Customer Case Studies
The Anker Group: Development of high-quality software for renowned German retailers by a dedicated outsourcing team
The Anker Group, based in Bielefeld, Germany, was faced with the problem of a shortage of skilled workers and rising labor costs, which threatened the company's continued growth. The solution was found in the establishment of a dedicated software development team in Southeast Asia, which gave the company a decisive competitive advantage.
The Anker Group, which began producing bicycles and sewing machines in 1876 and introduced cash registers in 1900, has undergone a promising development to become an established POS provider with a long tradition.
As part of its strategy to develop its own software platform, the Anker Group entered into a partnership with Wolkk, an Indonesian provider of outsourcing solutions, in September 2022. Wolkk took over the complete recruitment, onboarding and management of the team and has since proven to be a competent local partner.
Trusting and long-term partnerships are important to the Anker Group, which is why it has opted for a dedicated team model. Similar to a joint venture, the entire development team is set up exclusively for Anker and managed jointly with Anker. In this constellation, it is possible to train the employees sustainably, to retain them at ANKER in the long term and to permanently implement high quality standards.
Through an efficient selection process, Wolkk was able to recruit the brightest talents from the Indonesian technology scene. Within a few weeks, the team became operational and was able to start developing an innovative software module.
The team members, who are spread across different regions of Indonesia, work together remotely for the most part. Every three to four months, all colleagues meet for a week in Bali to learn and work together. This strengthens team spirit and trust, which is essential for achieving the goals.
Flutter technology was selected for the front end of the innovative retail platform, as it guarantees operating system independence. The application was to run on mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones as well as on desktop systems under Windows or Linux. The backend runs in the Microsoft Azure Cloud and was developed in JavaScript and Golang. The platform is based on micro-services and integrates seamlessly with various ERP, CRM, payment and other third-party systems.
The team, consisting of designers, product owners, developers and QA, is organized agilely according to the principles of SCRUM. The project managers and consultants are based in Germany and support customers in German. They are fully integrated into the development processes in English. The two-week sprints are planned entirely in Jira and all information is recorded in Confluence.
Thanks to the flexibility of the solution, the Anker Group was able to contract and successfully deliver two major customer projects for the platform in a short space of time. Customer-specific requirements were successively implemented in several sprints and regularly coordinated with the customers. The success of the first customer projects led directly to the acquisition of follow-up projects.
Another project involving the integration of a new AI component and an IoT solution is currently in the test stage.
The goals achieved so far include:
- Scalability thanks to a large talent pool
- High software quality
- Efficiency through low labor costs
- Short time to market
"Through our team of experts in Indonesia, we have gained a competitive advantage in the market that continues to drive the strategic growth of the Anker Group. Our local partner supports us in our search for the best talent and helps us to manage the team efficiently and with high quality standards."
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