How OBOS succeeds with digital service platform
Ranja Ovedal
In Norway, billions are invested in digitalisation every single year – and as with everything else, some succeed far better than others. OBOS is one of the companies that is investing aggressively to create the most value with today's technology.
The housing cooperative, which was founded back in 1929, is one of the country's largest and most profitable businesses. Their rich history has been characterized by a number of restructuring phases and today OBOS operates within the business areas of housing development, management and consulting, real estate and banking. Over 2600 people work in the group – and the membership is approaching half a million. In addition, they own a number of subsidiaries. It goes without saying that the group feels the digital race on several fronts.
In order to strengthen the company's implementation capacity and facilitate rapid digital development, OBOS has established a digital service platform.
- OBOS is in a restructuring phase, where we are replacing our old business platform with a number of new professional systems. The new digital service platform ensures that we avoid too many dependencies and direct integrations between the various professional systems. This gives us faster access and the ability to reuse data, and thus facilitates frequent changes, says Mareke Decker, Product Owner for Digital Services Platform at OBOS.
Internal anchoring is crucial
As the product owner, Mareke has a crucial role in ensuring that the service platform provides OBOS with optimal value. As the main person responsible for the development of the platform, she also constitutes the link between business and IT internally. It is her task to ensure that everyone understands the platform's role in achieving OBOS' digital strategy, and what it takes for the platform to support the group's various disciplines.
- This means that I am the main contact for stakeholders from the various disciplines we have. An important part of my job is to create understanding and anchor the concept on all fronts, says Mareke.
She highlights internal anchoring as a crucial success factor for OBOS' service platform. A challenge with the service platform is that it operates behind the scenes, and thus is not something "tangible" that the employees of OBOS relate to in their everyday lives. Therefore, it can often be difficult for others to understand the value it creates.
- You could say that I act as a marketer for DTP in the company. Anchoring is important for everyone to understand what we want to achieve with the service platform. A close dialogue is important for us to work efficiently and deliver what is expected from the business, says Mareke.
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Gode krav gir kvalitet og effektivitet
For å styrke satsingen på digitalisering og innovasjon, har OBOS samlet kreftene i en enhet som har fått navnet «IT og digital». I tillegg til digital forretningsutvikling på tvers av fagområder, har divisjonen ansvaret for felles, digital kundekommunikasjon.
– Etter reorganiseringen ble vi delt opp i produktteam, som har hver sin produkteier og teamleder. Som produkteier sitter jeg ikke midt i utviklingen, men har et fugleperspektiv og ser arbeidet vi gjør i en større kontekst. Min rolle er sentral for fremdriften og for at vi leverer det som forventes. For å sikre dette har vi etablert et eget arkitekturråd, som vi jobber tett sammen med. Arkitektene har kontroll på hele vårt digitale økosystem og muligheten til å jobbe tett med de, er veldig verdifullt, sier Mareke.
Hun understreker at tverrfaglig arbeid er en suksessfaktor for at den digitale tjenesteplattformen skal gi optimal verdi.
– Forretning og IT snakker jo gjerne ulike språk, og det er vesentlig at vi forstår hva som egentlig forventes fra kravstillere, og at disse forstår hva vi trenger for å kunne jobbe effektivt. Når vi har mange ulike fagsystemer som skal etableres parallelt har den digitale tjenesteplattformen en veldig viktig rolle. Vi får mange krav om å levere integrasjoner og data fortløpende. Da må vi ha nok informasjon til å kunne gjøre riktige prioriteringer, utføre arbeidet med høy kvalitet og levere i tide. Det er mitt ansvar, sier Mareke.
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