Xurrent Supports Bouwinvest with Service Management Solution
Bouwinvest is an institutional real estate investor that is undergoing significant development. As a result, there is a growing need for control over and insight into IT developments, which also increases the necessity for clear oversight. After an extensive screening process, Bouwinvest chose the service management tool Xurrent last year. Michael de Jong, Manager of IT Services, shares his experiences with Xurrent.
Bouwinvest invests the capital of institutional investors (pension funds, insurers, and charities) in real estate both in the Netherlands and abroad. The number of employees has now grown to over 200, and the Business Technology & Continuous Improvement department supports the entire organization. This includes information management, process optimization, maintenance and development of IT systems, and information security. Michael and his team also serve as the internal support and helpdesk for all Bouwinvest employees.
Until last year, Bouwinvest was not a client of onITnow. How did the business relationship come about?
“We were already using a service management solution. But as our organization grows, collaboration within and between teams becomes more demanding. Our previous application version was somewhat outdated, and we wanted to evolve towards a full-fledged Enterprise Service Management solution. So we explored the market and brought onITnow on board as an advisory partner.”
After a thorough selection process, Bouwinvest had several service management options to choose from. Michael explains:
“Some of them didn’t quite match what we were looking for. Xurrent was the golden mean for us. We aim to streamline operations across departments and move towards our own form of agile-style development. Functionally, Xurrent fit best with that vision.”
Complete Package
The implementation took place between September 2021 and March 2022. Due to Bouwinvest’s ongoing developments, Xurrent can now be used in an increasing number of ways.
“The biggest challenge in the project was achieving a consistent description and setup of processes and services across teams and departments,” says Michael. “We initially expected Xurrent to offer a pre-configured package. That was indeed available, but compromises and customization were also necessary. That said, I find Xurrent to be quite cleverly designed. It offers many practical features, such as an internal chat function for troubleshooting within the platform. With a basic understanding of IT concepts, it’s fairly easy to guide something through a process. When a request comes in, you can immediately assign it to someone who can take action. In terms of look and feel, Xurrent isn’t the slickest product I’ve ever seen. But everything is laid out logically.”