Sodexo and Emakina launch new service voucher website and mobile apps
First full-agile project of Sodexo Belgium fluently serves 1.2 million users, more services to follow
Jérôme Lemouchoux, CEO van Sodexo Benefits and Rewards Services Belgium said: “For its digital challenges, Sodexo has to be able to work fast, while respecting deadlines, budgets and the scope of its projects. We need to adopt a more Agile approach, and our digital team’s collaboration with Emakina proves this is possible.”
Sodexo and Emakina successfully launched their first project together: 1.2 million consumers in Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia can now manage their housekeeping assistance more easily. The new Sodexo service voucher website, secured user platform, and mobile application run like clockwork, make complex processes simple, and have easy to access interfaces. Part of this success lies in the agile and full scrum collaboration, working closely together with the Regions. Two more major projects will follow this year, focusing on services for household helpers and a second for authorized agencies.
1,2 million clients
Sodexo’s Public Benefits service allows over 1.2 million end users to get help in their daily lives and pay their household help in Belgium via the service voucher system, under the authority of the Walloon, Flemish and Brussels-Capital Regions. Sodexo has been operating the entire service vouchers ecosystem for the Regions for the past eight years and was awarded the new public contracts for the regions in 2019.
A new digital service voucher ecosystem
Sodexo mandated Emakina to provide guidance and front-end development of the new digital service voucher ecosystem. In mixed teams with Sodexo’s experts, the digital agency delivers 3 informative websites, 4 mobile applications and 6 applicative portals, while ensuring a smooth transition to the new digital environments for all active service voucher users.
Emakina shared its know-how in front-end, extranets and mobile applications, while guaranteeing maximum scalability of the platforms, flawless security and accessibility for the visually impaired. The project also respected the graphic identity and the specific technical requirements of the Regions, particularly in terms of secured access to personal spaces.
The service voucher end users like their new platforms
The first projects focused on the end users and they gave very positive feedback, welcoming the accessibility and experience offered by their new platforms. The new public website for Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia, a new platform and mobile app were launched beginning of 2020 and users in Flanders can now also pay their household help online via the system.
Agile and on-site
The intense agile collaboration between the onsite ‘plug and play’ Emakina team and their Sodexo colleagues proved to be the right approach. After a discovery sprint, a series of new agile sprints followed. The project combined several technologies hosted on Azure Cloud, from custom .Net, React and React Native for the mobile apps to Kentico EMS for the public website.
More to come
A second major project is well underway: a new application for the workers will allow them to register their working hours and handle their administration rapidly on their mobile phone.
A third ambitious project will further complete the ecosystem. It focuses on services for the more than 1,200 authorized agencies acting as go-betweens between the workers and the clients. It will be the daily working tool at the center of the business of the providers, making the agencies’ interventions easier and faster and improve their interaction with both parties.
Catherine Henry, Account Director at Emakina.BE said:
“From the start, the Sodexo management empowered the team, and fueled this high-speed on-site collaboration with a sense of trust, maturity and enthusiasm. It successfully created a fail-safe environment allowing our teams to innovate and deliver top value for the end user every day. The shared positive can-do spirit and commitment make it a true pleasure to be part of this important project. And of course, the positive response in the market is our greatest reward.”