DRUPA 2024 review: Three trends in print manufacturing
DRUPA, the world's leading trade fair for printing and finishing machinery, attracts experts to Düsseldorf every four years to Düsseldorf every four years. This year's event showcased three key trends that are shaping the future of the industry: Workflow automation, real-time analyses and digital customer portals. We go into the details in the following blog post.
How does Holacracy affect companies? What experiences do employees have with this hierarchy-free organisational structure? It has now been seven years since Unic transformed into this form of organisation. Time to take stock. Sandro Dönni, Principal Consultant at Unic, answers our questions and talks about his experiences with Holacracy.
What does the switch from the hierarchical corporate structure to the autonomous Holacracy organisation, in which, as we know, there is no traditional management, actually mean? We asked Melanie Klühe, Client Partner at Unic, what has changed in detail? And where Unic can still be optimised?
Alumnus Markus – Criticism is welcome, but please make it constructive!
In our alumni series, alumnus Markus Haschka, Partner at Unic, explains why he is back at Unic. He talks about appreciation, corporate culture and how he would like to improve, change or advance Unic in his roles.
Internet Agency Ranking 2024: Unic Moves Up Into Top 50 German Internet Service Providers
Unic Germany was founded in 2011 as a German subsidiary of the Unic Group. In 2014, it made it onto the BVDW ranking list for the first time. Since then, the agency has continued to move up from its original ranking of 105 and is currently at number 41. Unic Germany has grown steadily over the last six years. In 2024 it generated revenue of €11.3 million and performed better than the market average.
What does the switch from the hierarchical corporate structure to the autonomous Holacracy organization, in which, as we know, there is no traditional management, actually entail? We asked Dirk Nölke, Principal Consultant at Unic, what has changed in detail? And where Unic can still be optimized?
Sitecore OrderCloud – Insights Into a Highly Flexible E-commerce Platform
Die Sitecore OrderCloud überzeugt Kund:innen mit schnellen Entwicklungszyklen, ihrer Flexibilität und ist mit ihrer MACH-Architektur absolut zukunftsfähig. Wir stellen im folgenden Beitrag das Enterprise-Shop-System vor und gehen dabei auf die einzelnen Vorteile bzw. Features ein.
What exactly changes when a company transforms into the Holacracy organisational structure? How does the work of employees change? Patricia Gomez, Senior Application Architect at Unic, talks about the details and the challenges for the company itself.
7 Years of Holacracy – Martin Kriegler Takes Stock
What does the switch from the hierarchical corporate structure to the autonomous Holacracy organization, in which, as we know, there is no traditional management, actually entail? We asked Martin Kriegler, Expert Application Architect at Unic, what has changed in detail? And where Unic can still be optimized?
What makes alumni return to the company? What is their motivation to come back? We asked Melanie Klühe about her reasons for returning. The senior sales consultant shares interesting insights in this interview.
In March 2024, Unic opened the Spatial Lab in Zurich, a space to test Apple Vision Pro and learn about the ‘Spatial Discovery Canvas’: This workshop helps companies develop concrete ideas and test their feasibility.
From Wholesale to Retail: B2B Companies Conquering D2C Territory
Companies that previously relied exclusively on a partner sales model are increasingly being forced to rethink their strategy. In particular, direct sales to end customers, or D2C for short, is proving to be a lucrative sales channel. In the following, we explain the opportunities and challenges associated with a business model based on D2C.
Digital Platforms: Design, Concept, Implementation
Your website and digital services are key elements of your company’s profile and long-term success. To meet all these requirements, you need a solution based on modular architecture: High performance today and strong potential for the future.
Spotlight on – Home office with digital team spirit
Marc Steinhoff talks about how he balances his job and family within Unic - and why the team and teamwork itself are so important to him, whether in the home office in Hamburg or, if necessary, in the office in Zurich.
Spryker Hackathon – Chatbot Component for the Commerce System
The Spryker Excite 2023 in Berlin was coming up and of course a small team of Unic was there. Besides good conversations and great presentations, two developers and their team set out to develop a chatbot component including AI functions during a hackathon - with success.
Connect 2023 - Takeouts – Product Data is Fundamental to the Customer Experience in E-commerce
At this year's Connect, we had the pleasure of presenting the successful SWISS-KRONO project, which we realized with a PIM system from Akeneo, together with the SWISS Krono Group. Below you can read my takeouts from the presentation.
Internet Agency Ranking 2023: Unic Improves Position and Revenue Through Sustainable Growth
The internet agency ranking by the German Association for the Digital Economy (Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft – BVDW) is the industry barometer in the German internet agency landscape. Since 2001, the internet agency ranking has been compiled annually with partners HighText iBusiness, Horizont and werben & verkaufen. Unic Deutschland improved its position in the latest ranking and is now ranked at 53 with a revenue of EUR 10.8 million.
Thanks to a mobile workplace with no "hard" attendance requirements, Patricia finds it much easier to cope with everyday challenges. In the self-portrait, she also reveals what else Unic has to offer in terms of work-life balance.
Spotlight on – New Worlds of Work Require Mutual Trust
Sandro Dönni, Principal Transformation Consultant, talks about work-life balance at Unic, smart work and flexible working time models in a self-portrait.
AI – Hype or Opportunity for a Digital Agency? A Look Behind the Scenes.
There has been a lot of talk recently about artificial intelligence and possible applications of generative AI. The race is on. Is it just hype – or a real opportunity for a digital agency such as Unic? We talked to Ivo Bättig, innovation enabler, transformation consultant and partner at Unic, to learn more.
The Excellence in Business Impact Award is presented annually by Sitecore, a leading provider of modular content management systems and a partner of Unic. The award goes to digital agencies that provide outstanding services with Sitecore technologies. This year, Unic was the only Swiss agency among the winners.
Psychological Security and New Work – or How to Make Shared Governance Work
Experts and interested professionals got together at an after-work event in Berne to talk about psychological security and shared governance. What do employees and (former) managers need when responsibilities are shared in a novel way? Here are a few tips on how to make shared governance work.
Writing With the Support of Artificial Intelligence
Whether it’s blog posts, product descriptions or emails, artificial intelligence can already take over a lot of our writing. Nadia Meier shows some of the possibilities.
Can you trust your data? Our analytics audit will help you
We offer an analytics audit: We test your analytics tool and analyze the data quality in your company. This way you can be sure that your data is correct and forms the right basis for your online strategy. Contact us for an analytics audit.
Kubernetes is often referred to as an operating system for cloud applications. However, there is more to the ecosystem: we will go into more detail below.
Below, we take a closer look at the customer experience (CX) and explain why a positive CX is more important than ever. Another aspect is the effectiveness of customer experience management (CXM). The article includes practical examples and strategic insight to provide valuable input on how companies can create consistently positive customer experience to set themselves apart from the competition.
Cloud computing has become an important tool for companies to offer services and technologies to companies and customers regardless of the operating system. In other words, to offer their core business digitally via their own digital platform. We show what the digital cloud describes.
Measuring the Right Data: How Jean-Marc Bolfing Works
What is actually done at Unic? We created the column “A look over the shoulder” to provide an look behind the scenes - from the point of view of different roles at Unic.
What is Data, What is Information? Here’s The Difference?
Data are loose signs or symbols, while information has a meaning and represents a value for the recipient. We look in detail at the questions; what is data, what is information?
What is a frontend and what is a backend? How do we actually interact with a website? And how does data management work in the backend? We explain this in the following Wiki article.
What is User Experience (UX)? What is a User Interface (UI)?
User experience (UX) and user interface (UI) are terms that play a central role in web and app development. But what exactly do the abbreviations UX and UI mean? And how are they connected? We will go into detail below.
Omnichannel, also known as omni-channel, revolutionizes online retail by seamlessly connecting various digital and physical sales channels. All channels merge together, providing systematic linkage and accessibility to all relevant information. We will explore each channel in detail and highlight their advantages and disadvantages.
Targeted marketing in compliance with the current data protection regulations and the future Swiss data protection law. Is that possible? And if so, how? We discuss this in this article.
In February 2022, after an extensive planning phase, our colleagues in Bern moved from the old Unic office on Eigerplatz to VIDMARplus in Liebefeld. A conversation with those responsible for the project.
In the run-up to our e-commerce projects customers often ask, “How do you define an MVP at Unic?” We have outlined our take below, introducing the key success factors for a viable MVP in the context of digital sales.
A design system is more than just a framework with clear rules and reusable components. We will go into the definition in detail below. We look at its components and why a design system actually makes sense.
As part of a brand relaunch initiated in 2020, the Alte Leipziger-Hallesche insurance group hired us to redesign their existing website. Below is an example of a model approach to this request, using a content management system.
E-commerce refers to electronic commerce using Internet technologies, including the purchase and sale of goods and services in the business-to-business and business-to-consumer segments. We go into more detail in the following article.
Enhancing the Intelligence of Your Conversational Interface or Chatbot
Conversation is everything. For this, chatbots and conversational interfaces need to be designed, configured and trained. That's how chatbots are getting smarter – at least a little bit.
Although Content is a crucial business asset there is often no comprehensive approach to the content lifecycle. Here are six common challenges in content management and how to master them.
What is Headless? We will show you the different aspects and areas of the new technology. A Headless CMS decouples the frontend from the backend using an API.
Unic & Swiss Post – 20 Years of Shared Web History
For more than 20 years now, we have been supporting Swiss Post in all their digital endeavours. So far, we have implemented four relaunch projects and around 400 other projects for Swiss Post. And our journey continues.
We Belong to the Best Swiss Digital Agencies – for more than 20 years
According to Netzwoche's list of best agencies, we are now ranked second among the best Swiss digital agencies. And this over the last 5 as well as the last 10 years.
One presentation at this years Front Conference especially stood out to me. „The HTML Treasure Hunt“ by the charismatic and profanity-loving Bruce Lawson. Let's talk about it.
In 21 years of working together, we have implemented countless projects, discussed ideas and initiated thoughts for JURA Elektroapparate AG. A good time to look back on the years we have spent together.
Together with CSS we picked up this coveted award for the best Swiss web project for the 5th time. We want to celebrate this moment. That's why we're revisiting our 5 master projects and reflecting on what unites the project teams behind these successes.
How to Generate More Traffic With Pillar Pages – an Example
High-quality content is always welcome. But what are users looking for and what kind of pages can help them find it? We take a closer look at a project we conducted with a client to show how we were able to increase traffic.
Headless at EnergieSchweiz: Where Everything Interacts
A headless content management system alone is not yet a website. A Kubernetes cluster cannot deploy anything on its own. It is only when architecture, code, tools, processes and people are allowed to interact that the adjustments made to the content in the CMS trigger an update in the statically generated website.
The digitalisation of HORNBACH, initiated with Unic in 2009, wrote history, not just in terms of Unic locations. In this interview, Unic senior project manager David Spark tells us why this partnership has been such a success. He also explains how Unic’s customers participate in projects and turn their own ideas into reality.
For the relaunch of energieschweiz.ch, the editorial team invested a lot of energy into reworking the content. A content strategy, new formats and a content management system with headless architecture were a breath of fresh air for the web editing team.
Content is at the heart of every digital platform. That is why Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB) placed a special focus on its content during the bank’s relaunch project. We supported Zürcher Kantonalbank in their content optimisation, including analysis, content generation and publishing.
Creating a Valuable User Experience from Data: How to Combine UX and Analytics
People often underestimate how valuable real data can be in the quest to improve the user experience of digital touchpoints. I have observed that many decision-makers do not harness the full potential of this data, even though user data is a direct source for the continual optimisation of a website or an online shop.
The new Zurich Airport website combines physical touchpoints with digital presence to create an integrated, personalised experience. What approaches and methods did we use to create a convincing user experience? Let me show you how a user-centric approach and an experimental mix of methods enabled us to do justice to both worlds.
Unic recently developed a completely new concept for UI design, user experience and frontend for Europa Möbel Verbund (EMV). In our interview, Elisabeth Starke (EMV), Florian Armbrust and Jutta Weber (both Unic) tell us about the approach that made the project successfully and explain why user experience is so important in product sales.
Content Management Combining Standard Features With Flexibility
50,000 content pages, 14 languages, 22 markets, 400,000 images and videos: These are impressive quantities for a content management platform. Peter Burkhalter, Senior Application Engineer, was in charge of technical design – an interview.
Establish a Product Vision to Make Your Digital Platform a Success
When you build or relaunch a digital platform, you have to meet countless different needs: it needs to support the journey of prospects and customers, contribute to business objectives and fulfil many other requirements.
In ten steps we explain how to create a content strategy, covering everything from analysis to the core strategy statement to content management. And you'll understand how important a content strategy is for your business.
Unic is celebrating 25 years in business – a quarter of a century that saw a lot of change, disruption and innovation. One thing that has remained a Unic hallmark all these years is the way we interact with others. We respect and appreciate others for who they are and value diversity.
The collaboration on the Zurich Airport project brought an unprecedented level of communication. Marta Imos-Merska, senior software engineer in Poland, speaks about the international collaboration and technical challenges on the project from a back-end developer’s perspective.
Connecting Frontend and Backend with Contract Driven Development
While the concepts and ideas around headless CMS and its use cases are getting more wide spread, our Sitecore team started the journey on this topic by introducing Sitecore Javascript Services JSS for the multisite platform for Zurich Airport. Tobias Studer has explored the uncharted territory step by step and gives an insight into the considerations and challenges that shaped the final solution.
A Shiny Performance at the Best of Swiss Web Award Night
It was a special award night. Covid-19 dampened the party mood, but there were still many moments of jubilation for us. We are very happy about the brilliant balance: Our projects won 3x gold, 4x silver, 7x bronze and as a crowing touch the Master of Swiss Web.
We would like show how we have developed a state-of-the-art platform for Zurich Airport that opens many doors. We present the technologically innovative approaches of this interconnected multisite platform and try to shed light on the question of how decoupled Sitecore Headless really is.
Trivandrum – Wrocław – Bern: Three Countries – One Testing Team
Two time zones, three countries, three native languages, none of which is English. In the interview, our test manager Romy Maurer-Wysseier talks about the experiences of working together in an international testing team to prepare for the relaunch of the Zurich Airport platform.
How can you get the most out of your marketing budget over the long term? Here are 10 key metrics for measuring the effectiveness of your campaigns and finding out which advertising and communication campaigns are most successful.
Our Responsibility for Sustainable Digital Services
It is high time we take a closer look at the environmental footprint of digital services. This is not a new issue, but one that is becoming more relevant in the current situation as the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an explosion of data traffic volumes.
Setting New Digital Standards: Hoval's „Way to Cart“
Our customer, Hoval Aktiengesellschaft, is setting new standards with user-friendly ordering processes, thus supporting the shift from traditional to digital channels.
A functioning corporate design system requires real applications, real products and real customer feedback. Because we wanted to talk about service quality and product structure at Swiss Post, not about pixels.
Prepared for Disaster: Geo-redundant Hosting for Switzerland Tourism
Unic set up a second data centre for Switzerland Tourism to enable geo-redundant operation of MySwitzerland.com. Read the interview to find out what will happen to MySwitzerland.com in case of a disaster.
Dynatrace Named a Leader in Application Performance Monitoring
Dynatrace has once again been declared a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant 2020 for Application Performance Monitoring (APM). We are delighted to be able to help our customers achieve continued success with Dynatrace.
Our user research team wanted to quickly get an understanding of people’s new needs and behavioural patterns during the COVID crisis. To use the crisis as a window of opportunity to anticipate changes in the market. Read the results of this research here.
From Holacracy to Kanban to Objectives and Key Results – our journey into agile B2B marketing is not without some obstacles, but productive and goal-oriented.
How Does COVID-19 Affect User Behavior in the Online Supermarket?
The lockdown has had very different effects on the use of digital services in different sectors. We analyze the changes in online user behavior in the course of the lockdown in a small series. Part I: Online Supermarket.
How were the illustrations for the relaunch of post.ch created? Our UX designer Dorian Minnig, who was responsible for the illustrations, explains the rules.
“People Were Surprised That We Would Make Such a Big Change”
How to create a easy website that meets the needs of users and is even nominated for the Master of Swiss Web 2020? Roger Grüring and Silvan Bolli talk about the inner workings of a large-scale project.
Double Strike! Two of Our Sitecore Enthusiasts Are 2020 Sitecore MVP
We are proud that two of the „Most Valuable Professional Award“ are part of Unic: Tobias Studer receives the award as MVP Technology for the 5th time and Christian Hahnloser was awarded the MVP Ambassador.
Great joy right at the beginning of this year: SAP honors us, its long-standing partner Unic, as an SAP Gold Partner in addition to the „SAP Recognized Status“. We say „THANK YOU“ to SAP and explain what the Gold Partnership actually means.
Artificial Intelligence has become a standard in marketing. It is changing the way companies interact with customers but also requires marketers to rethink their self-image and skill set.
It is only by having smart user interfaces that valuable interactions can take place that "understand" customers on their journeys and support them in the best possible way. CSS Insurance wants to be one step ahead of its customers. To do so, it needs to know where its customers are and offer them useful options as they move forward.
Understanding the Users of css.ch: Research Methods and Findings
To design a responsive, relevant and user-centered web portal for CSS Insurance, it was essential to understand the users’ goals. Who visits css.ch? And what do visitors want to do on the website?
How smart are content management systems? And what do you need to do to reap the benefits from it? We looked behind the marketing facade and put Sitecore Cortex to the test.
Digital Ethics — the Conscience of Artificial Intelligence
When Dave the astronaut tries to reenter the spaceship in Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968), on-board computer HAL refuses to follow orders. “I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
What does it take for Human-Centered Design (HCD) to work? That it does not just pay lip service? We have consistently carried out the optimization of post.ch in a user-centered manner. With prototypes and common principles.
The Elves of the Future: With Artificial Intelligence instead of Hats
In order to meet the increased demands on software and web applications, we use Application Performance Monitoring tools. These tools offer significant insight into the quality of solutions and support us in monitoring the systems – now with the help of artificial intelligence.
MySwitzerland.com: A Keen Eye for Innovation Serving Switzerland
Switzerland Tourism actively uses new technologies to provide its guests with continuous and needs-based support when they are planning their trips. Thomas Winkler and Markus Dittli from Switzerland Tourism spoke about their key ideas, innovation and the relaunch of MySwitzerland.com.
Artificial Intelligence: From Hype to Added Value for Customers
According to the latest Gartner Hype Cycle for digital marketing, expectations surrounding AI for marketing have reached their peak. The question at stake, however, is if AI really does offer added value that will stand the test of time once the hype has died down.
The ALTE LEIPZIGER – HALLESCHE Group Enters the Digital Age
The company has set a new standard in customer communication with the relaunch of its two websites. What better reason to take a closer look at the project in an interview!
As a cloud company, SAP continues to focus on establishing its experience products in its new cloud. But what is behind it, what are the advantages of the new cloud approach and what else is in store? We’ll explain in this blog post.
CSS aims to offer users a unique experience in the digital world: intelligent services that support users on their journey. To arrive at intelligent solutions, the approach to digital projects must be entirely different.
Why Artificial Intelligence is Not a Quantum Leap but Merely Makes Our Data-driven Work More Effective
Recording, interpreting and acting on data. Anything that artificial intelligence could one day do for us, we must first understand ourselves and be able to do on a small scale.
Artificial Intelligence of Things: How Intelligent Devices Change Our Lives
Thanks to the Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT), systems and devices have become data-driven, intelligent, automated and connected to the world. Is this just a gimmick or will it have a lasting impact on our lives?
This dossier shows how services become intelligent. It points out opinions on the potentials of artificial intelligence, but also how teams have to form in order to create intelligent services for customers. It examines various services with artificial intelligence and it analyses how much intelligence they really contain.
The formatting of images poses great challenges for content managers. AI can relieve this burden by automatically calculating the focal point. This ensures that the interesting image section always remains in view.
Cause for Celebration: 10 years of HORNBACH and Unic
HORNBACH and Unic have a very special relationship: without HORNBACH, Unic would not have a presence in Karlsruhe and without Unic, the HORNBACH online shop would probably not be as popular as it is.
Unic has implemented SBB's "ticket machine of the future" with Web Components. In his interview, Yves Tscherry, Senior Frontend Engineer at Unic, explains what's so special about the ticket machine.
Great API mocking can make testing easier and reveal UI and UX problems early in a project. Because we weren’t happy with current services and libraries, we’ve built a new service to fulfil our needs. You can check it out over here – it’s called FakeQL.
Efficient Order Processing for Medical Devices with SAP Commerce
For a customer who sells high-quality medical products to pharmacies, doctors and specialist medical retailers, we have developed an Omni-Channel platform based on SAP Commerce that goes much further: it maps the entire B2B2C chain right down to the patient.
How does headless apply in the e-commerce sector? In this article we'll have a closer look at the advantages of a headless approach for digital commerce projects.
B2B online shops with Magento and proLine from Ecoplan
We have entered into a partnership with Ecoplan. The software manufacturer offers a B2B extension for Magento, which provides around 400 shop functions. This enables us to accompany you quickly and efficiently in your B2B commerce project.
Webinar: A Customer Journey that Makes Customers Happy
Our webinar uses concrete use cases to show you how to identify optimization potentials and thus successfully implement new concepts right through to the architecture of concrete solutions.
OWASP Top Ten: That's how we increase website security
Unic has continuously invested in improving website application security. In this blog post, we’re showing how our security measures help to mitigate the OWASP Top Ten.
How can Scrum values such as cross-functionality, self-organization or iteration improve not only software quality but also teamwork? In this article Oliver Burkhalter gives an insight into his experiences with Scrum & Co.
Drupal is often and rightly referred to as a classic CMS. However, in recent years Drupal has also made a name for itself in the headless and decoupled scene.
A look into the past, present and future, by a frontend developer
The discipline of frontend development has undergone rapid change in recent years. In this post, Fredi Bach, Frontend Developer at Unic presents his personal view about the importance and development perspectives of frontend development.
SBB: «People and their needs were at the heart of the SBB website»
sbb.ch won the Master of Swiss Web 2018. Florian Stürzinger, design pioneer at Unic, talks about the challenges of the design process for the relaunch of sbb.ch. And he explains why the focus of the design was entirely on people and their needs.
We want content and information on the web to be accessible to all people without obstacles. That's why we focus on the implementation of barrier-free websites, right from the conception, design and front-end development stages.
Unic commits to information security: ISO 27001 certification
Since April 2018, Unic’s Private Cloud Hosting service is certified according to the international standard ISO 27001:2013. This certification attests Unic to be compliant with the demanding requirements for an information security management system (ISMS).
Less can sometimes really be more: a headless CMS offers great flexibility, freedom of decision and independence – if it fits the respective web project.
External Communication and Leadership – Holacracy Practice Part 2
Unic introduced holacracy – and now? In his second article on the holacracy practice at Unic, Ivo Bättig explores the following questions: How does communication with the outside world work, where the world is not organized according to holacracy? And: We have no more bosses, do we not need any leaders?
The objective was an attractive, robust and accessible Frontend for sbb.ch
Marius Bleuer and Yves Tscherry, Frontend Engineers at Unic, have had their share in the relaunch of sbb.ch. They are talking about the Frontend-specific objectives and challenges of the Project.
What are prototypes and what are they used for? At Unic, we use the prototyping method. We do not design and develop in the blue, but put the user at the centre of our concepts. In this way, we develop user interfaces that are goal-oriented and easy to use.
Much to Learn and Unlearn – From Our Holacracy Practice Part 1
Unic introduced Holacracy. And now? In his first blog entry on our Holacracy practice at Unic, Ivo Bättig examines, among other things, the questions: What things are new to learn? And more importantly, what things are there to unlearn?
