Brixxs

Dutch systems integrator and technology vendor Brixxs chose Progress® Rollbase™, to rapidly create Software as a Services (SaaS) business applications. With the ability to quickly develop powerful business applications with minimum coding and point & click, drag & drop tools, Brixxs can now ensure its customers keep pace with the rate of change. For example, Brixxs is helping registered taxi companies in the Netherlands to quickly comply with new regulations and improve the quality of their services in large cities. By using Rollbase, Brixxs has developed and updated applications that have allowed taxi companies to comply with strict new regulations introduced by the Dutch government within just 3 days of them coming into effect.

Brixxs Chooses Progress To Enable Customers to Keep Pace with the Rapid Rate of Change

Based in the Netherlands, Brixxs is a systems integrator and technology vendor focused on the faster delivery of adaptive solutions, open innovation and new product development. As software continues to migrate to the cloud, Brixxs believed that an application Platform-as-a-Service (aPaaS) could help them establish a unique value proposition in the Dutch market.

The company evaluated a number of PaaS offerings, but ultimately chose Progress® Rollbase™. Progress Rollbase is a cloud platform that allows rapid creation of SaaS business applications using point & click, drag & drop tools in a standard Web browser with a minimal amount of code. Progress Rollbase can be deployed to any cloud or in-house infrastructure. Brixxs chose Progress Rollbase over Microsoft Office365 or LongJump because Microsoft was too complex and required high upfront investments, and LongJump offered a poor interface and lacked focus on the European market. Brixxs was looking for its own private cloud and needed a scalable platform that was more focused on business users.

“We needed a solution that allowed us to configure, not program, so we could bring applications to the market quickly,” explains Freddy Jaarsma, Director at Brixxs. “With Progress Rollbase, we can speed up the entire development process, building 90% of an application using an intuitive, easy-to-use Web interface, and we can code the last 10% using HTML or JavaScript rather than having to rely on more complicated tools like .Net or Java. That speed to market is a competitive advantage for both us and for our customers.”

Jaarsma says very few customers are looking to embark on large, expensive and time-consuming IT solution projects. Rather, they want to leverage their existing assets and business processes while quickly, efficiently, and affordably adding modern and flexible solutions that address business needs. “Customers are looking for immediate solutions. With Progress Rollbase, we can connect to a customer’s existing legacy application while also quickly creating new applications in the Cloud. Customers also can benefit from a structural approach in IT solution development instead of defining ad-hoc IT projects every year. That is a compelling value proposition for our business.”

In addition to the value of Progress Rollbase, Brixxs was also attracted to the fact that a partnership with Progress would give Brixxs and its customers access to the entire suite of Progress solutions, including OpenEdge, DataDirect and Corticon. “Our ability to leverage the broader Progress portfolio of products is a huge benefit and major selling point,” says Jaarsma. “With such a diverse solution stack, we can create more complex, scalable and competitive solutions as needs and opportunities arise”

Brixxs Improves Customer Service for Dutch Taxi Companies with Progress® Rollbase™

Brixxs is already making an impact with Progress Rollbase by helping registered taxi companies in the Netherlands to quickly comply with new regulations and improve the quality of their services in large cities. By using Progress Rollbase, Brixxs has developed and updated applications that have allowed taxi companies known as Allowed Taxi Organizations (ATOs) to comply with strict new regulations introduced by the Dutch government, within just 3 days of them coming into effect.

Aimed at applying stricter regulations for taxi drivers and companies, the new legislation was introduced in July to improve customer service in large Dutch cities. Using Progress Rollbase, Brixxs was able to rapidly develop applications in line with these new guidelines and ensure that ATOs were fully compliant with all aspects of the new legislation as quickly as possible. Through a portal accessible via the web or a mobile device, the taxi companies can now manage virtually everything they need to run their business from one central location, including invoicing and communication with the drivers.

As part of its work on the ATO applications, Brixxs was able to use components from its existing Progress Rollbase private cloud platform. Brixxs was also able to save considerable time and money for all relevant ATO organizations by updating all standard ATO applications and providing an easy way to centrally release updates.

“Change, both inside and outside of the company walls, has become a structural part of business today, whether it’s as a result of new laws and regulations or other changes in the business world,” explains Jaarsma. “Increasingly, the biggest challenge modern businesses face is that these changes have to take place faster and faster. This means the solutions you use should also be able to deal with change. The advantage of the Progress Rollbase platform is that it has the speed, accessibility and flexibility required to develop applications as and when circumstances dictate.”

Using Progress Rollbase, Brixxs also plans to offer services to existing Progress OpenEdge partners and customers looking for ways to modernize their application architecture.

About Brixxs

Brixxs is a systems integrator and independent software vendor (ISV) partner of Progress, focused on the faster delivery of adaptive solutions, open innovation and new product development. Brixxs offers an extensive set of Progress Rollbase application templates by using its own private Rollbase cloud and works closely with other Progress partners to maximize the Progress Pacific platform-as-a-service (PaaS), Brixxs has recently signed a joint venture with Propredict to deliver its fast and flexible cloud solutions alongside Propredict’s extensive knowledge of OpenEdge. Please visit www.brixxs.com for more information.