With the help of NetRom, more innovation and higher development speed for Deploytec

As a provider of comprehensive marketing automation solutions, Deploytec has experienced strong growth since the late 1990s. The company has big ambitions for the coming years, and to achieve them, developers with the right skills and experience are needed. For this, Deploytec turned to the developers at NetRom Software. The result? A faster development pace for the marketing automation solution, and Deploytec now possesses all the technical knowledge to achieve its goals.

To capture who your customer is (think of personal data, characteristics, preferences, purchasing behavior, and other relevant information) and to set up campaigns, you need effective, stable, and secure software. A Customer Data Platform (CDP) provides all the necessary functionality for this. In combination with a marketing automation tool, you can then design and execute campaigns across various channels such as email, SMS, WhatsApp, or social media.

Deployteq, founded in 1999, is a Dutch provider of marketing automation solutions. Since its inception, the company has made a strong footprint in e-commerce and has worked for leading companies in this field since their startup phase.

Deployteq has big plans, according to Steven Dorrestijn, who has been the product director at the company since 2016. He is responsible for the product suite that Deployteq develops, manages, and supports in the Netherlands.

In the field of marketing automation, Deploytec faces strong competition. “In terms of functionality and price, we can certainly compete,” says Dorrestijn, “but players like Salesforce or Bloomreach have huge budgets.” Fortunately, the market also looks beyond that: there is indeed attention for other players. Moreover, Deployteq is part of an investment company, which provides much-needed funding while also sharpening its ambitions.

n 2016, the company transitioned from co-located solutions to a cloud model. Since then, the software has been further developed – not only because cloud applications behave differently but also to become more future-proof: better scalable, larger, faster, and more user-friendly. Deployteq is now preparing for international expansion, which means further development of the solutions.

The development agenda includes, among other things, adapting the Deployteq solution for a large number of diverse users from multidisciplinary teams- each with their own area of focus in data collection. “In the US, there could be dozens of team members working independently in the same environment. Think of marketers working for the webshop, loyalty solution, product catalog, or customer satisfaction survey tool. They must not interfere with each other in terms of data processing,” explains Dorrestijn.

The performance of the Deploytec solution must also remain optimal: American companies could easily have 100 million records. And, of course, issues like security and privacy must be well ensured; Deployteq processes hundreds of millions of records. Further along the roadmap: ensuring a robust data portal that can serve as a ‘gateway’ to the marketing automation solution for user organizations. Because for almost all businesses, the mountain of data isn’t always directly usable.

Deployteq began collaborating with NetRom to accelerate the development pace and gain access to the right technical expertise. Dorrestijn: “Deployteq is fortunate to have a good internal recruitment function. As an ISV, we are well-known in the market, so we are regularly approached by both recruitment agencies and offshore development firms. When we bring someone with the right competencies to the table, they can usually start with us right away. However, the talent pool is insufficient, and to work with us, you need a high level of expertise. The employees we need are also sought after by Google, major banks, or our competitors.”

Dorrestijn was already familiar with NetRom from his previous employer. “We didn’t go through a complicated RFI or RFP process, that’s not how we operate. We are pragmatic and want to get started when it clicks, and when what’s been promised is challenged and validated by us. We have our checks in place – things like VOGs and ISO certifications.”

Then, in February 2024, Deployteq “started small” by having NetRom develop a data solution. This is a standalone product capable of retrieving, storing, editing data, and then offering the output to a CDP. “We conducted an internal pre-analysis, worked on the architecture, specifications, and epics beforehand. Shortly after the NetRom developers began, it became clear that this project was progressing beyond expectations. After a few months, we internally asked if NetRom could take on more.”

“In the lead-up to the collaboration, we saw some skepticism from our own developers, particularly because the code for our main product is extremely complex. Our internal team consists of highly experienced, high-quality, and specialized developers,” Dorrestijn explains. Starting with a standalone project, such as the data solution, helped show the team that the quality, speed, and collaboration were solid and there would be no negative impact on their work. Dorrestijn adds, “There were understandable questions, such as how we would manage the project, and how we would collaborate with NetRom. Our tech team was especially concerned about the quality of the work, fearing it might lead to more work for them. You’re handing something over to a group of developers who are working remotely. But in the end, you realize – especially from our experiences during the pandemic—that 100 meters or 500 kilometers doesn’t really matter.”

When it comes to collaboration, both teams adopted Scrum as the standard – something the Deployteq team has been using since 2016. “What makes a difference is that NetRom has years of experience working with ISVs like us: companies that have their documentation, testing, and quality processes in order.”

Another significant advantage is that NetRom has 500 specialists who can rely on each other when they have specific questions. Currently, eight to ten developers are working as an extension of Deployteq’s Dutch development team.

Despite working remotely, Deployteq goes the extra mile in striving for physical interaction between the two teams. “The idea is to visit the Romanian team once a quarter. In February, we visited to discuss the entire project, then we went again in the summer. Recently, we were there again, and after the New Year, we plan to visit for a few days. It’s about enjoying a meal together—developers from the Netherlands come over – but also spending two days on-site discussing the progress. During the second and third visits, I sent my key people, such as an architect, a product owner, and two lead developers; they can manage just fine without me. I get a report afterward and sleep well because processes are running smoothly.”

Data as the foundation for targeted marketing: solutions capable of handling personalization is a booming business. There’s a high chance that NetRom serves other clients in this domain as well. Dorrestijn clearly notices that NetRom follows strict rules in this area. “Integrity in IP matters is ingrained in their teams. The NetRom developers do share their technical knowledge with us. We also have a good sense of what you could call the signature you can recognize in written code. We don’t see code being copied from other applications or other programmers. No shortcuts are taken to please us. By the way, I wouldn’t be happy if it happened the other way around.”

“In the collaboration, it’s clear that NetRom focuses on supporting both teams and businesses. The developers are trained for this, the processes are well-established, and they are flexible. It’s much easier for us to speak to someone from NetRom’s management than, for example, an account manager at AWS. We also notice that the teams are good at recognizing new opportunities for our software.”

The collaboration with NetRom has provided Deployteq with a high-quality codebase: the functionality is well-constructed, which really stands out. But Dorrestijn also sees positive side effects: “Because the speed has increased and the quality is high, I also notice that the overall vibe is stronger and more positive. There’s a lot of enthusiasm and satisfaction among our internal developers, as well as in our sales teams. The speed at which we can now deliver has a positive impact throughout the entire company. It also means that the internal team can focus more than ever on R&D for new features. Because of our customer-centric focus, we’ve always been more functional in our priorities, and sometimes technical improvements fall lower on the list. Now, there’s much more room for that.”

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