WE ARE A DIGITAL

COMPANY AND THE BEATING

HEART OF OUR BUSINESS TODAY IS E-COMMERCE . selecting a new , complex system and the need to model business operations into it .

How will you manage the rollout across other geographic locations and what is the timescale for this ?

We are currently active in more than 30 countries . At Emma we refer to three classes of business footprints in a market that has an increasing complexity .

A deep understanding of the respective business requirements is the basis of the global rollout of our re-platforming project . The details of the business in our markets are quite different , so complexity in terms of the required features also differs heavily .

At the same time , these requirements need to be challenged . Using the MoSCoW ( Must Have , Should Have , Could Have , Won ’ t Have this time ) classification method , this rigid process helps us to minimise the requirements intake and increases speed for a first working version . Through this , we quickly get to the point of running the business of a country entirely on the new platform and thus can stop developing features for it on the legacy one .

We did not plan the rollout of our business onto the new platform as a ‘ big bang ’ scenario where you flip the switch for all of the business in a single instance . Instead , we used an incremental approach , starting with as little complexity as possible , i . e ., with new and small markets , while then unlocking the more complex markets case by case . We are thrilled to have successfully rolled out the first countries and are now preparing intensively for the higher complexity class of markets .

Another key element of our approach is that we are building blueprints for each complexity class and replicate rollouts in similar countries in parallel by dedicated rollout teams . This way , we plan to finish the rollout of all markets within the ambitious timeline of 18 months , ceasing development of the old platform by mid 2022 .

What are the key benefits of these solutions ?

As we are still very early in our development of the new platform and its global rollout , the primary effects to enable business agility and running business development actively in parallel in more than 30 markets are yet to come . However , what we already see is that , due to better architectural de-coupling and separation of concerns , discussions and decisions on where to implement certain business logic are more straightforward and localised so teams can work on multiple topics concurrently .

How much of a priority is customer experience in your technology strategy ?

Creating a delightful customer experience while being able to rapidly iterate business development with minimal effort is key for us . It is where the sweet spot of the customer , the business and technology resides , and our ambition is nothing less than being at the centre of it .

How far has technology been a key growth enabler for your business ?

We are a digital company and the beating heart of our business today is e-commerce . Therefore , technology has always been part of our company and of our growth success story . At Emma , it gets even more exciting .

Beyond what I consider the second degree of digitisation , meaning e-commerce and everything you need to sell or distribute your conventional products , we also do the first degree of digitisation . This is where technology becomes the product itself .

At Emma , we work intensively in this ‘ sleep tech ’ domain to research , design and implement smart products that will actively improve people ’ s sleep . Stay tuned .

How far will this technology enable your organisation to scale further ?

As we keep extending our markets , channels and products , a scalable , robust and flexible platform for e-commerce and fulfilment is key for long-term and sustainable growth in both direct-to-consumer as well as B2B business . We are confident that our replatforming endeavour and the result of a new composable platform enables Emma to sustain its stellar growth trajectory . �

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