Building an enterprise SaaS platform to organise remote work
About the client
We were approached by the founder and CEO of Xwork, Thierry Janssen, for a product development partnership to build a platform for corporates to manage remote work. The vision behind Xwork is that corporates will be stepping away from the traditional office paradigm and define new office policies based on the 3 H's: Home, Hub, and Headquarter.
The challenge
We were tasked with building the booking.com for coworking spaces. The platform would serve as an aggregation layer on top of existing workspace management systems. Plenty of technical challenges to take into account to build the APIs that would connect all of these dots and provide a smooth user experience for thousands of users.
Our approach
We started off with a product definition trajectory to map out the functional needs of all user types: corporates, co-working admins and employees. After formalising the architecture with Google Cloud Platform, we brought a dedicated product team together to build the software, fast and effectively.
With support of
Product definition
Conceptualising a smooth user experience connecting to WMS
We assisted the Xwork team to refine their value proposition into a product definition with clear functional requirements and an attractive user experience. We looked at the core problem statement from the point of view of various personas to eventually lay out an ambitious game plan for a minimum lovable product.
Once the objectives were clear, we agreed on a delivery roadmap mapping out specific product milestones to be achieved with a dedicated software and product engineering team.
Design track
We mapped the entire functional wishlist into clickable user flows and tested them thoroughly with the prospective user audience.
Architecture track
Xwork is connected to various Workspace Management Systems (WMS) and to companies’ ERP systems as well. We worked out an open architecture to connect all the dots.
Product development
Building APIs to connect the dots
When we were defining the architecture of Xwork, it was clear that we needed to build an open system that could integrate with various existing workplace management systems. We opted for Google Cloud Platform infrastructure where we could host the core application Node API and React front-end whereas specific microservices can be set up using Cloud Functions.
The Xwork system should have significant uptime guarantees since employees from large corporates count on it on a daily basis to book their desired workplaces. Given the strong dependencies we have on the workspace management systems from the co-working places, we implemented farfetched monitoring instruments to detect anomalies and act quickly on any booking issues that might arise.
Foundations to scale
Supporting the roll-out across 50+ co-working locations at once
At the beginning of 2022, a 6-week trial was done with 10 Belgian companies where we actively gathered feedback from users and performed technical fine-tuning. There was a clear validation of the concept and the platform functionality, which gave the necessary confidence to start preparing a broader commercial rollout in the second half of 2022.
Xwork is currently onboarding large corporate clients, as they are fully committed to driving significant change in this industry!
I scanned many possible software development partners before entering into a cooperation with Panenco. My number 1 criterion was to find a multidisciplinary team of experts that could handle the various needs of such a project, which Panenco has provided. Next, as a cherry on the cake, what stood out to me was the entrepreneurial vibe you get as soon as you set foot into their doors in the Leuven office.
Thierry Janssen
CEO & Co-founder at Xwork
In summary
Xwork is a paradigm shift in the orchestration of remote work where you want to offer your employees close proximity to home yet in the surroundings of colleagues. We gladly embarked on this mission together with Thierry and his team to shape and build this product.
We wish the whole Xwork team the very best of luck as they further expand across Europe. We’ll be happy to keep supporting you in every way possible.
Let's build!
Are you looking for an entrepreneurial digital partner?
Reach out to hello@panenco.com.
