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The client’s platform is financed by around 20 shareholders who invest in its constant development and [scaling](https://www.boldare.com/services/scaling-your-product-thriving-in-the-market/).\n\nThe client’s teams are working toward a common goal: **making fair markets happen**. They want to be a driving force in establishing a fair, transparent and integrated market that’s truly beneficial for both the economy and society. Their success is nurtured by a simple drive: they want to get things done in the best way possible.\n\nThe client has their own in-house [development teams](https://www.boldare.com/services/development-teams/) that are composed of tech-savvy senior developers. They work in an Agile environment, using the Scrum framework.\n\n## The initial phase\n\nThe client’s platform is demanding. Its **technical architecture and back-end environment are quite complex**. It takes a lot of domain knowledge to develop and scale it. This is why, after choosing Boldare as their development partner, the client engaged one of their in-house senior developers to work together with Boldare’s team (to introduce the complex platform’s environment and product roadmap to Boldare’s specialists).\n\nBoldare’s team, consisting of a scrum master, six developers, and a designer, started with a five-month pilot development. Led by the client’s PO, they have focused on practical functionality as part of the product-market fit phase. After that initial period, we began two years of effective cooperation that has brought benefits for both sides. Let’s look at the details. \n\n## The challenge\n\nDespite having excellent in-house teams, the client was looking for outside support as they wanted their platform to grow faster without losing its high quality. The challenge was to find a partner who would be savvy enough to **get to work within the complex product domain, and who would be available for long-term cooperation**. Onboarding to the client’s platform takes a lot of resources, and bad choices are costly. This is why the client has been looking for a recommended and stable development partner who can work in [Scrum](https://www.boldare.com/blog/3-pillars-of-scrum/) and who cherishes Agile culture and transparency. \n\n## What we did (approach and process)\n\nBoldare provided the client with a team of experts and developed a very specific area of their platform. First, Boldare’s team developed a registration module, which is one of the initial processes that users go through when entering the app. The next step was to build a contract management module. \n\nDuring the product development process we used the **following tech stack**: JAVA, Spring Boot, AWS, Event Sourcing, domain-driven design, Storybook, and React.\n\nThe Boldare team **delivered actual user value with each sprint** (every two weeks - for two years). What helped us to achieve that?\n\nAt Boldare, we base our partnerships on **effective and undisturbed open communication**. This time, as per the client’s request, we used the Microsoft Teams app for constant communication between the Boldare team and the client’s specialists. The PO also met with the Boldare team face-to-face a few times. We believe **personal meetings help to build stronger relationships** and support smoother daily cooperation.\n\nBoldare’s teams always go the extra mile and help their partners by improving cooperation and team processes. For the client, we facilitated their event storming session and we helped them to **strengthen their Scrum processes** by engaging Boldare’s scrum masters to work with one of the client’s in-house teams.\n\n## What happened (outcome)\n\nThe client hired Boldare for their digital platform development, but they got much more than that. Thanks to a well-established partnership, they trusted us, and many times asked for our advice on their users, the [product roadmap](https://www.boldare.com/blog/product-roadmaps-role-and-benefits/), their ideas, etc. When it came to coding and design, the Boldare team worked on:\n\n* registration module,\n* contract management module, \n* notifications library used by other teams,\n* document exchange module,\n* functionality for inviting other users,\n* migration of consumer data into the new contract module.\n\nPartnering with Boldare, the client gained long-term support with the [product-market fit](https://www.boldare.com/services/product-market-fit-expanding-demand/) and scaling of their platform. They can now rely on the Boldare team if they want to build other functionalities and modules. They don’t need to spend their budget onboarding a new partner (as this takes up to six months). They can also access and use Boldare’s business knowledge and product discovery services."}],"job":null,"photo":null,"slug":null,"cover":"/img/gas_capacity_platform_case.jpg","lead":"This article presents a story of Boldare’s engagement in developing one of Europe’s largest gas capacity management platforms. Find out how we supported the client in creating new modules and applying Agile processes for better team performance and higher product quality.","templateKey":"article-page","specialArticle":false,"isNewWork":null,"isNewNormal":null,"service":null,"settings":{"date":"2022-08-04T13:14:55.324Z","slug":"developing-gas-capacity-management-platform-case-study","type":"blog","slugType":"work","category":null,"additionalCategories":["Digital Product"],"url":null},"author":"Zuzanna Talik","authorAdditional":"","box":{"content":{"title":"Product-market fit and scaling for a large EU gas capacity management platform","tileDescription":"This article presents a story of Boldare’s engagement in developing one of Europe’s largest gas capacity management platforms. Find out how we supported the client in creating new modules and applying Agile processes for better team performance and higher product quality.","coverImage":"/img/gas_capacity_platform_case.jpg","tags":null},"coverImage":null,"settings":null,"type":"BLOG"}},"id":"42501f9c-e0dc-5137-9432-f3eeb136338c"}},{"node":{"excerpt":"","fields":{"slug":"/blog/digital-transformation-for-sonnen-a-renewable-energy-service-provider/"},"frontmatter":{"title":"Digital transformation for sonnen - a renewable energy service provider","order":null,"content":[{"body":"## The Client:\n\nsonnen is a renewable energy service provider with its headquarters in Wildpoldsried, Germany. Thanks to sonnen solutions, its customers can produce, store and share their own electricity. **The balanced energy exchange between households connected to the sonnen network allows its customers to be 100% independent from traditional suppliers.** \n\nAs a new energy provider, it offers **B2C** customers access to their own photovoltaic renewable energy source, energy storage with sonnen batteries, and the option to exchange electricity with other sonnen customers. In collaboration with their **B2B** partners, most of which are installers of photovoltaic systems, sonnen offers a hassle-free installation process for the necessary devices and software.\n\nIn 2019, sonnen became part of **Royal Dutch Shell PLC** within the business unit Renewables and Energy Solutions. \n\n\n\n## The problem:\n\nsonnen turned to Boldare for the first time in late 2017, looking to source additional support for their internal software teams to speed up the development process for one of their applications - a user-centered platform for sonnen customers. We provided a [scrum development team](https://www.boldare.com/services/development-teams/) that helped them to launch a new **MVP** within two months. You can read a detailed case study for this product in our [case study section](https://www.boldare.com/work/case-study-sonnen/.). \n\nSoon after our first collaboration, **sonnen faced a completely new challenge** related to the rapid growth of the company: the need to scale their teams and business while improving the integrity of their B2B2C services.\n\n**The company needed to scale its software development department teams from 40 up to more than 100 people, as of March 2019.**\n\nCarrying out [scaling](https://www.boldare.com/services/scaling-your-product-thriving-in-the-market/) to such an extent needs thorough consideration and experience.\n\nThe growing complexity of their services and increasing number of customers had become the critical focus. Stakeholders mapped two potential areas that needed improvement: \n\n* **To improve sonnen’s service ecosystem** - integrate various business processes and decrease service complexity to improve the user experience.\n* **To improve internal processes** and make product development more efficient and agile. \n\nAdditionally, sonnen had to quickly build up capacity in the [software development](https://www.boldare.com/) area and to build up an in-house team from scratch could have delayed their new projects by months. \n\nAt the same time, sonnen also faced other challenges:\n\n* Extremely competitive market.\n* Compound supply chain for sonnen hardware: batteries and EV chargers. \n* Providing high quality services to clients from different time zones.\n* High volumes of users, traffic and data.\n* Various standards and regulations in various national markets in which sonnen is present. \n* Technical debt from the company’s older applications.\n\n\n\n## The solution\n\nThe issues that sonnen, especially the digital department, faced were results of its complex structure and the fact that some of the services and products were being handled by third party companies. Additionally, **the company was growing very fast**, using support from various external companies to help them with its software development efforts - Boldare was one of those companies.\n\n**sonnen’s stakeholders decided to turn to Boldare in the search for a tailored solution**. The reasons? While building digital products for sonnen, we proved our excellence in the areas of product development, process management and practical use of Agile. Furthermore, as a company with vast experience in Agile and digital transformation we were a natural choice as partners.\n\n> “Boldare stood out as a company who really wanted to understand our problem and fulfill our needs. If you see that the potential partner is on the same page as you, speaking the same language, trying to achieve something in a partnership and not just sign a contract, that is a winner.” ***Norbert Baumann, VP Research & Development at sonnen***\n\nAfter extended needs analysis, we suggested a digital transformation tailored to the needs of the digital department as a potentially helpful solution. This particular department is responsible for most of sonnen’s digital services and products. \n\n* Digital transformation would give the ability to build, execute, maintain and improve all the processes in sonnen’s B2B2C pipeline.\n* It would help to unify and simplify the different independent software ecosystems that work alongside sonnen’s services.\n* It would influence the whole digital department by implementing an agile mindset and scrum framework with the software development teams. \n\nWe jointly decided to focus our digital transformation service on two pillars:\n\n* Building new and improving existing parts of the software platform that would help sonnen to improve their sales process, increase customer satisfaction and give more control and transparency over the sales process via its partners. \n* Implement a transition to Agile to help sonnen change its structure to answer their employees’, customers’ and market’s needs better.\n\nImproving those areas would support sonnen with scaling their teams and products coherently."},{"body":"### Digitization in sonnen’s products, services and business processes \n\nThe actions that had to be taken to accelerate the digitization efforts were focused on both improving existing and building new applications. We supported sonnen with multiple development teams that were working hand in hand with their in-house and other external teams. Our main goal was to create top-notch software for their customers and business partners.\n\n**Between 2017 and early 2021**, we helped to build and improve the following applications:\n\n* **B2C sector:**[ Customer Portal ](https://www.boldare.com/work/case-study-sonnen/)- an app that helps to manage sonnenBatterie household batteries.\n* **B2C sector:** An application that supports sonnenCharger- a household device to charge EVs (electric vehicles).\n* **B2B2C sector:** An internal platform to support collaboration with sonnen’s B2B partners. It allows the handling of documentation and contracts, generates offers for future customers, manages supply chains, shows sales progress, allows the signing of contracts, and guides new customers through the sales process in a hassle-free way.\n\nOne of the biggest gains for sonnen was the fact that the digital products were created by joint Boldare and sonnen development teams. This way we could build products according to Agile principles using the scrum framework collaboratively and practically.\n\nThis approach provided a huge advantage over relying on the independent, external Agile coaches who usually support companies with their mostly theoretical knowledge. This allowed us to share our know-how, solve real-life case scenario problems and provide practical support on a daily basis. \n\n> “We had been working with three different coaches and no one delivered such concrete outputs that I can clearly see where we should go as you did in one day.” ***Friederike Sophie Peter, Project and Change Manager***\n\nHere are some highlights of our collaboration: \n\n* An **increase from 5 Boldare experts working for sonnen with the first MVP application in early 2018 to 47 experts** during the peak of activity in summer 2019.\n* 12 mixed (internal and external) development teams worked on sonnen’s projects in 2020.\n* We supported sonnen with experts, such as **scrum masters, frontend developers, backend developers, product and UX designers, business analysts, QA engineers, and business consultants**. \n* To improve the management of such a big environment we helped with implementation of **Nexus** (a scaled scrum process), a framework that allows us to manage complex software products delivered by multiple teams.\n* We used the following technologies: **AWS, Java, Nest.js, Node.js, TypeScript, Marble.js, React, Python and Ruby**.\n* At the peak of our engagement with sonnen between 2018 and 2020, we contributed around 6,500 person-hours monthly.\n\nAs a result, we improved and expanded sonnen’s app ecosystem on two fronts:\n\n* In the B2C area we delivered client-faced solutions that improved customer satisfaction and overall user experience of the services. \n* In the B2B2C area we helped to develop a platform that unifies processes and helps sonnen and their partners - mostly installers - exchange information. Thanks to these improvements, the number of new leads and customers increased. The process of communication between partners and the sales department at sonnen became faster and easier for both sides. Instead of several independent applications connecting independent brokers with sonnen, all communication was via sonnen's internal software. This allowed the organization to gain more control and transparency over the whole process."},{"body":"### Digital transformation as part of sonnen’s organizational culture\n\nThe other great challenge that sonnen was facing was the large number of teams working on the same products and the **need to scale existing teams from 40 to over 100 people in order to grow the business**. The development teams were searching for tools to improve communication processes both internally and with external partners, as well as to improve development planning and waterfall processes, and transparency. As a result, they had also experienced the emergence of knowledge silos and inefficient team structures. \n\nThe company’s stakeholders were aware that there was room for change in the way the organization works. Implementing Agile methodologies looked like a suitable solution. In order to make the first step in an Agile transformation, the company hired an external Agile coach among other and smaller impactful measurements that cultivated the successful transformation.\n\n\n\n**In the spring of 2019, we conducted a workshop dedicated to scaling, to strengthen sonnen’s knowledge and give insights about our expertise with Agile and scrum**. We conducted a needs analysis to map the biggest pain points and create a realistic status quo description. One of the first decisions made after the workshops was to create a team that would be responsible for the organizational transformation to Agile working. \n\nThis **intercompany transformation team** included a scrum master and CTO from our side, two VPs from sonnen’s digital department, a product owner and an Agile coach from sonnen.\n\nThe role of the team was to:\n\n* Fix the most urgent issues occurring between sonnen’s employees and third party companies, including Boldare. \n* Create a scalable environment through **Nexus scrum** implementation.\n* Implement a community of practice group for sonnen’s scrum masters, that would eventually lead the transformation after completing the work of the transformation team.\n* From Boldare’s side: to guide and support sonnen’s teams with scrum implementation. \n\n**The Boldare team worked alongside sonnen’s teams** and was dissolved when those teams reached a satisfactory level of self-organization in terms of Agile and scrum. \n\nSharing our practical knowledge was crucial, as we have practical experience in complex software-focused environments, similar to those at sonnen. We conducted a series of workshops that helped sonnen employees to understand and work on the transformation process. Each one was dedicated to a different area of the transformation: \n\n* **Scaling workshop** - extended sonnen employees’ knowledge of scaling processes. \n* **A kick-off workshop** for all people committed to the development process to further educate them on aspects of digital transformation.\n* **Introduction to Nexus Integration Team** workshops - dedicated to the practical aspects of scaled scrum (Nexus).\n* [**Event storming workshops** ](https://www.boldare.com/blog/event-storming-guide/)- focused on scaling. \n* **Roadmap planning** - for dozens of development teams.\n* **Cross-team retrospectives** - conducted to keep track of potential pain points. \n\n\n\nThe results of our bilateral collaboration were:\n\n* A shift in the mindset of sonnen’s [software development team](https://www.boldare.com/services/development-teams/) to a more holistic approach, instead of focusing mainly on the technical aspects of building products. \n* We delivered practical knowledge of using **Agile methods**, hands-on. \n* Improved team collaboration by initiating a so-called **community of practice**. CoPs are intercompany groups that gather specialists in specific areas - designers, devops or QAs. Each CoP was working on improvements or solving particular problems, e.g designers created a first style guide and later built a design system for sonnen’s applications. CoPs help to exchange knowledge between various stakeholders - sonnen’s and the external teams - but also strengthen the integrity of the created products and processes. Its members did not create independent teams but belonged to regular scrum development teams.\n* sonnen’s product owners became regular members of Boldare’s teams. Mixed teams worked on the same principles and goals, which improved communication between both sides and strengthened the partnership. \n* Practical implementation of **Nexus**, improving clarity in the software development process, especially in such a complex environment. \n* sonnen strengthened its position as a market leader in Germany and has subsequently expanded its operations beyond Europe."},{"body":"## Final conclusion and results\n\nBoldare conducted a [digital transformation](https://www.boldare.com/services/digital-transformation/) for sonnen’s digital department, starting from needs analysis, through solution proposal, finishing with implementation. We supported multiple product development projects, using agile methodologies and a scaled scrum approach. \n\nFurthermore, we helped one of sonnen’s most impactful departments transform itself from a hierarchy to be self-organizing, agile and product-driven.\n\n**As a result, sonnen's customer experience was improved, and internal operations and supply chains were optimized.** Today, sonnen builds its own **in-house scrum teams** that continue the development and maintenance of their digital products and we, as Boldare, still play an important role as a [software development service provider](https://www.boldare.com/) and **Agile consultants**."}],"job":null,"photo":null,"slug":null,"cover":"/img/Case_study_Sonnen_-_digital_transformation_for_a_green_energy_service_provider.jpg","lead":"[Digital transformation](https://www.boldare.com/services/digital-transformation/) **is a complex process of reshaping an organization's services, products and culture**. It’s not about digitalization for the sake of it. In most cases it means transforming a company's product portfolio, learning new perspectives and, as a result, improving the entire business. One of the most interesting digital transformation cases in our portfolio is our partnership with sonnen, a German energy sector company.","templateKey":"article-page","specialArticle":false,"isNewWork":null,"isNewNormal":null,"service":null,"settings":{"date":"2021-03-10T08:02:12.573Z","slug":"case-study-sonnen-digital-transformation","type":"blog","slugType":"work","category":null,"additionalCategories":["Digital Product"],"url":null},"author":"Paweł Kański","authorAdditional":"","box":{"content":{"title":"Digital transformation for sonnen - a renewable energy service provider","tileDescription":"sonnen is a renewable energy service provider with its headquarters in Wildpoldsried, Germany. Thanks to sonnen solutions, its customers can produce, store and share their own electricity. The balanced energy exchange between households connected to the sonnen network allows its customers to be 100% independent from traditional suppliers.","coverImage":"/img/Case_study_Sonnen_-_digital_transformation_for_a_green_energy_service_provider.jpg","tags":null},"coverImage":null,"settings":null,"type":"BLOG"}},"id":"98889139-860a-5a45-b27a-840031a51330"}},{"node":{"excerpt":"","fields":{"slug":"/work/how-to-create-predictive-maintenance-software-for-wind-turbines-using-machine-learning-algorithms/"},"frontmatter":{"title":"How to create predictive maintenance software for wind turbines using machine learning algorithms","order":null,"content":null,"job":null,"photo":null,"slug":null,"cover":"/img/wind-turbine-predictive-maintenance-software-case-study.jpg","lead":"The Boldare Machine Learning team delivered a web application for predictive maintenance of five wind turbine components in less than 48 hours. Using a variety of algorithms and their knowledge of application development, they created a web app that not only forecasts failures but also allows the user to take action and plan maintenance logistics.","templateKey":"case-study-page","specialArticle":null,"isNewWork":null,"isNewNormal":null,"service":null,"settings":{"date":"2018-10-29T06:36:30.193Z","slug":"case-study-predictive-maintenance","type":null,"slugType":null,"category":"Case Study","additionalCategories":null,"url":null},"author":"Karolina Kołodziej","authorAdditional":null,"box":{"content":{"title":"How to create predictive maintenance software using machine learning","tileDescription":"The Boldare Machine Learning team delivered a web application for predictive maintenance of five wind turbine components in less than 48 hours. 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