Today companies establish their individual e-business platforms. As a digital agency from the very beginning, we support our customers in both the B2B and B2C areas, both of which are often relevant for the company. We provide impulses for new markets and technologies and support our customers in their individual digital transformation.

Welcome to change

Stefan Belmann Geschäftsführung/CEO/Vorstandsvorsitzender communicode AG

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CEO | Vorstandsvorsitzender

CEO/Chairman of the Board of Directors

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End-to-end solutions that put your customers first

End-to-End Lösungen,  die Ihre Kunden in den Mittelpunkt stellen

Mit **Leidenschaft** und **strategischem Weitblick** gestalten wir Ihre digitale Zukunft: Unsere interdisziplinären Teams entwickeln technisch robuste Plattformen, die Prozesse beschleunigen, unvergessliche Kundenerlebnisse schaffen und neue digitale Geschäftsmodelle eröffnen. Dabei denken wir nicht in Einzellösungen, sondern in ganzheitlichen Konzepten – kreativ, strategisch und technologisch fundiert. 

Solution

﻿﻿Strengthen your digital brand with a seamless customer experience

Strengthen your digital brand with a seamless customer experience

Brand & Customer Experience

We support you in making your brand distinctive and offering a seamless, personalized customer experience that inspires your customers and builds long-term loyalty.

Boost your commerce growth and optimize your performance

Increased success with the right systems and the perfect strategy

Commerce & Performance

With data-driven strategies and precise insights, we maximize your conversion rates, increase customer loyalty and ensure that your business grows efficiently.

Take advantage of flexible, scalable and customized technologies that are always available

Your commerce platform in a time of technological change

Platforms, Architecture & Development

We develop robust, future-proof architectures that not only guarantee maximum availability, but also grow with your business and adapt dynamically and efficiently to new requirements.

Shape your strategic transformation and stay competitive

Shaping the future with foresight and AI as drivers of growth

Strategy & Transformation

Together, we will develop a sustainable strategy that will future-proof your company, promote innovation and keep you one step ahead of the competition.

We shape your digital future with **passion** and **strategic vision**: our interdisciplinary teams develop technically robust platforms that accelerate processes, create unforgettable customer experiences, and open up new digital business models. We don't think in terms of individual solutions, but rather in terms of holistic concepts – creative, strategic, and technologically sound.

Solutions

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Director Consulting

## The Stadtwerke Schwerte (SWS) Group of Companies grows further 
Stadtwerke Schwerte pursues the goal of offering its customers not only the supply of electricity, gas and heat, but also a modern and sustainable all-round supply of energy, telecommunications, leisure and drainage. High on their priority list is to provide their customers with a better overview of existing contracts, give individual and better offers from Stadtwerke Schwerte (SWS) as well as inform about current events such as disruptions or planned maintenance work in the supply area. Together with con|energy ag, consultant for the energy industry, the digital strategy of the group of companies was realigned.  

Those responsible in marketing and sales have recognized that they can only achieve their goals if they upgrade their IT landscape for targeted marketing campaigns and more automation. The Essen-based digital agency communicode AG, recently a cooperation partner of con|energy, was able to convince the municipal utilities with its full-service portfolio and its iterative, agile way of working for conception and implementation. Alongside the digital strategy, a pilot project was set up that has the greatest business value with a reasonable budget for the group of companies and could be implemented in an adequate time. 

## Starting Point: Data in Abundance 
The group of companies already offers a variety of services in B2B and B2C. Many citizens of Schwerte are customers of diverse companies of SWS. Every company manages its own, historically evolved IT landscape for its business activity with information about customers and contracts, as well as data about infrastructure and technology. Besides the data itself, there is also the knowledge of data and its structures that is spread. What data is actually there and how can they reasonably be linked? Which gas customer also has an electricity contract? Which household has a fiber optic cable, which is not used yet? These and many other questions have been difficult to deal with. In this initial situation, it was actually not possible to make marketing target-oriented and automated. In order to be able to reach our customers with relevant information and attractive offers, a holistic picture of them is a first necessity. Michaela Zorn-Koritzius | Head of Marketing, Stadtwerke Schwerte (SWS) 

Grafik Ablauf Datenkonsolidierung bei Stadtwerke Schwerte

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In this initial situation, it was factually impossible to design marketing in a targeted and automated way. In order to reach our customers with relevant information and attractive offers, we first need a holistic picture of them.

Stadtwerke Schwerte GmbH

Marketing zielführend und automatisiert zu gestalten, war in dieser Ausgangssituation faktisch nicht möglich. Um unsere Kunden mit relevanten Informationen und attraktiven Angeboten erreichen zu können, ist zunächst ein ganzheitliches Bild über sie notwendig.

## Proof of Concept: consolidated data from all business areas 
Based on these findings, the communicode consultants, together with the Schwerter people, set the goals for the first project:     

- Development of a customer data management platform as middleware for the data sources 
- Link relevant data from distributed systems sensibly and sustainably 
- Compliance with the legal framework for unbundling business and the GDPR 

True to the principle to realize the greatest business value for the company as quickly as possible, 4 out of a large number of application scenarios from the B2C area were defined for a PoC. 

1. 360 degree customer profile (Golden Customer Record) 
2. Easy to Use PowerSearch in Google style with a consolidated search index 
3. Data selection & mining 
4. Incident history: current and past incidents across all systems  

What are your goals?Performance on Demand - benefit from our experience from this and other projects for your digital strategy. 

Performance on Demand - benefit from our experience from this and other projects for your digital strategy.

What are your goals?

Performance on Demand – profitieren Sie von unserer Erfahrung aus diesem und anderen Projekten für Ihre digitale Strategie.

Welche Ziele haben Sie?

## 3 Steps to the Golden Customer Record: 
First, the project team analyzed the essential core systems in order to consolidate the relevant information in a data model. With the infuniq framework, communicode provided the suitable platform for importing, normalizing and matching the data. 
The recipe for success: agile working method and a focus on the bare essentials. 
With agile methods and the expertise for data modeling from communicode, a quick start in the implementation was possible. For the prototype, functions with high business value were first described and accordingly prioritized during implementation. 

## Golden Customer Record 
The project was successfully implemented within 4 phases of 2 weeks each. The experts from the departments of Stadtwerke Schwerte (SWS) were part of the project team right from the start. The team planned interruptions in advance so as not to impair the daily business of the municipal utilities. Thanks to the close cooperation within the team and transparency throughout the project, the new functions and processes were quickly learned and checked for quality. The system is ready for use and the first data selections via PowerSearch were carried out together. 

Grafik Datenkonolidierung bei Stadtwerke Schwerte mit infuniq

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The first goal on the way to marketing automation at Stadtwerke was to deal with the data on a global level. Since no one at SWS had an overall view of the various systems, this was necessary. Now it is possible to analyse the actual state quasi playfully and measures can be taken to improve the data quality.



Das erste Ziel auf dem Weg zur Marketing Automation bei den Stadtwerken war, sich auf globaler Ebene mit den Daten zu beschäftigen. Da niemand bei SWS einen Gesamtüberblick über die verschiedenen Systeme hatte, war das notwendig. Jetzt ist es möglich, den Ist-Zustand quasi spielerisch zu analysieren und es können Maßnahmen zur Verbesserung der Datenqualität ergriffen werden.



Screenshot Transparente und nutzbare Daten für Stadwerke Schwerte 

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## Available data with high enterprise value 
An important milestone for marketing and sales has been reached. The new infuniq CDM platform opens up both business opportunities and savings potential for municipal utilities. The task now is to consolidate data selections and continue data mining. The real business value lies in the consolidation of this data and is realized when a marketing automation tool is implemented. 


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Today, Stadtwerke Schwerte, founded 1868 as a gasworks, is a modern supplier that is responsible and passionate about shaping modern city life in Schwerte. The social, economic and ecological needs of the region are their top priority so that the citizens feel comfortable in their city. Internet, telephony and cable TV have also been offered via the Elementmedia subsidiary since 2011. In addition, the Schwerte public baths and city drainage service also belong to the group of companies. 

Download the case study of Stadtwerke Schwerte onto your computer (1MB)

Case Study Stadtwerke Schwerte englisch als PDF

Referenzen_Stadtwerke_Schwerte_2020_EN.pdf

download PDF

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1868 als Gaswerk gegründet, sind die Stadtwerke Schwerte heute ein moderner Versorger, der verantwortungsbewusst und leidenschaftlich das Schwerter Stadtleben mitgestaltet. Dabei stehen die sozialen, ökonomischen und ökologischen Bedürfnisse der Region an oberster Stelle, damit sich die Schwerter in ihrer Stadt wohlfühlen. Über das Tochterunternehmen Elementmedia werden seit 2011 auch Internet, Telefonie und Kabelfernsehen angeboten. Zur Unternehmensgruppe gehören außerdem das Stadtbad Schwerte sowie die Stadtentwässerung.

Von verteilten Daten zum Golden Customer Record

From distributed data to Golden Customer Record

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Account Management

As one of Europe's leading suppliers of gates, doors, frames and operators, Hörmann has been working for decades with a great spirit of innovation, customer proximity and a high standard of quality. Since its foundation in 1935, the owner-managed family business has produced and delivered more than 20 million doors in 36 factories worldwide. In order to improve its digital workflows and its own system architecture, Hörmann relies on the expertise of communicode. We support the company on its way to an innovative customer experience and an efficient, company-wide data exchange.

Hörmann KG Verkaufsgesellschaft

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Hörmann KG Sales Company

"A key component for Hörmann's success are powerful e-commerce solutions and innovative digital self-services for our customers. communicode actively supports us in providing a seamless user experience with modern technologies."

Eine Schlüsselkomponente für den Erfolg von Hörmann sind leistungsstarke E-Commerce-Lösungen und innovative digitale Self-Services für unsere Kunden. communicode unterstützt uns tatkräftig dabei, mit modernen Technologien für eine nahtlose User-Experience zu sorgen. 

Hörmann relies on communicode's expertise to optimize digital workflows for an innovative customer experience and to take digital transformation to the next level.

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Hörmann setzt auf die Expertise von communicode, um die digitalen Workflows für eine innovative Customer Experience zu optimieren und die digitale Transformation auf die nächste Stufe zu bringen.

Willkommen im communiversum! Hörmann öffnet seine Tore für noch mehr Digitalisierung

Welcome to the communiverse! Hörmann opens its doors for even more digitalization

As early as in the 1960s, the lingerie maker Triumph ventured a step into the Asian market – this was an unusual and courageous move towards expansion at that time. Due to their combative management and shrill innovations such as the ,,Angel Bra“, Triumph rose to become the leading maker of lingerie in Japan. In order to preserve its pioneering role, Triumph already invested into e-commerce activities at quite an early stage. To remain successful and to increase revenue in the future the company decided in 2013 to replace and improve the existing proprietary e-commerce solution with SAP hybris. 

## Brand Leader through Targeted Customer Approach 
At present, the whole lingerie industry must deal with stagnant or even declining sales: new suppliers penetrate the market and put pressure on prizes. Therefore, manufacturers need to differentiate and define themselves clearly from one another. Triumph Japan decided to rely on customer service and an elaborated omnichannel strategy. For all their brands Triumph and Amos Style it conducts stationary trade. Hence, the aim is to link both worlds online and offline perfectly to one another and by doing so create a consumer centric overall shopping experience. The customer shall be perfectly advised at all levels of communication. 

The company’s central objective is a continuous development of their e-commerce system to increase turnover. That is closely linked to an increase of customer satisfaction which is enhanced by a refined customer approach in the stores. This is achieved by a consolidated data management – through usage of a scorecard for example – and marketing that reaches far beyond the realms of e-commerce into retail. So as to achieve this goal in the best possible way, internal processes had to be optimized in a further step. Therefore, the hybris customer service module is used which was adapted by communicode to Triumph’s individual requirements and is used since then by the internal stakeholders. 

## Upload to the Cloud 
An indispensable basis for an efficient omnichannel customer approach is, among others, a stable system architecture. The then existing architecture had reached its limit of capacity, due to an increase of traffic and even small variations led to extremely long page loading times. This was the reason why, in 2015, Triumph and communicode elaborated a concept for the implementation of an adequate system architecture for Triumph’s Japanese e-shop. Here the focus was on scalability, thrift, minimal risk, and future-proofness. A best practice solution was sought which allows scaling due to campaign rhythm and thus adjusts the used capacity precisely to demands. The decision was made for Amazon Web Services (AWS) that could further convince through good service and global dissemination. 

Screenshot Infoseite innerhalb des Triumph-Shops Japan

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## From the idea to practice
In order to minimise the risk, a proof of concept tested the feasibility and outlined a scenario in which the existing system architecture was migrated and then optimised. After simulation of load tests during normal operation as well as at peak times it became clear that in terms of pricing vertical scaling was attractive even when it comes to cloud hosting, as capacities can temporarily be booked in addition. The decision was obvious: 30 % cost savings, 50 % sales growth within the test period, 40% more users, and a 30% higher conversion rate convinced and the pilot system was then gradually expanded into the productive system.
Besides the technical realisation, communicode also took over the project management and was thus responsible for the coordination of all project related service providers. In December 2015, after three months’ duration the project was successfully completed in time and budget. In order to assure smooth operation Triumph Japan makes use of communicode’s 24/7 support. A meeting is held once a month during which planned marketing activities such as TV spots, mailings, or voucher campaigns are communicated. 

## Lessons learned 
Each and every project is unique and such is each customer. An international project confronts us with challenges different from local projects. However, the ongoing collaboration between Triumph Japan and communicode proves that today’s technology makes it possible to bridge the missing physical proximity to the customer to a great extent. Like with all international projects a different and alien language and culture lead to a special situation that is to be dealt with. A certain amount of time is needed to establish oneself as a reliable strategic partner, since mutual trust has to be built on both sides. In addition, an agile working method presents a particular challenge when working remotely: thus, certain adaptations according to specific project and customer needs are required – and especially so when it comes to working within different time zones. 
However, alongside this knowledge we also gained experience on a technical scale: whoever wants to run a hybris online shop within the cloud needs expertise in the fields of application and cloud services. Yet, hybris is definitively ready for the cloud. The highly efficient mix of instances and services together with automatic scaling saves costs and resources. Triumph Japan is now optimally prepared to further enhance their omnichannel strategy that helps to maintain the company’s leading market position in the future. 

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Triumph Global Sales AG

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Triumph and communicode worked out a concept to implement a needs-based system architecture for the Japanese e-shop. The focus here was on scalability, profitability, minimal risk and future security. A best practice solution was sought that would allow scaling in the campaign rhythm and thus the capacity used to be variably adapted to requirements. The decision was made in favor of Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Download the case study "Triumph - Big in Japan" here.

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Download PDF

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Triumph und communicode arbeiteten ein Konzept zur Umsetzung einer bedarfsgerechten Systemarchitektur für den japanischen E-Shop aus. Im Fokus standen hierbei Skalierbarkeit, Wirtschaftlichkeit, minimales Risiko und Zukunftssicherheit. Gesucht wurde eine Best Practice Lösung, die es ermöglicht, im Kampagnenrhythmus zu skalieren und somit die genutzte Kapazität variabel an den Bedarf anzupassen. Die Entscheidung fiel auf Amazon Web Services (AWS).

End-to-end solutions that put your customers first

Contact

Stefan Belmann

The results speak for themselves

From distributed data to Golden Customer Record

Welcome to the communiverse! Hörmann opens its doors for even more digitalization

Big in Japan

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