7 strategic considerations for building powerful platforms

Are you aiming to keep your Drupal website fast and secure? Then it's time to start planning your upgrade to Drupal 10 now. Our Drupal experts will tell you why it's a wise choice, how to approach it, and the benefits that the upgrade brings.

In markets that are saturated with options and with customers that are overloaded with choices, it's an exceptional customer experience set will set you apart. A Digital Experience Platform can help you accomplish this - and we'll tell you how.

Today consumers expect a consistent and personalised experience with relevant cross channel content. This might be buying suggestions, waiting room screens, personalised playlists and viewing tips. In terms of technology, this is often based on a DXP - digital experience platform. In a DXP, content is stored centrally so that it can be presented from one channel-dependent point, tailor-made and potentially even personalised. Over the last decade Drupal - originally a content management system - has evolved into a digital experience platform (DXP). What can Drupal DXP do for your customers’ digital experience today?

Sitecore's Digital Experience Platform intelligently brings content, commerce and data together in an optimal digital experience. With a rich set of tools and functionalities, Sitecore offers a mature solution at enterprise level. In practice, however, exploiting the full potential of Sitecore can sometimes be challenging. As an organisation, how do you get the most out of your Sitecore platform? In this article you will find practical tips that you can use immediately.

Many large organisations find it hard to choose a CMS. Comprehensive websites need a lot of features that are not built into every system. We prefer Drupal, one of the most popular open-source CMS platforms for multinationals. Drupal offers many advantages to large organisations and multinationals, like BMW Motorrad, IFFR and Maastricht University. We’re happy to share them with you!

Multi-site brand platforms are the way to go when managing a lot of content in an orderly manner. For such a platform, you obviously need a CMS. And that's exactly where Drupal comes in. Here’s why Drupal is an excellent choice for multi-site brand platforms too!

XM Cloud is the CMS of Sitecore’s new Composable DXP. It is a further development of their original CMS, but packed and serviced completely different. It’s SaaS, less hassle to maintain, quicker and easier to develop on, a lot easier to work with for content editors, but still as powerful and versatile as before. So when starting a new Sitecore implementation, choosing XM Cloud over the original Platform DXP is a no-brainer. But what about migrating your existing implementation to XM Cloud? There is no set upgrade path and your starting position greatly influences the desired route to take, but also the business case behind such a migration. In this article I will share my view on the important differences, challenges, benefits, caveats, possible approaches for a migration roadmap, and everything you would like to know and consider before embarking on this journey.

Moving The Netherlands’ biggest film festival online Converting their website into an interactive streaming platform meant that the Rotterdam International Film Festival could celebrate their 50th anniversary - even when confronted by COVID restrictions.

Updating and implementing interactive navigation on HD touchscreens for visitors and shoppers at Wijnegem - Shop Eat Enjoy.

Propane as an energy source was in need of recognition, by all who were living off-grid to be more precise. We managed it on behalf of gas specialist Primagaz, with creative 360° campaigns - both online and offline. Read the case study!

How to build a multi-site, multi-language, global B2B platform for lead generation and online branding - iO

iO developed a website and UX-driven configurator for and with Suzuki Belgium. Read all about it in this case.

Brussels Airport: In this case story, read how iO has become an extension of the airport.

Brussels Airport: a look at the digital platforms iO built for the ultimate passenger experience.

New technology, internet-of-things and proof-of-concepts. Find out how iO is introducing innovation at Brussels Airport.

iO helped Landal Greenparks create a hospitality experience that seamlessly integrates top personal service with digital convenience. Discover the case.

What it takes to make booking as easy as possible for you? Discover the power of a strong management vision, a streamlined work process, and long-term, open, and transparent collaboration between Landal GreenParks and iO.

iO experts built a brand new D2C website with an advanced Adobe Experience Manager e-commerce platform for lighting specialists Signify. The result: happy users and satisfied teams. Read the full case here.

With Sanity, we offer top-tier, flexible, and powerful tools for content management and delivery.

With your Sitecore partner iO, you reach the right people on the right channels. Content, personalisation, and e-commerce in one.

Discover Sitecore Search for hyper-relevant content and lightning-fast search. Optimise now and consult iO's specialists for expert advice!

Sitecore Send, a module of the Sitecore DXP helps you to bond with customers more strongly. Want to know more? Schedule a demo!

What are the benefits of Sitecore Customer Data Platform (CDP)? Our specialists will be happy to tell you about it during a no-obligation meeting and/or demo.

Build complex and simple web platforms in Drupal, the open-source CMS of Belgian origin.

Umbraco CMS is user-friendly, supported by all browsers, and fully customisable. Find out how we use this CMS as an Umbraco Platinum Partner.

With Storyblok headless CMS you can build relevant digital experiences quickly. Our experts are here to help you.

Develop, test and improve your services and products with service design. This will help you improve the user experience of your most demanding users.

Support your organisation’s growth ambitions on budget with an in-depth tech strategy. Find out more about what iO can do for your business.

A martech stack that scales with your organisation: that’s what you need to outsmart the competition.

Add a little spice to your campaigns with interactive minigames. Excite your audience and collect valuable data!

Blended agency iO gives history an extra dimension for visitors to M Leuven thanks to AI-driven web app.

Now that cookies are disappearing, the biggest challenge for everyone in marketing today lies in measuring and analyzing marketing efforts.   Companies currently find themselves facing a bit of a dilemma: on one hand, they want a transparent view of the results of their investments, on the other hand, they know that they need to rely more on data to make their advertising more relevant and efficient.

Watch the webinar now.

How do you navigate through the jungle of tooling? How do you maintain an overview of your MarTech stack? This webinar will show you how to navigate your MarTech stack in simple steps and get to the essence: tools you really need.

Do you want to elevate your municipality's digital services? Save the date and join us on November 25th to discover how you can use digital tools work more efficiently  and better serve the residents and businesses in your municipality.

With the introduction of the Open Government Act (Woo), the disclosure of information has become of greater importance. It’s wise to have a solid process and powerful digital tools in place to help your organisation comply to the Woo. But where to start? In the webinar ‘How to easily gain complete control over the Woo publications of your organisation’ we’ll show you how to set up this in a sufficient and user-friendly way.  Sign up for free

The convergence of Adtech and Martech marks a crucial shift in the world of digital marketing. Discover how leveraging these technologies leads to better results for your marketing campaigns at our event on October 15.

With the introduction of the Open Government Act (Woo), the disclosure of information has become of greater importance. It’s wise to have a solid process and powerful digital tools in place to help your organisation comply to the Woo. But where to start? In the webinar ‘How to easily gain complete control over the Woo publications of your organisation’ we’ll show you how to set up this in a sufficient and user-friendly way. 

A Customer Data Platform collects your customers’ data and is mainly at home in the more ‘mature’ marketing departments of the organisation. A CDP combines customer data from different platforms and hands it back to you in a 360° package. This whitepaper illustrates how a CDP gets assembled, where its added value lies CDP can be for your organisation and which conditions best serve a CDP.

Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native SaaS and Headless have secured their place ​​in the business world. These concepts have existed in their own right for some time and are already fairly well known, but the umbrella term MACH is new. Will it soon be mentioned in the same breath as Cloud and SaaS? And when will it be worth investing in it? Find out in this white paper.

A headless platform offers a lot of new possibilities for companies. It fits into a digital landscape that connects your customers with your business processes. But what exactly does it mean? And can your company handle the complexity of headless systems? In this white paper we will separate the facts from the fiction and guide you through your first steps in the headless world.

The world is evolving faster than ever. Consumers and stakeholders expect more and more flexibility from companies and organisations. As a result, you need IT solutions that can grow with you.

In a world where customers are finding their products online at an increasing rate, it’s impossible to ignore e-commerce. Moreover, we’ve become so demanding that businesses need to be able to continuously evolve and improve the user experience. But not every system is equipped to grow along with you in a world that moves at warp speed. Shopware 6 is.

AI language models, better known as Large Language Models, such as ChatGPT are hot. For some, they are a fine piece of pastime, for others an important tool to achieve business goals – not in the least for SEO and SEA. As they gain plenty of popularity, the complexity of the picture is also becoming clear, just the capabilities of AI. It becomes important to fully understand their potential, and their limitations, before you start working with them.

Globally, only 30 percent of companies successfully implement digital transformation. This is because digital transformation touches every aspect of a business: from people and processes to infrastructure and customer relationships. The key to a successful transformation is to pay attention to all these aspects - but that doesn't always happen.  In this white paper, we take you through five common pitfalls in digital transformation and give advice on how to avoid them. 

Do you want to rebrand your organisation? Is an acquisition or merger imminent? Or do you want to improve your customer experience, and does this require an organisational change?  For these types of digital transformations, changing technology is often a challenging and crucial part for organisations of all sizes. Whether you need to upgrade the CMS system to a newer version, or you want to increase your innovation speed with a headless CMS, there is often one element that receives little attention: the content migration. Far too often, a content migration is nothing more than the last thing on the list, because it’s the technology that requires a lot of attention and budget, isn’t it? How complex can it be to lift and shift the content from the old system to the new? 

Facebook is a media company that does not create content. Airbnb has turned the hotel industry upside down without owning any accommodation. Two well-known examples of fast-growing platforms that enable transactions and bring users and products together. The main factor for success in this is their appeal to the right users and adding value by solving problems, providing convenience or introducing new services. They do this using a very strong User Experience (UX) and Developer Experience (DX).

In our increasingly digital world, accessibility is more important than ever. This whitepaper highlights why digital accessibility is not only a legal requirement, but also an ethical necessity. With more than 25% of the European population having some form of disability, it is essential to design inclusive digital products.

In an increasingly digital world, accessibility is more important than ever. This whitepaper will show you why digital accessibility is not only a legal requirement, but also an ethical necessity. With more than 32.2% of the Dutch population having some kind of disability, it is essential that you design inclusive digital products. This whitepaper explores:

Instead of depending on one big software suite, the ‘composable approach’ enables organisations to customise their IT infrastructure by selecting and integrating the most suitable components for their specific needs. However, composable is not a universal solution. In this whitepaper we break down the composable concept, explain the core principles and its potential impact on your organisation’s digital ecosystem. We help you determine a realistic timeframe for transitioning to a composable architecture and evaluate whether your business is ready to embrace composability. Finally, we explore diverse migration strategies for a smooth and seamless transition.

It’s best to describe every product you sell or service you offer as accurately as possible on your website so that your target group knows exactly what you can do for them. Carrying out keyword research ensures that the pages on your website are relevant. 5 key insights emerge from keyword research that demonstrate the added value of this research for your organisation.

Organisations often store user data on their websites and apps, usually in the form of cookies. But every organisation has to be transparent about how they handle this data, and let users know if their data is shared with external parties. A Consent Management Platform (CMP) can help with this. We'll tell you all about it in this blog. 

Digital transformation touches every aspect of a business: people, processes, infrastructure, and customer relationships. Most problems that arise during a transformation process often have their origins in one or more of these aspects. How can you be alert to this?

iO's social advertising team visited TikTok HQ for the first Benelux agency workshop. TikTok is Gen-Z's search engine, and an exciting platform that’s constantly developing new features. We’ll be highlighting the most interesting insights and opportunities we learned from TikTok in this article.

Anyone who has tried ChatGPT knows that we are at the dawn of a new era. A lot of businesses want to respond to these developments, but often still regard generative AI as a black box. The complexity and lack of transparency can lead to timidity and restraint, while AI as a technology offers a lot of unique opportunities and possibilities. Do you want your business to get ahead of the curve? Then you have to give AI a try: experiment, learn and apply. Experimentation is the only way to learn how and when AI can deliver value to your business operations.

When you understand AI’s full potential you can use it purposefully. But how do you translate the versatile possibilities of AI into the specific context of your everyday business operations?

Exploring new markets, creating new revenue models, developing new products and solutions: there is consensus in most companies about the need for innovation. But guaranteeing the success of your innovation interventions is not a straightforward process. In this article we share 5 tips that you can use to increase the chances of your innovation process being successful.

Technology is in a constant state of change. The great evolution of recent years has been AI. Today, it's a powerful tool that can radically change the way we solve problems and create value. But how should we really look at AI? And how can we make sure it becomes more than just an empty gimmick?

You may not have noticed, but a lot has changed in terms of analytics and tracking over the past five years. This is partly because we've already grown accustomed to many changes, and partly because their impact has come very gradually. Half a decade ago, no one knew of the existence of a cookie banner, a year later everyone thought they could never get used to it, and today we don't know any better. We've made serious strides in terms of data regulation, and perhaps the biggest steps are yet to come in 2024.

Does the name Leonhard Huizinga still ring a bell for anyone? Once a popular Dutch writer, now forgotten. He made his debut in 1936 with the book 'De Gestroomlijnde Wereld'. Already a wanderer at a young age, Huizinga's book opened an unknown world to many readers. An exotic world, which seemed to be getting smaller and smaller, because it was more accessible by car, train, boat, and airplane. Faster, more comfortable and with more and more streamlining — quite literally. Curious, boundless, full of wonder. Not realising, as early as 1936, that over that same world lay the shadows of tomorrow.

We are standing at the beginning of a new economic era with AI and automation as driving forces. Customer interaction is radically being transformed, and the rise of generative AI heralds one of the biggest revolutions ever. As far as AI is concerned, the near future is still a bit unpredictable, but one thing is certain: companies that really want to make a difference should resolutely opt for a digital strategy built upon resilience, productivity and efficiency. Let’s delve into the five most remarkable AI trends for 2024.

Every new era requires new fuel, and the AI era is no exception. Simply collecting raw data is not enough to effectively utilise generative AI – you also need to process and interpret the data. The vector database bridges the gap between data and AI, enabling valuable output and optimal customer experiences. In this article in our ‘Get a taste of AI’ series, you will learn how vectors work and gain the tools to apply them in your daily practice. The term “vector” may not be familiar to the general public, but its impact certainly is. Vectors provide more accurate results and recommendations in search engines and recommendation engines, improving the user experience. They add context and relevance, making the difference between a positive and a negative experience. But how does this work exactly? And how can your organisation leverage vectors for AI?

Are you tired of all the grand promises surrounding AI? Do trends come and go without leaving a lasting impact? Are you yearning for a down-to-earth answer to the question, "What can I truly gain from AI in my daily work?" Our Art Director and AI pioneer, Gijs guides you in this blog interview.  Why can he only guide you? Because there's no one-size-fits-all approach. AI is tailor-made, but it can significantly simplify and enhance your work. Within minutes, promises Gijs, you can achieve powerful mass production. His practical tips might just transform your daily workflow or, at the very least, encourage you to rethink it. Discover how in this interview. 

From March 12, we welcome a significant update in the world of web performance with the introduction of Interaction to Next Paint (INP) as part of the Core Web Vitals. But don't worry, you don’t have to be a web developer to understand: we’ll explain the importance of this update in plain language.

“Refresh your website every five years.” Sound familiar? Well, listen carefully. Because in 2024, things have changed. The tech keeping your website up and running used to be out-of-date after five years. But now, it’s become more stable. So, don’t jump on the new website bandwagon just yet, and do your homework to see what you can repurpose first.

At iO, we partner with some major players and market leaders in marketing and technology. One of these partners is WordPress, world's largest Content Management System (CMS). There are several reasons why WordPress tops the list of CMS platforms. For one, the platform has a lot to offer for all its target audiences. In this blog, we list its main advantages for marketers.

Is AI the big monster some make it out to be? The one waiting in line to take over our job of content marketeer? One thing’s for sure: artificial intelligence is no hype. It’s here to stay, and it’s up to us to deal with it. At iO, we’re always looking at new ways to create value. AI turns out not to be a solution, but rather a means to an end. In this blog post, we explain how we use an AI copy assistant to write large volumes of copy in a cost-effective way. 

Earlier this month, Drupal founder Dries Buytaert took the stage during the annual DrupalCon North America in Portland (Oregon, USA). He delivered what some call the biggest Drupal news in a long time: the official announcement of Drupal Starshot. Being the largest Drupal partner in the Benelux, we at iO would like to shed some light on this upcoming launch.

iO and Drupal go way back. We have been using the CMS since our early days, so it is fair to say it holds few secrets for our developers. In recent years, the CMS market has evolved enormously, with new systems springing up like mushrooms. And even though many did not survive, there are still a lot of new CMS systems standing strong today. An unusual situation for Drupal, but with the announcement of Drupal Starshot, the answer is now finally here.

The fact that a flawless digital experience is crucial to consumers, is not new — every day we experience this ourselves when using apps or ordering things online. Less known, but just as crucial, is the partner experience (PX). Especially for financial institutions (such as banks, insurers or payment companies) a seamless PX is invaluable. Friso Geerlings, Technology Director at iO, explains why this is the case and how you can safeguard your PX. 

Conversational search in the form of an AI chatbot lets your website visitors interact with your content, resulting in a better customer experience. Conversational search is an advanced search method that uses natural language processing to understand search queries and provide relevant results. Instead of entering search terms, users can formulate searches as they would in a normal conversation.

Conversational search in the form of an AI chatbot lets your website visitors interact with your content, resulting in a better customer experience.

Drupal recently launched the latest version of its unsurpassed CMS: Drupal 11. As a Certified Drupal Partner, our 130-strong Drupal team is eager to get started helping companies find their way around. After all, Drupal 11 offers a lot of new features that improve the user experience, increase performance and streamline development processes.

When you look something up on the Internet, you always do so with a specific intention. Whether it's to gather information, compare products or actually make a purchase. Either way, you want to see results that match your intent as closely as possible. This intent - called search intent - is a crucial factor for both Google and marketers. 

How fast can you launch new products and services, scale up or scale down sales channels, or provide a better customer experience? The technical complexity of a business often determines its innovation speed. We look at how to transform the 5 key blockers in technology into accelerators for your business. Expert:Raymond Muilwijk, Center of Excellence Lead Technology

Companies are unaware of the enormous the cost of bad customer experiences. Out-of-pocket costs such as customer service are being pushed up, at a time when it’s becoming more difficult and expensive to find new customers.And this is happening while the brand credibility is declining and there is erosion in terms of new business development. In the video below, Steven Van Belleghem calls for more investment in customer focus, as a driver for a successful 2024.

Do you remember when ... the invention of the computer caused a seismic shift in the job market? People unwilling to work with computers were quickly replaced by people who were; and today everyone carries a laptop. Today the same thing is happening with AI. In this webinar, Rodger Werkhoven will share his passion for Artificial Intelligence and introduce you to OpenAI as a love brand.

From Van Eyck’s brothers' Ghent Altarpiece to Rock Werchter: the Canon of Flanders is finally here. The much-discussed list resulted in a bulky book of more than 300 pages and includes an overview of the Flemish language, culture, and history from the end of the last ice age to today. But there is also an online version: www.canonvanvlaanderen.be . iO developed this on behalf of the Commission Canon of Flanders, which received a mandate from the Flemish Government, Department of Education & Training.

Discover the fruitful collaboration between Primagaz and iO in this 'Walk and Talk' video. In this video, you'll get a behind-the-scenes look at the collaborative dynamics between Primagaz and iO. We discuss how we dealt with challenges, how we exploited opportunities and what strategies we developed. We'll take you through our shared journey of growth and success, where trust and a commitment to excellence are central. This Walk and Talk is more than just a conversation - it is a celebration of a collaboration that has stood the test of time. It is a story of mutual growth, of learning and evolving, and of creating value for both organizations.

For food giant Vandemoortele, we built a Drupal platform that inspires and supports multiple audiences with customised content. Read the case.

Gosselin, active in international relocations, wanted more leads to boost growth. Our experts helped to bolster their digital presence. 

Enhancing Digital Content Management for D'Ieteren Automotive's Websites? Read the full story here;

Creating a Cohesive Platform: Assuralia's Rebranding and Site Redesign for Enhanced User Experience Read the story here.

YER is already big but aspired to double their presence in the world of recruitment and selection and secondment. iO helped them with creating a new brand, internal branding, external activation online and offline and bringing 3 websites into 1 site for all target groups.

Discover how we customised a business app that semi-automatically schedules the most efficient solution and produces quick reporting.

Discover how the JLR Gateway, built in Drupal, acts as a central hub for dealer communication, processes, and collaboration.

Find out how iO developed one powerful and scalable e-commerce platform for the web shops of all Favorite Gifts' brands. Read the case study.

Discover how awareness, behaviour change, and hyper-local personalization lead to cost efficiency and relevance at the right moment.

Discover how the online presence of Firda was revamped with a new Drupal platform. With seamless integrations, simplified forms and an improved design.

How does iO keep its long-term relationship with Farmaline fresh as a daisy? By mixing trust with a profitable synergy of tech and marketing services.

How do you develop a virtual experience platform that takes your customer experience to the next level?

For Prowise, an interactive display and educational software expert, iO designed a new WordPress website complemented by a new brand voice and copy.

Discover how iO made the websites and the personal admin portal of High Profile Locaties more manageable, findable and scalable. Read the case study.

Discover how iO helped Imperial transform into a future-proof food brand

How do you develop a digital and internationally deployable retailer concept that takes your customer experience to the next level?

Web, app, and integration platform for co-branded credit card programmes

Flexible credit, without a card and with all the omnichannel advantages of a credit card.