Raphael Thys
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Helping Teams Shape the Future of Experiences
Helping Teams Shape the Future of Experiences
From 0 to Flagship Product in 3 Years

From 0 to Flagship Product in 3 Years

Digital Transformation : Turn enterprise processes into dedicated interfaces

The story behind the digital transformation and unified platform of IRISnet

Problem

IRISnet’s growth was slowing due to a complex, fragmented ecosystem.

Multiple back-ends, disconnected user interfaces, and semi-manual processes — even Excel files on shared drives — made daily operations cumbersome.

Customers and employees all struggled to complete tasks, switching contexts across tools.

This created an error-prone environment, inconsistent experiences, and mounting dissatisfaction.

Solution

We envisioned a unified digital ecosystem centered around:

  • A robust API layer connecting legacy systems
  • A Progressive Web App (PWA) for customers
  • A second, dedicated app for internal users

Built with a modern web stack (React, GraphQL), the solution prioritized industrialized design, ensuring agility, consistency, and low maintenance costs.

This architecture became the foundation of IRISnet’s omnichannel strategy.

Problem Analysis

To beat the monster, we had to draw the monster. That's why we dive into deep product analysis, detected and prioritized the following issues:

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1

Fragmented digital ecosystem slowing operations

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2

Inconsistent UX across tools causing user frustration

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3

Manual/Hybrid workflows increasing risk of errors and delays

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4

Limited internal expertise in digital product development

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5

Lack of unified customer and employee experience

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6

Absence of scalable architecture for future innovation

Digital Foundation & Vision

To begin, the Product team needed to convince management and shareholders that unification was not just modernization — it was a strategic enabler for future innovation.

The proposed architecture would:

  • Unlock a best-in-class, user-centric digital backbone
  • Enable fast onboarding of new technologies (XR, IoT, AI)
  • Reduce future integration costs and maintenance overhead

This vision became the cornerstone of IRISnet’s digital transformation.

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UX & Development Process

Agile Governance at Scale

Execution followed a lean yet disciplined model:

  • Stakeholder needs collection & strategy alignment
  • Functional analysis & prioritization matrix
  • Wireframes, interaction design, and Kanban delivery
  • Steering & board committee checkpoints

Design Industrialization

A shared design system was built to harmonize UX across products — drastically improving delivery speed and scalability.

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Architecture and Development

At the technical level, IRISnet’s transformation was powered by a modular, API-first architecture designed for scalability and cross-channel consistency.

Core Components:

  • API Layer: Unified access to disparate back-end systems; abstracted business logic for reusability.
  • GraphQL Gateway: Enabled flexible, optimized data querying across applications.
  • Progressive Web Apps: Delivered native-like experiences for both customer and internal portals.
  • Design System Integration: Shared components across apps ensured consistent design and lower maintenance costs.
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  • CI/CD Pipeline: Automated deployments and testing reduced delivery risk and accelerated iteration.

Key Principles Applied:

Reusability

Shared APIs, Library based stack, components library and design tokens reduced redundancy.

Performance

Front-end optimizations and caching strategies for smooth user experiences.

Security

Centralized authentication and API management.

Future-Proofing

Architecture ready for XR, IoT, and AI feature integration.

This architecture became the digital backbone of IRISnet, ensuring agility and maintainability as the product ecosystem grows.

Team & Culture Shift

IRISnet recruited a hybrid team

— agencies and freelancers collaborating with internal staff.

This model balanced expertise, agility, and knowledge transfer, empowering teams to co-create digital maturity rather than outsource it.

Results

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MyIRISnet designated as the primary touchpoint in the company’s customer strategy

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+50% customer onboarding within one year

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+40% NPS increase driven by a streamlined, unified experience

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Reduced operational errors and faster internal workflows

Testimonial

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Yves H.

Head of Product Management @IRISnet

The launch of the MyIRISnet customer selfcare tool was of a quality and efficiency rarely encountered for such complex projects.

Working with a small team of experts provided both results and budget control.

Digital Transformation and Digital Products at the age of AI
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