What does De Rolf Groep do?
“We want to make childcare and education better, and we support them in several ways. We supply play materials, educational methods and furniture. We also provide a complete ICT environment and help schools work in the cloud. And we offer services for professional development.”
“So we have three pillars: physical products such as furniture and play materials, ICT environments with guidance, and an education and advice branch. That last branch works on the skills of teachers and childcare staff, and that is where we collaborate with Enigmatry.”
“From the advice branch we give training, some of it online and some of it partly online and partly in practice. We also organise study trips and conferences. With Enigmatry we are now building the learning platform for education and childcare in the Netherlands. We already have a platform, but it is no longer future-proof. We want to rebuild it completely, with current technology, so that knowledge keeps flowing to the professionals in our field.”
Where is digital innovation most important for you?
“As an organisation we want to stay ahead and keep offering new products, services and training to professionals in education and childcare. A platform like the one we are building with Enigmatry has to be put together very well if it is going to carry all that information. It has to use what is technically possible today, so that it stays current and, above all, future-proof.”
Where are you in the process?
“We entered the partnership in October 2019, and we started straight away. A third partner has recently joined for the graphic design, the brand position and the marketing side. The three of us now cover each other’s strengths. The build has started well, but there is a lot of work left. We are still at the beginning.”
How did the first months go?
“We were under time pressure. We had another partner first, but we lost confidence in them, so we switched to Enigmatry. Knowing what we know now, we are very glad we did. Leaving the previous partner created urgency. We met Enigmatry in a short time, and the impression of professionalism and approach was so good that we had the confidence to close the deal quickly.”
“Enigmatry then freed up a team for us at once. Since then we talk to their people several times a week about different parts of the build. We discuss priorities with the analyst and have calls with the developers about which functions to choose. Ideally the design partner would have joined at the start too. We slowed down a little there, but now that they are on board the three of us can speed up again.”
What makes the difference between the previous partner and Enigmatry?
“The professionalism, the knowledge, the drive and the entrepreneurship. At Enigmatry they are not afraid to invest, and they move to action quickly and thoughtfully.”
What has been the highlight so far?
“Last Tuesday the development team from Belgrade visited us. That was great. It was good for the bond, and the team saw with their own eyes how we work. They came to our showroom, and we could tell them about our company, what we offer and where the learning platform fits in. That gave them a clear picture of the organisation, which adds a lot of meaning to what they are building now. It was also simply fun. People could play with our materials. ‘Play is the highest form of education’, I sometimes say.”
“Every contact moment is also of high quality. They are goal-oriented and focused, and there is always progress. I think that is a strong point in the way they work.”
When is this collaboration a success for you?
“My dream is that every professional in education and childcare sees our platform as the source of knowledge. A place where they learn with pleasure, where the quality of the materials and the knowledge is guaranteed, and where they can trust the source. And it should be very easy to use and look fantastic. Then I am really happy.”
Want to read how Jelle de Haan, director of Enigmatry, sees the collaboration? Read his interview.