A service management solution that fits
Bouwinvest is an institutional real estate investor undergoing strong growth. This has created a growing need for control over, and insight into, IT developments, which also increases the need for overview. After an extensive screening process, Bouwinvest chose the Xurrent service management tool. Michael de Jong, IT Services Manager, talks about the experience with Xurrent.
Bouwinvest invests the capital of institutional investors (pension funds, insurers and charities) in real estate in the Netherlands and abroad. The number of employees has grown to over 200, and the Business Technology & Continuous Improvement department supports the entire organisation — information management, streamlining processes, maintenance and development of IT systems, and information security. Michael and his team also act as support and helpdesk for all Bouwinvest employees.
How did the collaboration with onITnow come about?
"We were already using a service management solution. But because our organisation is growing, that also demands a lot from collaboration within and between teams. We were working with a somewhat outdated version of the application and wanted to grow into a fully-fledged Enterprise Service Management solution. We went out into the market to see what was possible and brought onITnow in as an advisory partner."
After a careful selection process, Bouwinvest could choose from several service management solutions. Michael: "Some of them didn't quite match what we were looking for. For us, Xurrent was the perfect middle ground. In the future, we want to streamline more across departments and are increasingly moving towards our own form of agile-like development. In terms of functionality, Xurrent fitted that best."
A complete package
The implementation took place between September 2021 and March 2022. As Bouwinvest continues to develop, Xurrent is being used in more and more ways. "The biggest challenge in the project was arriving at a clear, consistent description and setup of processes and services across teams and departments," says Michael. "We had actually expected Xurrent to offer a pre-configured package. That was there to some extent, but there were also compromises and customisation involved. That said, I think Xurrent is put together quite cleverly. It offers all kinds of practical features, such as an internal chat function for troubleshooting within the package. With basic knowledge of IT concepts, it's fairly easy to route something through a process. When a request comes in, you can assign it directly to someone who can pick it up. In terms of look and feel, Xurrent isn't the most polished product I've ever seen. But everything is put together logically."