developers in Zrenjanin, Serbia. “We all have the same focus on producing a good product together. Levi9 operates like a unit of our company. For example, developers have access to our Slack environment and all our documentation.”
Synergy
Levi9 worked with Faktor on the core product using methodologies like Lean and Scrum. For De Groot, the customer intimacy comes from putting heads together: “We really do it together, across the whole organization. That’s one of the most important success factors. When I get critical feedback from our own customers, I send it straight through to the people on the Levi9 team, with no filter. And then within 24 hours everyone’s working on the solution.”
Meanwhile, new legislation and regulations governing data and privacy keep coming, so the demand for consent management continues to rise. “To keep up with it, we’re growing from four teams to six. The partnership with Levi9 is getting even closer. We’ve strengthened our ties and have become real friends and coworkers.”
Scale
The way Faktor uses its people and its tech explains how the company can focus on innovation, business logic and customer journeys. Domain specialists of Levi9 can look on where they need to and call on senior or mid-level developers. “The smart way we put the teams together has given us basically a startup on steroids.”
And the need for growth is also coming from LiveRamp, a specialist in identity solutions. “The speed at which we are able to get products out in partnership with Levi9 is starting to get noticed in California. Who knows where that’s going to lead in the future …?”
“Levi9 operates like a unit of our company”
Johan de Groot, Faktor co-founder and CTO
“A good match generates energy”
Levi9 Technology Services is very selective about its customers. We first take a close look at whether our culture is a good fit with that of the customer, and whether their needs and the needs of the end users line up with our internal values. And the mission has to be sufficiently challenging for our employees. Everything is focused on creating a valuable relationship for the long term.
“Our tech people want to understand the customer’s business, so they know what their efforts are leading to,” explains Levi9 CEO Pien Oosterman. “Together with the customer, we translate the product vision into technology: the features that will make the difference for the business.”
“Everyone finds it so exciting when they get a chance to work for a startup,” she continues. “It’s something that gives a talented professional the chance to push themselves and grow. And the energy that comes from that is priceless. When the spirit on the teams is good, that’s when a company can make the greatest strides. And we see that most with a strong social drive, like the push for sustainability or a living work environment. And of course, the contribution to the customer’s business goals counts for us.”
“When the spirit on the teams is good, that’s when a company can make the greatest strides”
Pien Oosterman, Levi9 CEO
Unique in customer focus
Levi9 Technology Services places a strong focus on business technology: the tech that companies use to distinguish themselves in their markets. The engineers of Levi9 work in a nearshore model with the business and the management of the customer to develop outstanding custom software.
Levi9 has some 20 staff in the Netherlands and over one thousand in Eastern Europe – all ambitious, highly educated professionals who speak English well. They are not hindered by a superfluous management layer, so they can get straight at what is best for the customer.
Alongside custom software development, commodities are also an important part of Levi9’s services. Cloud services, APIs, business services, and serverless computing are all used wherever possible. Individually and in combination, these technologies are the catalyst for scalability and acceleration.
All levels
At all levels – from the break room to the boardroom – Levi9 Technology Services has the right contacts to collect the knowledge and understanding of the customer and the end user, which we do in combination with surveys and research. The result is an optimal interaction that leads to top-quality tech applications and products that make the difference for the customer.
THINKING IN USER STORIES AND BUSINESS IMPACT
Customer Intimacy: The end user in the picture
“Thinking in user stories and business impact”
In IT services, the explicit demand of the customer often entails an implicit desire. To provide the optimal answer to this unspoken need, the business objectives have to be clear to all parties involved. Levi9 Technology Services believes that the right response to the customer demand happens at three levels: the customer itself, the employee, and last but not least, the end user.
The digital transformation promises a company many things, and one of them is a more intensive, more individual, one-on-one relationship with customers and the consumer. The delivery on this promise comes from a combination of cutting-edge technology, data and smart algorithms. Although online research and data analysis produces beautiful customer journeys, personas, results and insights, the customer feedback you get through this channel is less personal than human contact. That greater personal distance to the customer is a significant change, one that companies need to be aware of. IT services providers can help organizations and executives regain a vision of the real need in the market.
End users
Regular, and preferably informal, personal contact with all parties is one of the keys to getting at the real customer demand. IT service providers try to do this at three levels:
The customer itself – In IT services, by definition the customer demand goes beyond the wishes and requirements of the individual client or that one contact person. It always involves more people and more departments. Their needs and desires can be very different depending on the internal coordination. The real customer demand is the greatest common denominator of all the individual demands.
The end users – The customer demand is also the demand of the end users. It often happens that companies get bogged down in interpretations and assumptions here. That’s why it’s important to verify that the company really knows its end users. As the IT services provider, that might mean that you have to go talk to the end customers yourself. To be sure that the functionality you are delivering answers to what they actually want.
The employees – As IT services provider, you also have to get up close with your own personnel. This is as important as knowing the client and the end users. Because even the smallest wrinkle in their interaction with the customer or the end user can have a number of ripple effects that can work against you. And that’s bad for the customer and bad for your own people.
Martijn Hohmann, Five Degrees CEO
Working together towards the bank of your dreams
Five Degrees is a software company that drives the software behind a fully digital bank delivered from the cloud. The roadmap is all about user-friendliness, flexibility and speed. “We deliver this with our choice for a cloud solution, developing on the basis of micro services, and our years of partnership with Levi9,” says CEO Martijn Hohmann.
With its sights set on supersonic development and strong growth, scalability in technology and manpower is critical to Five Degrees. “Think about the development of new technological possibilities, both in the core banking application and on the user side. Then, there are the options for making integration with other systems as easy as possible,” says Hohmann. Now, eight years after Five Degrees’ launch, over twenty banks internationally are using the technology.
The highly qualified people and excellent service of Levi9 gave Five Degrees the comfort and security they needed. “It was also important for there to be a match in terms of culture and a shared passion for the field and the product. That led to an intensive cooperation and knowledge transfer, which was one of the biggest success factors. After five years of intensive cooperation and a few successful recent pilot projects, the people of Levi9 are now working on the core teams and having an input in our product roadmap.”
Components
Five Degrees’ technology agenda is built on the modular development and provision of software components based on micro services. According to Hohmann, “The advantage for the customer is that they can choose exactly the relevant blocks of functionality they need from a huge range of integrated options. And they can combine them with components they already have. For us, working with components means that we can produce them as location-independent modules. By developing new functionality in a fully event-driven and serverless way, making it cloud-native, the applications get more and more efficient and easier to scale.”
Ambition
Hohmann says that the years of intimate partnership with Levi9 have produced a lot of advantages. “There’s so much mutual trust between us that we don’t even think of them as a vendor anymore. They have so much knowledge of our processes and products, and that means we are getting so much out of this partnership. And it means they’re not afraid to say something when they know that a product or solution can be better.”
That critical, proactive approach comes along with the personal professionalism and ambition of the people on the teams. “They want to learn, and grow, and work on exciting and relevant solutions too. As a customer, we challenge those people and give them the opportunity to up their game. That’s good for us, for our customers, and for Levi9.”
“At Levi9, they’re not afraid to say something when they know that a product or solution can be better” – Martijn Hohmann, Five Degrees CEO
Truly understanding the end user
The added value of Levi9 Technology Services comprises much more than simply delivering what the customer asks for. Truly understanding what adds value for the end user, and delivering it as a shared goal, is what it’s all about. That demands constant reassessment. A truly good customer relationship is always based on data, intelligence and human interaction.
“We are always trying to use the user story to prompt our clients to think in terms of business impact,” explains Levi9 CEO Pien Oosterman. “That kind of dialogue requires discussion partners that know their market and their competition very well.” This multidimensional customer orientation can be challenging for the CIO, CTO or CDO on the client side.
“More than with small and medium-sized companies, at the big companies, we still see a lot of thinking and action from islands and silos,” says Levi9 CCO Debby Jansen. This is something that can obscure the view to the end user. “As a strategic partner, we really like to help facilitate a cross-functional exchange. For an intimate relationship with the customer, the end user, and our own people. This way, we can always deliver real added business value.”
“We are always trying to use the user story to prompt our clients to think in terms of business impact”
Pien Oosterman, Levi9 CEO
Unique in customer focus
Levi9 Technology Services places a strong focus on business technology: the tech that companies use to distinguish themselves in their markets. The engineers of Levi9 work in a nearshore model with the business and the management of the client to develop outstanding custom software.
Levi9 has some 20 staff in the Netherlands and over one thousand in Eastern Europe – all ambitious, highly educated professionals who speak English well. They are not hindered by a superfluous management layer, so they can get straight at what is best for the client.
Alongside custom software development, commodities are also an important part of Levi9’s services. Cloud services, APIs, business services, and serverless computing are all used wherever possible. Individually and in combination, these technologies are the catalyst for scalability and acceleration.
All levels
At all levels – from the break room to the boardroom – Levi9 Technology Services has the right contacts to collect the knowledge and understanding of the client and the end user, which we do in combination with surveys and research. The result is an optimal interaction that leads to top-quality tech applications and products that make the difference for the customer.
IT’S THE EXPERIENCE, NOT THE EXPECTATIONS
Customer Intimacy: Business value for the customer
“It’s the experience, not the expectations”
In IT services, the explicit demand of the customer often entails an implicit desire. To provide the optimal answer to this unspoken need, the business objectives have to be clear to all parties involved. Levi9 Technology Services believes that the right response to the customer demand happens at three levels: end users, employees, and of course the customer itself.
Organizations and their leaders generally find themselves facing two fundamental challenges that are in essence the formula for the ultimate customer demand. Firstly, they have to have a clear vision of their own products and services: what distinguishes them in the market. Then, they have to have the right technological response, as fast and as scalable as possible.
In the face of increasing competition and the rapidly changing demands of today’s market, the modern company has to move fast. Companies have to make optimal use of the technology that opens the doors to new activities and more effective ways of working. The right tech solutions can reduce time-to-market, increase revenues and decrease costs.
Personal contact
Regular, and preferably informal, personal contact with all parties is one of the keys to getting at the real customer demand. IT service providers try to do this at three levels:
The customer itself – In IT services, by definition the customer demand goes beyond the wishes and requirements of the individual customer or that one contact person. It always involves more people and more departments. Their needs and desires can be very different depending on the internal coordination. The real customer demand is the greatest common denominator of all the individual demands.
The end users – The customer demand is also the demand of the end users. It often happens that companies get bogged down in interpretations and assumptions here. That’s why it’s important to verify that the company really knows its end users. As the IT services provider, that might mean that you have to go talk to the end customers yourself. To be sure that the functionality you are delivering answers to what they actually want.
The employees – As IT services provider, you also have to get up close with your own personnel. This is as important as knowing the customer and the end users. Because even the smallest wrinkle in their interaction with the customer or the end user can have a number of ripple effects that can work against you. And that’s bad for the customer and bad for your own people.
”With an Agile mindset towards a leading platform”
Joeri Kamp, Everon COO and Managing Director
Everon is the software division of EVBox, a worldwide manufacturer of charging points for electric vehicles and charging management systems. Faced with the increasing importance of charging point management and fast growth in the market, Everon chose to work with Levi9. “Our assumption has been a partnership with maximum business results,” says COO Joeri Kamp.
“With our mobility solution, we’re going to be playing a worldwide role in the electric vehicle ecosystem,” Kamp says enthusiastically. “Our charging point management platform is set up to be entirely scalable as a service, and Levi9 helps us do that. For us, it’s a unique opportunity to grow in this relatively young and, above all, promising market.”
Levi9 doesn’t just lend a helping hand, but is also raising the quality and working methods within the development teams. “They bring knowledge and experience to the table with the Agile methodology, with continuous improvement, attention to security and architecture. All these things mean real added value in the short and long term.”
Worldwide platform
Everon is an independent unit responsible for the EV charging management platform in a number of areas, including the EVBox charging posts, which have already been rolled out in over 100,000 charging points in more than 55 countries. Everon is set up as an independent unit and might emerge as a worldwide platform for the management of charging points from all manufacturers.
The synergy with Levi9 began with the need for additional Java developers on sixteen teams, working mainly on issues relating to the core application, to develop new functionality and flexible options for scaling up. “They have a reputation as a reliable partner, so you know they deliver, and you know you can count on satisfaction as a customer. All those things played a role in the choice. Working with them means lots of face-to-face contact, both with Levi9 in Amsterdam and the thirty or so developers who are working on the various teams.”
Business results
Until recently, Everon did not have a development team focusing on mobile applications. “Working with Levi9, we put together a team for iOS and Android that has the goal of launching native apps next year,” Kamp continues. “Other teams are focusing on things like eliminating technical debt and developments around data – both front and back-end.”
“A shared mission means the cultures have to be largely compatible, with similar diversity in terms of national background and gender. That’s certainly true for Levi9, an international company with over 40% of its employees female,” says Kamp.
“Our assumption has been a partnership with maximum business results, for both the short and long term”
Joeri Kamp, Everon COO and Managing Director
“Regularly reassess customer demand”
Optimal customer intimacy means that the customer demand has to be reassessed regularly, ideally at least once per quarter. If you see that two or more of the customer’s people are starting to have divergent visions, then it’s time to have an open discussion about reformulating the demand in clear terms. Levi9 takes up the responsibility for actively encouraging and facilitating this dialogue.
“When we know their business goals, then we can support our clients with the right data and technology,” explains Debby Janssen, CCO of Levi9 Technology Services. “That’s how we deliver a customer experience instead of customer expectations. That means real added value in the long term.”
The pitfall is that as the vendor, you might think you understand the customer demand and then start working on that basis, only to then find out that the client actually meant something a little bit different. “That demands intensive contact with the client, their people, and any technology partners involved,” says Jansen. “That broad-based coordination is an important success factor.”
“By knowing their business goals, we can support our clients with the right data and technology”
Debby Jansen, Levi9 Technology Services CCO
Unique in customer focus
Levi9 Technology Services places a strong focus on business technology: the tech that companies use to distinguish themselves in their markets. The engineers of Levi9 work in a nearshore model with the business and the management of the client to develop outstanding custom software.
Levi9 has some 20 staff in the Netherlands and over one thousand in Eastern Europe – all ambitious, highly educated professionals who speak English well. They are not hindered by a superfluous management layer, so they can get straight at what is best for the customer.
Alongside custom software development, commodities are also an important part of Levi9’s services. Cloud services, APIs, business services, and serverless computing are all used wherever possible. Individually and in combination, these technologies are the catalyst for scalability and acceleration.
All levels
At all levels – from the break room to the boardroom – Levi9 Technology Services has the right contacts to collect the knowledge and understanding of the client and the end user, which we do in combination with surveys and research. The result is an optimal interaction that leads to top-quality tech applications and products that make the difference for the customer.
Do you have a business challenge and are you looking for a technology partner to support you?
Please contact us, so we can define and reach our common goal: info@stagingwww.levi9.com
Can’t Wait to Learn War Child & Levi9
Can’t Wait to Learn is fast, effective and low-cost – and utilises custom gaming technology to deliver quality education. The evidence-based programme was developed by War Child and partners, such as Levi9, through years of testing and research.
More than 32 million children affected by conflict worldwide miss out on education. Can’t Wait to Learn opens up a whole new world to them – the world of learning. But the real magic? It is designed in partnership with children and tailored to their reality.
Can’t Wait to Learn provides a solution for millions of children around the world – both in formal schools and in out-of-school settings. The programme offers children affected by conflict the opportunity to (continue to) learn to read and count through playing educational games on tablet devices.
Thanks to a delivery system which can operate in resource constrained areas, Can’t Wait to Learn provides quality education to all children – no matter where they are. The programme enables children to learn even in places where formal education is not available.
Children of all abilities can learn through the program – each game includes instruction and practice modules, as well as a learning management system.
Since 2017, Levi9 and War Child Holland have been collaborating on a project to establish a data management and monitoring portal for the education technology program.
The management portal is a data tracking system, which enables Can’t Wait to Learn’s global and local staff to register the children in the programme and monitor their progress. The portal is a product of on-going developments and improvements based on feedback from both the War Child Holland team as well as team members from their country programs. As the program evolved and grew, so did the management portal and its functionalities. One of the main challenges has been to create a ‘’global’’ portal while incorporating the specific needs per country. This challenge required both the Levi9 and the War Child Holland team to be creative and pragmatic.
The final result of the portal is widely used and appreciated by various War Child teams using it in Bangladesh, Chad, Jordan, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Sudan and Uganda. The teams have seen their feedback being incorporated and come to life in the portal. Ultimately, the management portal is used for quality assurance, as we can track progress and follow up on implementation based on the data. This has been a valuable learning experience and partnership for War Child Holland, and we appreciate Levi9’s professional and financial contributions in the process.