“Mendix has gained a prominent place in our IT landscape.
Van Marcke is a specialized wholesaler focusing on a wide range of products, including bathrooms, heating systems, plumbing and installation materials, and sustainable heating and water solutions. In this blog, Stijn Hoegaerts, Chief Information Officer of Van Marcke, shares how Mendix’s low-code platform helps them bridge the gap between innovation and customer satisfaction.
An evolving market
Our industry has been showing movements from two corners recently. Installers are seeking bigger margins, and Web shops are gaining in popularity. To still remain relevant, you can choose to compete on cost, but that doesn’t suit us. We chose the alternative: add more value. By focusing on expertise and solutions beyond the product per se, we remain relevant in a dynamic market.
Mendix as a bridge between innovation and customer satisfaction
The ability to provide customized solutions based on a wide range of brands is what sets us apart. These smart solutions are put together by industrial engineers, valuable talents that are not easy to find or retain. Automating their repetitive tasks with product selectors and configurators makes their role more engaging and interesting. Moreover, we can offer these automated solutions to our customers, an additional service that is perceived as very valuable.
In search of a single unified technique
Previously, our five-member development team had different specializations and used various technologies, which made collaboration difficult and resulted in a fragmented IT landscape. This was not ideal for tools such as wizards or calculators. So we looked for one unified technology for all our tools, where the choice was between retaining one of the five existing technologies or moving to something new. After careful consideration, the choice fell on Mendix’s low-code platform.
Prominent role for Mendix in IT landscape
During the challenging period of 2020, when we were busy implementing SAP, we were able to gain our first tentative experiences with Mendix in combination with SAP. Only after the corona crisis did we start exploring which applications could improve our business operations without links to SAP. Mendix now has a dominant position in Van Marcke’s IT landscape. For every new IT need, we first investigate existing market solutions, but if we decide to develop our own, Mendix is our first choice. So far, there has been little need to deploy other technologies. Mendix has really gained a prominent place in our IT landscape.
Mendify as a reliable partner
The implementation of Mendix was supported by Mendify. Collaboration in co-creation was key for us, and that’s exactly what Mendify’s approach is all about. We now work independently with the Mendix low-code platform, but if we do encounter something complex, we can always call on Mendify.
Our classes
Mendix’s claims are largely true, the development process is faster. You really start to notice that when you can start reusing components. However, a well-thought-out approach remains crucial. Make sure you have a solid design and architecture, especially if you want to integrate applications. If you plan to embed Mendix in your IT landscape, make sure you have good governance, so that new applications are not built haphazardly, but that each project is carefully thought through beforehand.
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the extended version
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