CLEVR News

CLEVR is delighted to announce that PREMIUM INC. a Dutch house of athleisure-wear brands has selected and implemented the Mendix Digital Lifecycle Management for Fashion & Retail solution to help support its expansion. The entrepreneurial culture and passion for quality are core values for driving growth at PREMIUM INC. “We are ready to leave the excel sheets behind and take a step ahead towards clear overviews, better insights into our sustainability, sharing information among departments and shortened communication lines.” PREMIUM INC’s Buyer Footwear & Product Manager, Jeanette Berends comments.

Built on Mendix’s leading low-code application platform, DLM for Fashion & Retail is a flexible, short-time-to-value solution that allows collaboration between a brand or retailer and their vendors. CLEVR, a platinum-level Siemens solutions partner and leading Mendix partner, rapidly implemented the low-code solution at PREMIUM INC.

As PREMIUM INC. continues to grow, the necessity for a composable cloud native product lifecycle management solution became increasingly apparent. Jeanette Berends: “We tested multiple technologies, this one stood out with its many possibilities, no limitations and user-friendliness.”

Future-proofing PREMIUM INC.
The Mendix DLM for Fashion & Retail solution provides flexibility and scalability required for the fashion and retail industry. With this implementation, PREMIUM INC. now enjoys a solution that is tailored to their specific business processes, built to scale, and nurtures continuous product and process innovation. Fundamental agility ensures that CLEVR can respond rapidly to PREMIUM INC's evolving needs. Jeanette Berends: “We are glad to be working with CLEVR. There is a team ready to support when needed. We collaborate closely and they come up with solutions we could not come up with.”

As the partnership unfolds, CLEVR looks forward to being an integral part of PREMIUM INC's journey, supporting its growth, and contributing to its ongoing success. Fostering lasting partnerships is at the core of CLEVR's ethos, and this endeavor marks the beginning of what promises to be a robust and enduring collaboration.

In today's interview, we have the privilege of hosting Jeroen Hanekamp, the CEO of CLEVR, a leading company in the world of digital transformation. Known for his dynamic leadership, Jeroen has been instrumental in shaping CLEVR's culture and strategy, with diversity and inclusion at the forefront. As in this month we commemorate International Women's Day, Jeroen shares his insights on the importance of gender equality, the strides made so far, and the challenges that lie ahead. He also highlights how diversity and inclusion are not just moral imperatives but strategic advantages that drive innovation and problem-solving within CLEVR.

This conversation is a testament to CLEVR's commitment to fostering an environment where everyone is valued and celebrated. Let's dive in and learn how we can all be more CLEVR in our pursuit of a diverse, equitable, and inclusive world.

A warm welcome to Jeroen Hanekamp. We're happy to have you with us today as we delve into an issue that is pivotal for our times – diversity and inclusion. Let's begin on a personal note. Your eldest daughter aspires to be a doctor, a profession that has seen a significant shift in gender balance in the Netherlands. How does this influence your stance on equality?

Jeroen Hanekamp: It's truly a source of inspiration to observe the strides we've made since the time Aletta Jacobs shattered stereotypes to become the first woman to acquire a medical degree in the Netherlands, almost a century and a half ago. Despite formidable opposition, she blazed a trail for future generations, demonstrating the power of resilience and determination.

Seeing the progress we've made since then is truly inspiring. It strengthens my belief that change is possible, even in the face of great adversity. But it's also a reminder that progress doesn't come easy. It requires continuous effort, courage, and commitment. This belief strongly influences my stance on equality. We have made substantial strides, but there's still more ground to cover. And this isn't just about my daughter or women aspiring to be doctors; it's about everyone, regardless of their gender, having equal opportunities to pursue their dreams.

Aletta Jacobs also campaigned for women's right to vote. It seems that today, we still need people pushing for inclusivity, equity and diversity. What are your thoughts on this?

Jeroen Hanekamp: It's unfortunate, but true, that these issues don't confine themselves to countries with more restrictive laws or traditional societies. They're prevalent even in Western countries, often perceived as progressive. Consider the gender pay gap, for instance. Despite advancements, women in many parts of the world, including Western nations, continue to earn less than their male counterparts for performing the same work. This is a clear indication of systemic inequality that we have yet to fully dismantle.

And then there's the issue of gender-based violence, a violation of human rights that affects millions of women and girls worldwide. It persists in every corner of the globe, crossing cultural, social, and economic boundaries. This is a stark reminder that our societies still have deeply ingrained prejudices and biases that we need to confront and address.

So yes, we need individuals who will stand up against injustices, challenge the status quo, and pave the way for a more equitable society, much like Aletta Jacobs did all those years ago. These issues are too important to be sidelined, and it's incumbent upon each one of us to do our part in driving change.

Let's bring this closer to home - CLEVR. Can you share your reflections on diversity and inclusion within your company?

Jeroen Hanekamp: At CLEVR, our commitment to diversity and inclusion is not just about checking boxes or meeting standards. It's an integral part of our identity and strategic vision. We believe that every individual brings a unique perspective and set of skills to the table, and it's this diversity that fuels innovation and drives us forward in the dynamic landscape of digital transformation.

Diversity for us isn't limited to gender—it encompasses a broad spectrum of characteristics like age, religion, disability, educational background, and socio-economic status. We strive to create an environment where everyone feels valued and respected for who they are and what they bring to the team.

Inclusion, on the other hand, is about ensuring that these diverse voices are heard and have equal opportunities to contribute and thrive. It's about creating a sense of belonging, where everyone can fully participate in our company's life and decision-making processes.

But let me also acknowledge that as much as we strive for diversity and inclusion, it's a journey, not a destination. We're proud of the strides we've made, but we also recognize that there's always room for improvement. We continuously challenge ourselves to learn, grow, and do better in fostering a truly inclusive workplace.

Could you explain more about why diversity and inclusion are so crucial in your industry?

Jeroen Hanekamp: Certainly. In the rapidly evolving field of digital transformation, diversity and inclusion serve as catalysts for innovation. A diverse team brings a multitude of perspectives to the table, fostering creativity and unique problem-solving approaches.

Understanding our diverse client base is another critical aspect. By mirroring this diversity within our team, we can better anticipate their needs and challenges.

Moreover, an inclusive culture attracts top talent, promotes continuous learning, and enhances adaptability—a crucial trait in our fast-paced industry.

In essence, diversity and inclusion are not just ethically right; they're also business imperatives that drive innovation, client satisfaction, and competitiveness.

Interviewer: Thank you, Jeroen. Throughout our conversation, it's become evident that diversity and inclusion are not merely on-trend topics at CLEVR. They form the essence of your company's culture and contribute to its success and growth.

Jeroen Hanekamp: Indeed, our commitment to diversity goes beyond moral or ethical considerations—it's a strategic advantage that enhances our resilience and adaptability in the dynamic digital transformation space. It is allowing us to anticipate changes, respond rapidly, and maintain a competitive edge.

We believe that our strength lies in our diversity and expertise. By embracing different perspectives, experiences, and skills, we enhance our collective intelligence and creativity. This inclusive environment empowers us to come up with innovative solutions and make a significant impact for our customers.

As we wrap up this conversation, Jeroen, what final thoughts would you like to leave us with?

Jeroen Hanekamp: I invite you all to envision a world of gender equality—a world devoid of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. At CLEVR, we strive to not only imagine this world but actively work towards creating it. We aim to inspire inclusion, support change, and embody the spirit of being CLEVR in our approach.

Let's remember that the journey towards a more inclusive world isn't confined to a single day, it's a daily commitment. Let's continue to push for change and Build Tomorrow Together.

Thank you, Jeroen. We look forward to seeing how CLEVR continues to champion diversity and inclusion.

Amersfoort, 21st June 2023 — CLEVR, a leading provider of low code and PLM software solutions, is excited to announce a partnership with Kongsberg Maritime, a global technology leader in the maritime industry. The collaboration between CLEVR and Kongsberg Maritime aims to accelerate Kongsberg Maritime’s internal digital transformation journey.

This recent partnership showcases Kongsberg Maritime's trust in CLEVR's expertise and advanced software solutions. CLEVR will support the company to further develop a key internal tool for digital workflows. Implementing a comprehensive digitalization roadmap will be a key part of the deliveries from CLEVR. Over the next years, CLEVR will provide its services to support Kongsberg Maritime in the digital transformation of their internal workflow and processes.

As a strategic partner of Kongsberg Maritime, CLEVR will contribute its deep industry knowledge and technical expertise to further realize Kongsberg Maritime’s digitalization roadmap. Leveraging their extensive experience in PLM software solutions, CLEVR provide valuable insights, guidance, and best practices to develop our customer’s operations.

Magnus Normann, CRO at CLEVR, expressed excitement about the partnership, stating, "Kongsberg Maritime's decision to partner with CLEVR is a testament to our commitment to delivering exceptional value and becoming a true strategic partner to our customers. We look forward to embarking on this transformative journey together, empowering Kongsberg Maritime with our state-of-the-art software solutions and strategic counsel."

By harnessing PLM software solutions, Kongsberg Maritime will unlock new levels of operational efficiency, streamline processes, and enhance collaboration across their entire value chain.

Competera, the industry leading provider of AI-powered pricing optimization solutions, is thrilled to announce its latest partnership with CLEVR, a technology solutions provider that helps clients drive value through the deployment of innovative software. This new collaboration brings together two industry leaders with decades of experience in their respective fields to offer retailers and brands a complete pricing and promotion solution.

With over 500 customers, including industry giants such as Siemens, Continental, Rituals, and ING, CLEVR has built a reputation for excellence in product lifecycle management (PLM) and low-code software solutions. Their team of more than 250 low-code and PLM experts, located across Europe, provide top-notch services, tooling, and training to businesses across a range of sectors.

Competera's AI-powered pricing platform has revolutionized the retail industry by enabling retailers and brands to set and maintain optimal price positions through AI-generated recommendations. By analyzing billions of possible price combinations and factoring in 20+ pricing and non-pricing factors, the platform's deep learning algorithms help clients minimize financial losses while increasing customer trust.

Through this new referral partnership, Competera will partner with CLEVR helping customers seeking assistance with promotional management, as well as offering customers deeper analytics for pricing or promotions requiring them. This partnership will enable clients to access a comprehensive pricing and promotion solution, offering unparalleled value and driving business success.

"We are excited to partner with CLEVR to offer our clients a complete pricing and promotion solution," said Alex Galkin, founder and CEO of Competera. "By combining our expertise in AI-powered pricing with CLEVR’s experience in product lifecycle management and low-code software solutions, we are confident that we can help businesses across all retail industries and markets achieve their goals."

“By completing our low-code and product lifecycle management expertise with the unparalleled AI-powered pricing platform from Competera, we will offer retailers and brands the most comprehensive pricing and promotion capabilities in the market—a unique proposition in times where innovation plays a differentiating role”, complemented Jeroen Hanekamp, CEO of CLEVR.

With this new partnership, Competera and CLEVR are poised to revolutionize the retail industry and drive lasting value for their clients.

Amsterdam, Esslingen, March 8, 2023— Industry leaders Festo and CLEVR have announced the release of CLEVRAssist, a groundbreaking new AI-based solution that is set to transform the field of industrial automation. The new technology will enable machines to learn and adapt to their environments, offering a range of benefits to manufacturers, including increased productivity, reduced downtime, and improved safety.

The Future of Industrial Automation

CLEVRAssist is the result of a joint research project resulting from the collaboration with the Festo Learning Center - the education and training institute of Germany's leading international automation technology company - and the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). Together, the three partners have developed a prototype industrial assistance workstation that enables true interactive and situational learning: Festo designed the semi-automated assembly workstation with all the necessary automation components, while DFKI developed the sensor technology as well as the AI-based analysis of human movement data.

Intelligent and adaptive qualification concepts from Festo

Festo Learning Center is an important qualification partner for the industry and has developed a prototype industrial assistance workstation that provides instruction and guides users through each step of the partially automated process. In this prototype industrial workstation, data generated in the work situation is collected by the automation components and the system recognises, for example, whether a certain part of the appropriate length has been installed, or whether a torque wrench has been used correctly. Klaus Herrmann, Head of Research at the Festo Learning Center, emphasises that the new generation of assistance and learning systems needs to be context-sensitive, intelligent, and adaptive to support workers to gain the more advanced qualifications they need.

Real-time activity tracking and process mining with AI from DFKI

DFKI has addressed the challenge of deploying artificial intelligence (AI) to identify and analyse movement patterns based on the sensor-based human movements captured at the assistance workstation. DFKI developed an AI component that collects position data from sensor points on the wrists, elbows, and/or torso in a real-time activity tracking mode and performs process mining based on neural networks. The AI generates personalised recommendations for action that are tailored to the human user in the form of context-sensitive and personalised recommendations for the next work step.

Software in control: CLEVR's low-code application

The CLEVRAssist app brings together all the data flows and manages communication with the user. It operates at three main levels to achieve this: the cloud-based Mendix platform, IoT interface to collect all the data from the workstation's peripheral devices, and digital mapping of data in its processes. The CLEVR application handles communication and interaction with the learning human at the assistance workstation in accordance with didactic best practices and dynamically adapts the assistance to the personal needs of the user.

"We are excited to bring CLEVRAssist to market as the core of a new generation of digital assistance systems," said CLEVR’s CEO, Jeroen Hanekamp. "With CLEVRAssist, we are leveraging the latest technology in low-code software and automation, combined with AI-based analysis of movement data, to provide a unique solution that enables true interactive and situational learning."

In conclusion, CLEVRAssist is a game-changing technology that has the potential to revolutionize the field of industrial automation. By enabling machines to learn and adapt to their environments, the technology offers a range of benefits to manufacturers, including increased productivity, reduced downtime, and improved safety.

With the combined expertise of Festo and CLEVR, CLEVRAssist is poised to become the go-to solution for industrial automation in the years to come. To find out more about this collaboration, a case study has been put together by all the parties—it can be accessed here .

A cloud-native product lifecycle management system developed by CLEVR, the fast-growing technology solutions company, is now on the SAP Store.

Building on a rich history serving brands such as Marlies Dekkers, Van Bommel, and the Amsterdam Fashion Institute. CLEVR combines deep fashion and retail industry knowledge with market-leading expertise in Mendix low-code to deliver a solution that accelerates the design to sales process. Mendix DLM for Fashion and Retail:

• Uses a digital twin to innovate and reduce physical sampling.
• Provides a single source of truth that aligns teams.
• Cuts time to market.

Low-code powers the future of fashion

Produced under an OEM deal, Mendix DLM for Fashion and Retail harnesses the flexibility of low-code to power the future of fashion. It integrates with your system landscape (e.g., SAP ERP) and allows you to connect silos, improving collaboration both internally and with suppliers. Modernizing the process from design to delivery.

With integrated 3D modelling, you can go straight to e-commerce with photo-realistic product images. Capture, mine, and reuse design and production data to make the products of tomorrow. And deliver them to consumers on the platforms of the future. With personalisation being a trend in retail and fashion, this keeps you at the cutting edge.

Jeroen Hanekamp, CLEVR CEO, said: “We are proud of the technical and commercial quality of the Mendix DLM for Fashion and Retail solution, this recognition by SAP underlines that.”

Hanekamp noted the close partnership between CLEVR and Mendix. This is based on decades of experience that allows CLEVR to leverage the Mendix platform’s strengths, to meet industry challenges now and in the future.

Available in more than 200 countries and territories, the SAP Store is the online marketplace where customers can find solutions from SAP and trusted partners. Providing real-time access to innovative solutions that can digitally transform your business.

CLEVR combines expertise in both standard software and low-code solutions. “Our customers are global leaders focused on delivering the products and services of tomorrow. CLEVR helps them build the future – by harnessing our software and industry expertise,” said Hanekamp.

CLEVR and Mendix will be showcasing the solution at retail’s big show, NRF, in New York in January 2023.

CLEVR, the fast-growing European technology solutions company, has strengthened its leadership team.

The software and services company has appointed Jeroen Hanekamp as CEO. Hanekamp has deep experience founding, scaling, and integrating technology companies.

Hanekamp said: “I’m excited by the role CLEVR can play in helping customers deal with the current global uncertainty. It is more crucial than ever that companies optimize processes to save time, reduce costs, and innovate. This is where CLEVR excels.”

CLEVR helps companies deploy software strategically to create value. To do so, it leans on decades of experience and the combination of software expertise, industry knowledge, and business consulting.

Other additions to the leadership team include Camilo Gaviria (Chief Solutions Officer), Saskia van der Velden (VP of People), and Arnoud Kool (VP of Services and Support). They join Magnus Normann (Chief Revenue Officer) and Rob Blasman (Chief Financial Officer) to round out the executive team.

Robert Pijselman, chairman of the CLEVR supervisory board, said: “I have every confidence in Jeroen and his team to drive CLEVR’s growth as a leading technology solutions company in Europe.” Having been interim CEO, Pijselman handed over the reins to Hanekamp in September.

Hanekamp, Gaviria, and Van der Velden most recently held senior roles at Dassault Systèmes. While Kool is a respected technology services director, having led teams at Accruent and BlueCielo. All are seasoned and entrepreneurial leaders in the software and services sector.

CLEVR is unique among Siemens partners, combining expertise in both product lifecycle management (PLM) and low-code (Mendix) software solutions. “Our customers are global leaders focused on delivering the products and services of tomorrow. CLEVR helps them build the future – by harnessing our software and industry expertise,” said Hanekamp.

• Mendix PLM for Fashion and Retail is a new visually rich low-code cloud-native solution offering SaaS and adaptive SaaS subscription models
• Mendix PLM for Fashion and Retail developed in collaboration with CLEVR enables companies to manage their product development process from ideation to e-commerce
• Mendix PLM for Fashion and Retail will drive sustainability in a fast-changing world where augmented fashion will become the new normal
  
  

BOSTON – February 17, 2022 – Mendix, a Siemens business and global leader in enterprise application development, today announced Mendix PLM for Fashion and Retail, a new SaaS Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution targeting the Fashion and Retail industries, developed in partnership with CLEVR, a leading global low-code consulting and application development company.

"Currently, e-commerce is exploding in the fashion and retail industries. Large and emerging brands are adjusting to the paradigm shifts affecting the industry. Trends such as personalization, sustainability, metaverse and the effects of digital 3D design have challenged brands and companies to adapt and fit into the new paradigms. Mendix PLM for Fashion and Retail was designed to address these challenges," said Rohit Tangri, Global VP of Portfolio Strategy and Business Development at Mendix. "Assets from the design integrations are directly usable for stakeholders collaboration including supply chains, e-commerce, meta-commerce, AR and multi-verse applications. This accelerates the speed of innovation delivering value to our customers.”

Mendix PLM for Fashion and Retail provides an easy-to-use visual interface. Its True 3D Integration capabilities accelerate collaboration on product design and creation of accurate bill of materials by unlocking the metadata within 3D authoring applications for usage with the PLM solution. Multi-experience capabilities enable collaboration across the value chain and embedded mass photo-realistic image generation shortens time to market, allowing users to go direct to e-commerce or metaverse catalogs with designs.

“The Mendix PLM for Fashion and Retail solution is an addition to our strategy of providing high value low-code solutions built on the cloud-native Mendix platform. Leveraging the Mendix platform enables solutions with industry-leading capabilities in multi-experience, integration, and time to value,” said Ron Wellman, head of industry clouds at Mendix. “We intend to continually enhance our industry ecosystem by identifying and bringing to market solutions that provide immediate results for our customers. The Mendix industry vertical strategy is to work internally and with key industry partners to build and market a specific set of assets and solutions including, data source connectors, support for APIs and workflows, accelerator templates, and adaptive solutions.”

Getting this revolutionary solution developed required the speed of an excellent low-code platform and close collaboration between Mendix and CLEVR. "Partnering with the undisputed market leader in low-code, Mendix, will enable revolutionary digital transformation in the fashion and retail sector” said Angelique Schouten, CEO at CLEVR. “Together we will drive sustainability across the design-sales process in a fast-changing world where augmented fashion is gaining ground and will become the new normal. Brands and retailers must weave the digital thread into their DNA, and rejuvenate their production processes and that is why we have developed this specific solution."

Mendix solutions provide the advantages of a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solution with the benefits of a best in class low-code platform. Customers receive immediate benefits of a COTS solution with shorter time to value, superior integration and native multi-experience support.

For more information please https://www.mendix.com/solutions/mendix-plm-for-fashion-retail/

Amersfoort, The Netherlands - CLEVR, the low-code and no-code (LCNC) Software-with-a-Service (SwaS) provider, announced the appointment of Michael Winfield to lead its Financial Services business unit, UK-based. He will spearhead CLEVR’s global go-to-market initiatives for retail banks, lenders, building societies, insurers, pension providers and asset & wealth managers.

“Low-code and no-code is the next technology revolution, following in the footsteps of the cloud revolution,” said Angelique Schouten, CEO of CLEVR. “Michael has been in the driver’s seat of regulated entities such as Monument, Nutmeg, Octopus and Janus Henderson. His first-hand operational experience with core processes can help financial organisations ride this wave of innovation. This makes him the natural choice to lead our activities in this sector.”

CLEVR is a rapidly growing technology services company. Its Mendix-based SwaS-offering is ideal for financial services companies that want to unleash the power of low-code because their organisational growth and innovation are constrained by commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) SaaS solutions and developer shortages, whereas CLEVR’s COTS offering can easily be customised. LCNC offers development speeds 10x faster with analysts predicting that 75% of all development will be done on LCNC platforms within 5 years.

“Low-code accelerates speed, flexibility and adaptability that high-code often falls short on,” said Michael. “LCNC will free incumbents from the shackles of lengthy technology implementations. For start-ups, it can radically reduce time-to-market which has become a competitive necessity. Too many businesses are suffering in silence, struggling with backlogs and priority calls they simply wouldn’t need to make if they embrace low-code. CLEVR’s focus on sustainable digital success and its track-record at over 400 customers, made this the right company for me.”

Michael has over 20 years financial services experience, most recently at Monument Bank where he built out various operational functions ahead of the bank receiving its full licence from the UK regulator. Before that, he served as a strategic consultant and he was part of the launching team at Nutmeg, the first and largest digital wealth manager platform in Europe.

Fast-Growing Low-Code Consultancy Firm Reveals Digitalization Trends That Will Shape Businesses in 2022

AMERSFOORT – December 14, 2021 – CLEVR, the low-code and no-code Software-with-a-Service provider, today announced its list of four technology predictions, all of which reflect the shifting digital landscape. As one of Mendix’s longest standing low-code go-to-market partners, CLEVR helps organizations achieve greater organizational agility, improve customer satisfaction, and reduce technical debt.

“The ongoing pandemic demonstrates that businesses must continue to practice an extreme form of Agile to ensure business continuity,” said Angelique Schouten, CEO of CLEVR. “Meanwhile, more organizations are becoming digital-first because that’s what their customers expect. However, the definition of ‘digital’ continues to evolve in interesting ways that will become even more evident in 2022.”

Following are the 2022 predictions from CLEVR’s executive staff.

1. Digital experiences will be built faster and be of higher quality.
Customers expect companies to provide them with more than a mobile or web application. They want experiences similar to those provided by Google and Amazon. While time to market can provide a competitive advantage, quality is equally important for B2C and B2B organizations that want to attract new customers and employees and retain existing ones.

“Quality will become even more important than before. Not only do we need to deliver value faster, we need to make sure the quality is flawless,” said Wouter Van Dee, manager of professional services at CLEVR. “At a minimum, we’ll see low-code support for DevSecOps which helps ensure security or maybe even DevQualOps which assures security, performance and stability.”

2. The developer shortage will become even more pronounced
Creating and maintaining a digital business requires developers and IT professionals who understand how the tech stack works. However, since the pandemic accelerated digital transformations and digital-first business strategies, there simply aren’t enough professional developers to keep companies competitive moving forward.

“Gartner expects that four out of five products and services will be built by people who work outside the IT environment,” said Schouten. “The only practical way to make that happen is to take advantage of low-code and no-code platforms which enables business and IT to collaborate on innovation and making ideas real.”

3. Enterprises will use low-code and no-code in tandem to accelerate innovation
Low-code platforms were designed for professional developers. No-code platforms target “citizen developers” who are power users working in lines of business. If those platforms share a common code base, like Mendix, then professional developers can easily finish or enhance the work citizen developers started versus rewriting those applications completely. Low-code automation will also help accelerate innovation by shortening the time it takes to build proofs of concept (POCs), products, and services.

“In 2022, more organizations will realize that low-code and no-code can accelerate and help scale innovation and growth hacking. In fact, Garter expects 75% of enterprise applications will be built with low-code,” said Van Dee. “Mixing and matching low-code platforms from multiple vendors slows software development and release velocity. One of the reasons CLEVR is growing so quickly is that clients and prospects recognize the benefits of using no-code and low-code solutions and tooling made by the company based on the Mendix platform.”

4. Business workflows will become self-learning
Low-code and no-code will help more organizations build dynamic business processes that are self-learning. Rather than needing an advanced data science degree or a Ph.D. in statistics to take advantage of AI and machine learning, professional and citizen developers will be able to use the visual tools low-code and no-code platforms provide to self-learning business workflows. In manufacturing, digital twins will become the norm with some of them capable of acting autonomously.

“We expect to see automated factories that have fully-defined digital twins which are created, simulated, verified and connected to robotic production,” said Magnus Normann, tribe lead PLM at CLEVR. “Low-code and no-code will also enable fully integrated solutions for industry manufacturers by bridging key domain solutions such as product lifecycle management (PLM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), and manufacturing execution systems (MES) with low-code developed apps that have rich business logic.”

Learn more about CLEVR or connect with CLEVR on LinkedIn.

The company that employs low-code and no-code software-development tools to help enterprises speed up digitalization, names former Aegon Bank and Mambu execs as new COO and marketing chief.

AMERSFOORT – August 25, 2021 – CLEVR, the company that helps enterprises accelerate their digital transitions through the enormous power of the Mendix low-code and no-code (LCNC) development solutions, today announced the appointment of former Aegon Bank executive Bianca Joustra as chief operating officer, and former Mambu marketing lead Jeroen Coenen as vice president of marketing.

By adding Joustra and Coenen, well respected and experienced veterans of the financial services sector, CLEVR beefs up its expertise in the category, one of the most vital to the company. CLEVR recently launched a sweeping expansion effort into new geographic regions and verticals that include financial services, retail, manufacturing, healthcare, logistics and the public sector.

“The appointment of Bianca and Jeroen are in line with CLEVR's commitment to accelerate the digital transformation of the financial services industry,” said Angelique Schouten, CEO CLEVR. “To truly make an impact within this sector, you need experience at incumbents, challengers and FinTech firms alike. That is exactly what Bianca and Jeroen bring to the table with Bianca’s experience at Aegon Bank and challenger bank KNAB and Jeroen's experience of scaling one of the fastest growing FinTech companies and unicorns, Mambu."

Joustra will oversee all of CLEVR’s professional services, including the project delivery and support operation. Before joining Aegon Bank/KNAB, Joustra worked 11 years at BNP Paribas Personal Finance as COO and Managing Director. There, she helped triple the company’s total mortgage portfolio and managed the creation of a new business line. No doubt, Joustra will bring an elite level of competitiveness to CLEVR, as she is a former elite athlete. She played several years for the Netherlands national korfball team.

“CLEVR is a leader with their Software with a Service business model and also has international reach,” Joustra said. “Angelique’s enthusiasm and excitement about CLEVR’s mission is also contagious. I immediately caught it from her. We both like to exceed expectations and give all our pursuits everything we have. I look forward to working with her and the rest of the CLEVR team.”

As a former HP, Microsoft, SAP and Salesforce marketing executive Coenen has plenty of international experience. He also helped build the marketing team at Berlin-based Mambu, which provides the platform banks use to build a modern banking or lending architecture. In his new marketing position at CLEVR, he will be responsible for expanding the marketing team, and will oversee growth hacking, product marketing, branding, design, and communications.

“I joined CLEVR after seeing their impressive customer lists, about 400, everyone from ING, Achmea, Rituals, Siemens Financial Services, Eneco to T-Systems – great companies,” Coenen said. “If they rely on CLEVR when it comes to accelerating their digital transformation, that says a lot about the strength and potential of the company. Also, I’ve competed against Angelique. I've always admired her enthusiasm, ideas and relentless determination. She’s a marketer pur sang, and I look forward to now working side by side with her. I've worked for a lot of companies, enterprise companies, mid-sized, startups, but this is a unique challenge.”

Learn more about CLEVR or connect with CLEVR on LinkedIn.

• CLEVR makes inroads in the $26 billion a year PLM space and Siemens software ecosystem
• Digitread is pioneering manufacturing and marine implementation services and solutions in highly specialized market
• CLEVR’s expertise in low-code and Mendix will help Digitread build sophisticated PLM solutions faster and more efficiently

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AMERSFOORT – August 17, 2021 – CLEVR, the low-code and no-code Software-with-a-Service specialist, announced that it has acquired Digitread, one of the world’s rising stars in Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system integration and a platinum-level solution partner of Siemens. The acquisition immediately raises the profile of CLEVR’s geographic and vertical expansion within the industrial, manufacturing, marine and energy industry. The deal is supported by management and funded by CLEVR’s majority shareholder, London-based Volpi Capital.

For years manufacturing organizations and their suppliers have needed greater digitalization for their supply chains and production processes. The recent COVID-19 crisis exposed this, when many marine, manufacturing and engineering-to-order companies had to accelerate their digitization efforts and transformation. PLM and Mendix add-on solutions ensure process optimization, big data information integration and utilization to produce a sturdy digital backbone and maximize operational excellence.

Digitread enables us to combine PLM rock stars with CLEVR’s low-code Mendix champions,” said Angelique Schouten, named CLEVR CEO in March. “Very few companies can do what Digitread does, configuring and integrating some of the world’s most complex systems in the industrial, manufacturing and marine space. We’ll combine Digitread’s high-touch approach with CLEVR’s high-tech expertise and help manufacturing companies across the globe complete their digital transformations by offering off-the-shelf solutions and highly specialized consultancy services.”

Headquartered in Norway, with offices in Germany and Lithuania, Digitread is one of the most recognized and trusted names in PLM, a market that generates $26 billion a year. Digitread’s 100+ customers include companies such as Kongsberg Maritime, Nexans and OneSubsea.

“Everyone at Digitread is excited about working shoulder to shoulder with CLEVR,” said Magnus Normann, Digitread’s CEO. “PLM systems are product biographers. PLM is the process of managing a product and data from concept through design, manufacturing, service and finally disposal. With the help of monitoring tools, they convey detailed digital stories about products to managers, enabling them to increase sustainability, identify weaknesses, perform preventative maintenance, refine product performance or inform them on how to build new products. Low-code and no-code technology will help tell that story. The combination of skills and knowledge is good news for our customers.”

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

• Survey of 1,000 C-Level executives reveals awareness doesn’t line up with breathless predictions about technology’s growth
• Surprisingly, nearly 40% of chief technology officers (CTO) in North America acknowledged never hearing of low-code and no-code software development 
• This is a sharp contrast to Europe, where only 24% of CTO’s are unaware of the technology 

AMERSFOORT – August 12, 2021 – CLEVR, the company that helps enterprises accelerate their digital transitions through the enormous power of the Mendix low-code and no-code (LCNC) development solutions, today announced the results of a survey that shows a shockingly high number of executives from North America have yet to hear about no-code and low-code software development. 

More than a quarter (27%) of the C-suite executives from North America surveyed revealed that they were unaware of the technology. The level of knowledge about LCNC was even low when it came to chief technology officers (CTO) in North America, traditionally the savviest tech people within an organization. Of those surveyed in North America a whopping 38% acknowledged not knowing anything about LCNC. That contrasted sharply with their European counterparts. Only 24% of CTOs based in Europe were unfamiliar with the technology. 

Angelique Schouten, CLEVR’s CEO, warns that companies that haven’t incorporated LCNC into their development stack are simply operating at a disadvantage. Schouten is a member of the team that enabled the first banks in the world to operate fully in the cloud based on Ohpen’s AWS cloud-native core banking engine. She knows plenty about the headaches involved with traditional development within organizations. Schouten maintains that LCNC is at the forefront of a silent revolution among developers and managers who seek to cut back development time and cost. Software has become the beating heart of business and countless companies around the globe are in one stage or another of digitizing their processes. LCNC is a visualization-based “drag-and-drop” development technology that eliminates the need to create code from scratch and is a far faster, more flexible and a less costly way to build solutions. 

 “The environment feels a little like when cloud technology was beginning to take off and many businesses thought it was the same thing as iCloud or Dropbox,” Schouten said. “They had no understanding of the kind of impact it would have on their organizations. Back then, there was little understanding of the cloud’s power and what it could bring to larger organizations and start-ups alike. LCNC is on the same track. Only through better understanding of LCNC can leaders extract all the value the technology has to offer.” 

The power of LCNC to transform the building of software solutions is on its way, according to the experts. By 2024, Gartner predicts that 75% of large enterprises will use at least four low-code development tools for IT and citizen development initiatives. Another sign of that is those executives surveyed who are aware of LCNC, apparently heard enough positive things to try it. According to CLEVR’s survey, no less than 78% of the C-level executives surveyed and who indicated that they were aware of the LCNC trend, confirmed that they are using some form of the development tool within their organization. In another testimonial for LCNC’s effectiveness, those respondents who are using LCNC were asked to list the top five reasons why: 71% indicated the technology’s superior speed; 45% said it was less expensive; 44% said it was more adaptable to change; 36% indicated that it was easier to train people to develop apps and 33% said it was more scalable (33%). Interestingly, 16% stated that one of the reasons they chose to develop with LCNC was that it was more fun.

AMERSFOORT, NETHERLANDS – July 29, 2021 – CLEVR, the company that helps enterprises accelerate their digital transitions through the enormous power of low-code and no-code development solutions, today announced the launch of an international expansion of the CLEVR brand and the company’s unique business model.

When Mansystems and Flowfabric, two leading Mendix partners, merged to create a superpower in services and software development, they named the combined company CLEVR. The company now employs a hybrid business model, equal parts solution and services, that it calls Software with a Service (SWAS). The model is designed to assist the legions of people around the world involved in the daunting task of digitalizing enterprises: CIOs and enterprise architects, product owners, medium-sized-business owners and IT service providers.

Developing with low-code and no-code platforms is among the hottest trends in tech, and widely recognized as a way to dramatically accelerate and simplify software development. The CLEVR team relies on the Mendix platform, recognized by research firms Forrester and Gartner as a world leader in low-code and no-code. Not only has CLEVR accumulated years of expertise creating problem-solving software apps with Mendix, but the company now employs more expert Mendix developers than any other. Despite the hype surrounding so-called citizen developers, these experts supply the knowledge, experience and creative thinking enterprises need to realize the full benefits and value of low-code and no-code tools.

“There is a silent revolution happening in software development, hiding in plain sight,” said Angelique Schouten, who took over as CLEVR CEO in March. “And that’s the rise of low-code and no-code, a visual approach to software development with the power to accelerate the world’s digital transition. However, I believe many of the low-code and no-code companies are selling a false promise. Low-code and no-code by itself is not the solution to all your challenges because you still need to consider security, architecture, infrastructure and performance when developing software applications. If you use low-code and no-code solutions and don’t consider these areas, you’ll run into enormous problems when apps become more complex, start to scale and support business-critical processes.”

Part of CLEVR’s business is offering professional services and assisting companies – in financial services, energy, government and manufacturing – to create dynamic and useful applications that advance at a high velocity their own or their customers’ digitalization efforts. CLEVR helped the City of Rotterdam build greater functionality around a video-call application that enabled residents to communicate with their local government digitally during the pandemic. With CLEVR’s assistance, the service eventually featured a document exchange, payment services and tools that allowed citizens to transact business, such as register births and marriages, by enabling them to identify themselves through DigiD, the Dutch government’s digital ID system.

Global Software-with-a-Service Provider Delivers Unique PLM Offering for the Retail, Apparel, Footwear and Accessories industry to streamline ideation, design, merchandising, product development and sourcing.

CLEVR announced today that it has become an official Mendix Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Partner. CLEVR and Mendix partnered up for a new visually interactive Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution with key capabilities like collection planning, digital mood boards, material management, 3D native design and vendor collaboration.

The Mendix ISV Program is available for partners that are looking to monetize their domain expertise by selling unique customer-centric solutions, like PLM. The program provides an ideal set of benefits to enable businesses to successfully develop, bring to market, sell, and deploy software solutions built on Mendix's leading low-code development platform.

Through the program, CLEVR will deliver a unique PLM solution for the retail and fashion industry. By eliminating the need for numerous different and fragmented data sources, users of the solution will save up to 20% of their time that they were used to spend searching for all product-related information within the organization. CLEVR PLM integrates seamlessly with 3D design software like Browzwear and Clo3D. These integrations provide more sustainable and time-saving ways of working with regards to sampling processes because product development is 3D driven, and fewer physical sample cycles are required, reducing your brands’ time-to-market by 20% on average. Another distinction is the focus on vendor collaboration. CLEVR PLM provides a vendor portal to facilitate communication between all stakeholders within the supply chain e.g., brands, material suppliers, and production facilities. This way of working allows our customers' global organizations to work as one single team across different geographies and locations throughout the supply chain.

The PLM solution signifies an important impact to designers, product developers, merchandisers and sourcing departments within the fashion industry as well as suppliers and manufacturers. The added Mendix capabilities allow the solution to be adaptive through easy customizations, have a quick time-to-value and integrates easily with other systems.

Angelique Schouten, CEO at CLEVR: “Our 300+ customers always expect us to deliver best-in-class solutions. Being the largest Mendix Expert partner globally, we continuously include all our experiences across all projects and customers into our out-of-the-box PLM solution. We are happy to join the Mendix ISV Program. This partnership allows us to deliver even more vertical-specific solutions, like PLM, in the future also via this channel.”

Rohit Tangri, Global Vice President, Industry and Partner Solutions & CSO at Mendix, said, "The Mendix ISV Partner Program will enable CLEVR to deliver innovative solutions, initially for the retail and fashion industry, on the Mendix low-code platform.  We are excited to have CLEVR as a new addition to our growing ISV Program as this partnership will enable them to offer a customer-proven and visually interactive PLM solution for the retail, apparel, footwear and accessories.

Former EVBox, BlueCielo and AVG executive to drive buy & build strategy.

Amersfoort, April 28, 2021 – the supervisory board of directors of low-code and no-code  Software-with-a-Service provider CLEVR has appointed Rob Blasman (54) as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO). The former EVBox, BlueCielo and AVG executive will join the recently appointed CEO, Angelique Schouten, to scale the business internationally and pursue a buy-and-build strategy. The appointment is effective as of July 1st 2021. 

Blasman has over 3 decades of experience in scaling software and technology businesses internationally through IPOs, funding and mergers and acquisitions. He most recently prepared EVBox for its IPO in the United States. Blasman started his career at Ernst & Young, after which he joined various software and technology companies incl. Baan / SSA Global / Infor, Torex, AVG Technologies, BlueCielo and lastly EVBox. Blasman brings extensive international experience having lived and worked in Chicago, the United States for four years, and in Prague, Czech Republic for another two years. 

On his appointment, Blasman said: “CLEVR has huge potential to grow. It provides a compelling suite of industry specific software solutions and unique expertise enabling our customers to operate smarter by automating and optimizing core business processes. And that is what I look for after having scaled other companies before.”

Angelique Schouten, CLEVR CEO: “Rob is a firm believer of our mission to be the global leader in low-code and no-code sector specific Software-with-a-Service solutions. I cannot wait for him to join and help accelerate our continued growth by building a great company and team. With his experience in scaling strong knowledge-based technology companies together with his ambition I am confident that we can successfully accelerate and execute such an expansion. Finding our CFO was a crucial step together with uniting the three companies Mansystems, FlowFabric and BlockBrains under one brand.”

Company is advancing global expansion in order to meet demand for digital and automation solutions and services

Amersfoort, March 8, 2021 – the supervisory board of directors of low-code and no-code solutions and services providers Mansystems, FlowFabric and BlockBrains has appointed Angelique Schouten (43) as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). In this position, she succeeds Arnold Zwart, who founded and developed the organization over the last twenty-five years to become the largest global-Mendix partner. The appointment is effective as of March 1st 2021.

Schouten spent close to nine years at Ohpen building the world’s first cloud-native software-as-a-service (SaaS) core banking engine, based on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud. Before that, she worked for companies like Aon, ING and DCE Consultants and she has founded several start-ups. She is also a founding board member of Holland FinTech and has co-authored two bestselling books: Monkey Money Mind and The WealthTECH book. Schouten holds a Master’s in General Management from Business University Nyenrode and a Bachelor in Commercial Economics from Fontys University.

Strengthen operations and drive global expansion
The company services close to 300 customers in 17 countries, has a team of 200 people with offices in the Netherlands and Germany. Schouten will focus on scaling the business internationally and pursue a buy-and-build strategy. Her international experience in the SaaS and FinTech sector and proven track record in scaling companies to the next level make her the right person for this role.  

“The challenge is how the ever-growing demand for development-, engineering- and delivery power in the world is met. A demand which is still a lot bigger compared to what can be delivered. On top of that, the desire for digitalization and innovation, and the ability for customers, businesses and users to influence and control this directly, is also increasing. People want the freedom to create,” says Angelique Schouten, CEO of Mansystems, FlowFabric and BlockBrains. “I believe that the low-code and no-code movement will play a pivotal role in achieving this and it will move many industries and businesses forward. Our team places the power of digitalization and innovation into the hands of business owners and citizen developers. Launching new solutions become a matter of days and weeks, instead of months or even years and I am excited to be part of this movement.” 

Inclusive leadership
Robert Pijselman, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Mansystems, FlowFabric and BlockBrains: “The company is poised for major international expansion in the low-code and no-code market by creating a truly global footprint both organically and by future mergers and acquisitions. Angelique’s experience in scaling strong knowledge-based technology companies and her inclusive leadership experience makes us confident that we can successfully accelerate and execute such an expansion. What makes the combination of companies unique is that we developed our own intellectual property with technology that enables our consultants to test security, scalability and performance of the applications during the building process of our sector specific applications and tooling, and we believe that Angelique will take this to the next level.”  

Crevan O’Grady, partner at Volpi Capital, added: “We have invested in the company because we were attracted to the potential for growth in the low-code space, of which Gartner forecasts that by 2025 70% of application development will be in low-code. Developers still remain in short supply and the COVID-19 pandemic has driven further demand for digital and automation solutions and services. With the appointment of Angelique we believe that the company can scale globally and further develop its sector specific solutions and services which fulfill this demand. She is welcomed by a very knowledgeable and experienced team.”  

Barneveld, 27 March 2020 – Robert Pijselman (53) and Marcel Karssen (58) have been appointed to the Supervisory Board of Mansystems and FlowFabric. In addition to supervision, they will fulfil the roles of sounding board and inspirer, focusing on realising the growth potential. Robert has the role of chairman and Marcel acts as a sounding board in his role as supervisory director. Robert and Marcel join Crevan O’Grady and Joerg Klasmeyer, completing the Supervisory Board. Together they will be advising the new organisation that was created after the merger of Mansystems and FlowFabric at the beginning of March.

With the expansion of the Supervisory Board with Robert and Marcel, the Supervisory Board is well represented in various areas.

Robert brings to the table valuable experience to take the new organisation to the next level. In recent years he has held the position of CEO and investor in various IT and telecoms companies. He has also held and continues to hold positions on the supervisory boards of various organisations. For example, he is currently also active as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Software Improvement Group and PQR. Marcel brings 40 years of experience to the table, of which 30 years in financial and operational management positions in the software industry. His experience with the low-code platform Mendix, in particular, is of great added value. He worked there as CFO, with responsibility for finance, legal, HR, recruitment and IT.

Robert Pijselman on his appointment: “The combination of Mansystems’ technical knowledge and FlowFabric’s market-oriented approach offers the opportunity to develop high-quality solutions for various markets. The companies offer a good mix of talent, knowledge and skills in a world that is using more and more low-code applications. I’m looking forward to supporting the teams with the knowledge and experience that has been brought together in the Supervisory Board”.

Marcel Karssen: “Mansystems and FlowFabric are both fast-growing Mendix partners, and in my time at Mendix it was a pleasure to work with them. I was therefore immediately delighted when I heard about the merger of the two companies. Together, these businesses can achieve even more success. I look forward to contributing to their further success and supporting management as an advisor”.

Arnold Zwart: “As CEO of Mansystems and FlowFabric, I am very pleased with the appointment of both gentlemen to the Supervisory Board. They are of great added value with the knowledge and experience they bring to the table. There was an immediate click and a sense of familiarity. Together we can achieve our growth ambitions and strive for even greater success.”

Amersfoort, 27 August 2024 - CLEVR today announced the appointment of Tim Claes as its new Chief Executive Officer, effective September 1st, 2024. Tim will replace Jeroen Hanekamp, who will be appointed to the Supervisory Board to ensure an effective transition of leadership and continue supporting CLEVR’s growth ambitions as a leading digital transformation partner in manufacturing optimization and digitalization.

Tim brings tremendous experience, having spent more than 25 years in the ICT sector.
He has held various senior management positions – both in sales and in operations.

For the last 4 years, Tim was Chief Commercial Officer at 9altitudes, a leading European system integrator, present in 9 countries, specialized in the full end-2-end digital thread including solutions from Microsoft (such as ERP, CRM, BI, Low-Code) and PTC (such as CAD, PLM, IOT and VR). He spearheaded the company’s growth resulting into a strong footprint in the European manufacturing, wholesales & distribution and technical services industries.

“Technology is changing the world faster than ever, but in the end, it is all about people! I feel blessed I had the opportunity to work with so many different people across different regions. I can’t wait to get acquainted with the people from CLEVR. Together, we will continue to build a better tomorrow.”

– Tim Claes

Tim started his career as entrepreneur within Axias, and later joined Realdolmen as Business Strategy Manager. In that function he was responsible for sales and strategy within the Enterprise Solutions division. During 2012-2013 he joined Astadia for almost
2 years, where he was first active in the UK as VP EMEA, and later as COO for their American operations. In November 2013 he rejoined Realdolmen as Managing Director for the Business Solutions division, and later was promoted to Chief Commercial Officer, overseeing sales, marketing and internal communications.

Tim has published several management books, sharing his valuable insights on leadership and digital transformation. Tim understands as no other that a successful digital transformation is much more than only digitalisation. He holds his own digital transformation community, under the umbrella name of Trends Applied.

“We are delighted to welcome Tim as our new Chief Executive Officer. Tim is a dynamic, values-driven business leader who has a strong commercial accumen and an excellent track record of delivering digital transformation solutions to mid-market and enterprise customers across Europe and Americas. He has exceptional leadership capabilities, proven go-to-market effectiveness, and strong experience in building organizations that help customers optimise and automate their business processes. The Board looks forward to Tim realising the full potential of CLEVR as a winning digital transformation business which delivers long-term growth and value for all its stakeholders.”

– Robert Pijselman, Chairman CLEVR

Robert Pijselman also said: “I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jeroen for his leadership of CLEVR. The changes he has made to the company’s strategy, structure and organisation leave CLEVR far better positioned for success. Jeroen will continue to support CLEVR by joining the Supervisory Board and being a voice of expertise and knowledge amongst our partners, such as Siemens and Mendix.”

Tim said: “I am delighted to join CLEVR. CLEVR is a leading expert in digital transformation that is uniquely positioned in the Siemens and Mendix ecosystem to serve its customers in manufacturing optimization and Low-Code digitalization. We have a talented and ambitious team that is very customer focused and makes a true difference every day. In the time I have spent getting to know the business and its customers, I have only become more convinced by the strength of CLEVR’s fundamentals and of its clear growth potential. The team and I are fully committed to proof that we are the trusted advisor of our customers when it comes to enabling their digital transformation. We have an exciting journey ahead of us.’’

CLEVR, a digital transformation leader blending PLM, MOM/MES and Low-Code technology expertise, announces a strategic partnership with STACKIT, a prominent provider of sovereign cloud infrastructure solutions. This collaboration marks a significant milestone in both companies' efforts to enable and enhance digital transformation for businesses worldwide.

CLEVR has long been recognized for its expertise in manufacturing optimization and business process automation empowering organizations to optimize their operations and achieve unprecedented efficiency. STACKIT, a brand of Schwarz Digits – the IT and digital division of Schwarz Group, with its commitment to delivering scalable and secure cloud infrastructure, has garnered a strong reputation in the industry.

By combining CLEVR's innovative and expert approach to technology deployment with STACKIT's robust sovereign infrastructure, clients can expect a comprehensive suite of services that caters to changing market demands and adheres to the highest standards of cybersecurity and compliance ensuring data sovereignty. With this partnership CLEVR and STACKIT offer a European alternative to the well-known global cloud hyperscalers.

Key highlights of the partnership include:

1. Enhanced Cloud Capabilities: Clients will benefit from a seamless integration of CLEVR's expertly developed applications based on Siemens and Mendix technology and STACKIT's state-of-the-art infrastructure, resulting in a powerful and scalable cloud ecosystem.
2. Optimized Performance: The collaboration aims to provide businesses with optimized performance, ensuring even faster and more reliable application deployment and hosting that aligns with the dynamic needs of today's digital enterprises.
3. Security and Compliance: CLEVR and STACKIT highly prioritize the security and compliance requirements of their clients. The partnership strengthens security measures and compliance protocols, offering a secure environment for sensitive data and business critical operations. All STACKIT data centers and servers are located in Germany and Austria and are therefore subject to the highest data protection standards that apply worldwide. The STACKIT infrastructure is certified according to C5 type 1 and meets one of the highest standards of cybersecurity. STACKIT also has ISAE 3000, ISAE 3402, ISO27001, ISO20000 and ISO50001 certification.
4. Innovative Solutions: The joint efforts will further enable delivery of innovative and tailored business process automation that leverages technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of our customers’ digital transformation journeys.

"With our collaboration with STACKIT we are able to offer our clients a European, sovereign, highly secure and compliant cloud alternative for hosting their business-critical applications," said Jeroen Hanekamp CEO of CLEVR. "This collaboration reflects our shared interest to delivering excellence to our customers.”

Walter Wolf, Board Member at Schwarz IT, also a brand of Schwarz Digits added, "The partnership of our STACKIT portfolio with CLEVR is a key step and critical element to further fuel our vision of an independent Europe – digital, leading. This partnership is another great building block to set new standards in terms of performance, security and innovation for sovereign cloud offerings.”

Product designed to reduce millions of kilograms in CO2 emissions, reduce up to 25% in costs and tackle staffing challenges by first-time right on-site jobs and remote assistance.

AMERSFOORT – September 8, 2021 – CLEVR, the low-code and no-code Software-with-a-Service provider, today announced the appointment of Kay Lankheet as lead for the newly created business unit and the launch of CLEVR Field Services Manager (FSM). This new software solution is designed to dramatically cut costs, shrink the carbon footprint and tackle staffing challenges for companies that dispatch skilled technicians to customers’ homes.

CLEVR’s Field Service Manager is specifically built to meet the needs of companies that provide end-to-end services to homes, offices, and stores, a market expected to top $9 billion by 2026. The back-end application, portals and mobile app software covers the full field service process from installation, maintenance, and repair, including job intake, preparation, planning, route optimization, execution, payment and all the way to archiving. The solution will soon contain a Remote Augmented Reality Assistance option, which empowers smart-home installation companies to provide remote support via a two-way video call and augmented reality (AR), guiding customers through a process of fixing minor issues by identifying and pointing at objects in the real-world, in real-time. This feature is especially valuable today when companies are faced with dire shortages of skilled field workers.

“Field services is an area crying out for new, digitalized, efficient processes,” said Kay Lankheet, Squad Lead for CLEVR’s Field Service Manager business unit. “Our off-the-shelf solution is easy to use and offers a significantly shorter go-to-market time: just a couple of weeks. CLEVR Field Service Manager enables incumbents and start-ups alike to offer highly digitalized offerings leading to significant cost reductions amounting to millions, an improved customer experience and perhaps most importantly of all, reduced carbon footprint of installation companies by up to 25%.”

CLEVR developed Remote Assistance in partnership with Econic, a leader in the e-home industry. Econic seeks to transform 1 million homes to self-powered dwellings called e-homes. Every e-home consists of many sustainable energy solutions, including solar panels, heat pumps, meters, and batteries. The task of delivering millions of installations in a scalable, reliable, high-quality manner that provides high customer satisfaction is extremely challenging. CLEVR Field Service Manager is empowering Econic to deliver on this promise.

“Econic expects that Remote Assistance will cut down on-site inspections of all new installations by 25%,” said Vincent Damen, product manager for Econic. “By 2023, we will grow to 200,000 new installations annually. A single inspection costs $148.00 (125 euros), so with the projected number we estimate saving $7.1 million (6 million euros) annually as well. In addition, remote assistance will significantly reduce the need to drive to on-site locations by 1 million kilometers, which roughly translates to reducing CO2 emissions by 170,000 kilograms.”

CLEVR plans to expand Field Service Manager's capabilities to adjacent market segments such as home security, home-appliance installation, waste management, energy and utilities, telecommunications, IT infrastructure installation and maintenance.

Learn more about CLEVR or connect with CLEVR on LinkedIn.

Seasoned HR Lead Will Further Ignite CLEVR’s Rapid Growth

AMERSFOORT – October 20, 2021 – CLEVR, the low-code and no-code software-with-a-service specialist, announced that it has appointed Yvette Swagerman chief people officer. Swagerman has held human resources (HR) leadership positions at many high-growth companies, including Netflix and several startups.

Prior to joining CLEVR, Swagerman was VP of people at Duration9 and head of people at travel and expense management software provider TripActions. Before that, she was head of HR – EMEA CS (customer service) at Netflix, which grew from zero full-time employees to 300 in less than six ­months.

“Gartner predicts that by 2025, 70% of new applications developed by enterprises will use low-code or no-code technologies, up from less than 25% in 2020. CLEVR offers the greatest depth of Mendix expertise available anywhere. We know our strongest asset is our people, so we make a point of prioritizing their well-being, learning and development as well as nurturing teams,” said Angelique Schouten, CEO of CLEVR. “Yvette will help ensure we are able to scale and have the right programs in place.”

CLEVR was formed through the combination of three long-time partners, Mansystems, FlowFabric and BlockBrains. Most recently startup Siemens systems integrator and PLM manufacturing specialist Digitread was added.

“CLEVR helps companies disrupt themselves so they can become a greater force in the digital economy’,” said Swagerman. “What impressed me most about CLEVR is that it leads by example, technologically and culturally. Technologically, it understands the strategic impact the Mendix platform can have in an organization. Culturally, the company has a clear vision, and there’s a shared sense of ownership. No one says ‘I did this.’ Everyone says, ‘We did this.’”

CLEVR Continues Its Momentum

CLEVR has relied on the Mendix platform since 2010 to help organizations to get to market faster with problem-solving applications. Mendix is an enterprise-class low-code and no-code platform that allows developers to create and deliver applications faster without sacrificing product quality.

CLEVR uniquely offers “software with a service” (SWAS), which bundles Mendix-based ready-made products, components, connectors, developer tooling, and platform expertise with technical assistance and training. SWAS helps ensure the success of CLEVR’s client engagements and the success of clients’ low-code software development endeavors.

“COVID taught businesses just how vulnerable they are to being disrupted by forces beyond their control. When the pandemic hit, they had to become digital virtually overnight,” said Schouten. “In the post-pandemic world, businesses want to create sustainable digital success, which requires an extreme form of agility. Low-code provides that flexibility by providing visual user interfaces and reusable off-the-shelf components as well as connections to data sources and traditional enterprise applications like Siemens Teamcenter or SAP.”

As companies continue to become increasingly digital, the pace of business continues to accelerate. To compensate, more enterprises are turning to low-code, which is why CLEVR is growing so rapidly. Swagerman will help ensure CLEVR’s unwavering commitment to SWAS quality and customer success as the company blossoms internationally, Schouten said.

Learn more about CLEVR or connect with CLEVR on LinkedIn.

CLEVR, a leading provider of Siemens and Mendix solutions and digital transformation services, today announced the strategic transfer of its Mendix quality tooling and related customer contracts to Software Improvement Group (SIG).

This move allows CLEVR to sharpen its focus on core competencies while ensuring the continued enhancement and support of these technologies through SIG’s expertise in software quality assurance.

Elevating Our Commitment to Excellence
The acquisition encompasses CLEVR’s proprietary low-code Mendix quality assurance technologies:

• Application Test Suite (ATS)
• Application Performance Diagnostics (APD)
• Application Code Reviewer (ACR)

By transitioning these assets to SIG, CLEVR is confident that its customers will benefit from SIG's extensive experience in traditional and AI-driven software quality assurance. SIG, founded in 2000 and headquartered in Amsterdam, empowers businesses and governments globally to achieve success with reliable and robust IT systems.

A Strategic Move for Growth
“This transfer aligns perfectly with our strategic vision,” said Jeroen Hanekamp, CEO of CLEVR. “It enables CLEVR to focus on reselling, delivering, and supporting (PLM, MOM, low-code) software solutions. Partnering with SIG, we are confident that our technologies will continue to evolve and thrive under their stewardship, allowing us to better serve our customers with innovative and high-quality services.”

Continued Support and Future Prospects
SIG will maintain and support all versions of ATS, APD, and ACR until the end of 2026, ensuring a seamless transition for CLEVR’s customers. There will be no disruption to current services, and SIG’s comprehensive support will help customers maximize the potential of these tools.

Luc Brandts, CEO of SIG, emphasized the synergy of this acquisition: “We are excited to integrate CLEVR’s Mendix-related technologies into our portfolio. This acquisition not only enhances our offering but also strengthens our relationship with CLEVR, Mendix, and Siemens. We look forward to helping our new customers build high-quality software applications and improve their scalability, quality, and security.”

Going forward, CLEVR and SIG will further strengthen their partnership and continue collaborating in the Mendix low-code domain to bring significant advancements to the ecosystem.

CLEVR, a leader in helping retail companies thrive through digital transformation, is excited to announce their partnership with Primera, a prominent name in retail, with more than 540 convenience stores in The Netherlands, welcoming over more than 46 million customers a year[1]. Primera’s stores offer items such as magazines, greeting cards, gift cards, tobacco, lottery, office supplies, and gifts as well as services like postal handling. This collaboration signifies a pivotal step for Primera in becoming a more digitized, data-driven organization.

Primera has selected CLEVR to guide their digital transformation journey, targeting significant enhancements in their promotional processes. Historically, these processes were marred by inefficiencies and potential inaccuracies due to manual systems. With CLEVR's expertise, Primera is transitioning to a robust, automated promotion workflow system, eliminating outdated methods and improving overall efficiency and data accuracy.

"Our partnership with CLEVR represents a strategic pivot towards advanced digital solutions that streamline operations, enhance accuracy, and foster cross-functional collaboration across our departments.", said Angelo Ridderhof, Manager Digital Business & Innovation at Primera. "CLEVR's approach has exceeded our expectations by setting a new standard in how we manage our promotions and forecast the promotional budget."

The CLEVR promotion management solution is at the heart of the commercial process. This cloud-based, low-code application built on Mendix has been refined over many years to become the industry standard, providing flexibility, rapid deployment, and extensive customization capabilities. This allows Primera to:

• Digitize and automate the entire promotion lifecycle, from planning to execution.
• Enhance efficiency and reduce the time needed to launch promotions.
• Preparation to improve data integrity and analytics for better decision-making.
• Foster real-time collaboration across marketing, sales, and supply chain teams.

Jeroen Hanekamp, CEO of CLEVR, noted, "Our mission is to empower retail companies like Primera to harness the full potential of their digital capabilities. We're delighted to see the tangible benefits our collaboration brings to Primera, and we're excited about the future of this partnership."

The implementation has already yielded significant results for Primera, improving promotion execution and enabling a data-driven approach to their marketing strategies. Primera is now better positioned to manage its marketing efforts across multiple channels efficiently, including digital and traditional advertising mediums.

“Our next step is to link the internal promotion process to the cash register. This broadens the scope, touches another department and creates even more efficiency.”, said Leonie Buitenhuis, Business Analyst at Primera.

[1] Based on check-out registrations