Over many years of organic growth, our platform’s architecture stopped keeping pace with our digital product needs. As connected devices and IoT use cases expanded, limits around scalability and integration surfaced everywhere.
Benjamin Malik, Solution Architect
Background: From Hardware Manufacturer to Digital Solution Provider
A globally leading manufacturer of premium power tools faced the challenge of expanding its traditional hardware business with digital services. In 2018, an initial platform for connected devices was built that provided basic IoT capabilities. As requirements grew, it became clear that this monolithic solution was reaching its technological limits: new device classes were difficult and costly to integrate, the introduction of additional functions was delayed, and innovations could not be implemented at the speed the market demanded.
Management had made the strategic decision to embed digital products as a permanent component of the offering. Customers were no longer to receive only high‑performance power tools, but also additional digital value: operational and usage data to optimize deployment, maintenance recommendations to extend service life, and smart control functions.
Pain Points: Technical Debt and Pressure to Innovate
The existing platform increasingly became a bottleneck for innovation. Technical debt led to long development cycles; new business applications took months to deliver. There was also a lack of scalable data integration: operational and sensor data could not be leveraged sufficiently to develop digital services or new business models. Integration of external channels such as e‑commerce or marketing was also only possible to a limited extent.
This affected not only IT and architecture teams, but also product management, which was urgently pushing for new features, as well as end customers who expected innovative capabilities.
Goals & Strategic Guidelines: A Future-Proof Platform for Growth
Central goals of the project were the development of a scalable and future‑proof digital business platform and the rapid implementation of new product management requirements – even during ongoing modernization. Success metrics included a clear reduction in development cycles, secure and efficient integration of new device types, and a solid foundation for data‑driven business models.
Strategic priorities:
- Time‑to‑Market – new digital products and features should be available within a few weeks instead of several months.
- Cost Optimization – operating costs should be reduced through cloud‑native technologies and modern operating models.
- Innovation – functions such as Track & Trace or Eco‑Mode should enable new customer experiences.
- Data‑Driven Services – IoT data should be made usable via data mesh principles to unlock new business opportunities.
