iO doesn't target just one specific sector, and that's a very deliberate choice. "We can take knowledge and experience from one sector to another," says Maltha. "To establish a solid digital ecosystem nowadays, companies need about 6 to 15 partners. However, we can provide our clients with end-to-end, tailor-made services: from strategy, content and creation to technology and marketing. All that, under one roof. We have all these areas of expertise because we have brought together the services of 30 companies into one new company: iO.

As a result, we have a much faster time-to-market with fewer direct and indirect costs, because everything is aligned. We spend less time coordinating tasks and seamlessly connect the customer journey on all fronts, enabling our customers to substantially accelerate their digital transformation. This helps our clients to leverage their growth and build a future-proof business. Our experience of smartly phasing out outdated system landscapes without losing speed in the process helps with this."

Technology independent

iO has five fully functional locations in the Netherlands alone and another four in Belgium. Maltha: "We use a campus structure, which means that every branch office has all the expertise needed to support clients from A to Z. We are technology-independent and — thanks to our scale — we can work with all common systems. We look at what is needed and which solution works best to build the digital ecosystem and achieve the desired acceleration and growth. Organisations that provide a seamless user experience can count on revenue growth of at least 20 per cent, according to research firm Gartner. As mentioned, Covid has brought an unprecedented acceleration to the digital transformation that none of us saw coming. Organisations that were already working on a digital transformation have been able to make good use of it. Others still have to make up the necessary ground, and parties like iO can help them with that."

Written by Frank Gielen.