Acerta is a full-service hr services group that helps entrepreneurs and start-ups in every phase of their growth process. With the new start-up platform ikwilstarten.be, Acerta wants to guide newly self-employed people in starting their own business.
Technically a very ambitious project with a tight deadline. A series of difficult API integrations. And despite the complexity of the project, putting it all into a user-friendly platform for the independent starter in a manageable way.
A modular platform that formed the foundation for future e-commerce projects. The use of Drupal and a transparent collaboration ensuring that Acerta now makes changes to the platform completely independently, without the intervention of an external partner or a technical department.
A user-friendly and intuitive wizard that starters can use completely independently.
Positive, increasing numbers that grow stronger than the evolution in the market. The new platform with the "activities" packages provide a more complete service (one-stop shop) and relevant additional sales.
The start of the project was built up in logical steps. Starting from the architecture, together with Acerta we unanimously chose Drupal. During the search for the right technology, we quickly ran into some limitations, while Drupal could offer the right technical possibilities. Also focused on the future, Drupal could provide the desired solutions. In addition, the flexibility of this open CMS was something Acerta was looking for.
With ikwilstarten.be, Acerta wanted to create a powerful platform that completely unburdens the starter. Via a user-friendly and intuitive wizard, you - as a starter - can apply independently for a company number, social statute, extra permits, and services. In the wizard, you’ll receive information about your legal obligations and the recommended options that Acerta offers.
The transparent communication and open collaboration between the teams resulted in a well-oiled machine between the Acerta and Dropsolid teams, both on a technical and a functional level. In addition, we ensured that Acerta was able to work independently with its own platform. The team from Acerta now makes their own changes and is able to react quickly when, for example, something changes legally.
With ikwilstarten.be, Acerta wanted to create a powerful platform that completely unburdens the starter. Via a user-friendly and intuitive wizard, you - as a starter - can apply independently for a company number, social statute, extra permits, and services. In the wizard, you’ll receive information about your legal obligations and the recommended options that Acerta offers.
Complex in the back vs. minimalistic in the front
Challenge one: transfer the complexity of the project to our technical teams. All legal services, activity codes, pricing... had to be summarized in one clear platform. The back-end of the platform is a set of complex integrations, formulas and, codes, while the front-end displays a simple wizard.
The platform towards the customer
Challenge two: deliver the complexity of the project to the customer in a manageable way. Every starter on the platform must intuitively go through the wizard, make the right choices and ultimately request exactly what he needs at that moment. This is only possible if the complexity on the back-end is seamlessly translated into a user-friendly front-end. All of this with a big focus on clarity and simplicity, so that drop-offs are kept to a minimum. The front-end is a fine example of UX: structured, simple but yet attractive and dynamic.
At the beginning of ikwilstarten.be, Acerta's long-term vision was also taken into account. Therefore, during ikwilstarten.be a basis was laid for other future projects, including, for example, zelfstandigenloket.be. This basis consists of, among other things, reusable components that are created in the first phase so they can be reused in other projects. The advantage? Cost savings with a view to the future, avoiding duplication of work and uniformity across the various projects.
Forms
Forms with specific checks or underlying integrations were created centrally only once. Afterwards, there’s a possibility to reuse them across projects.
Reusable API-integrations
The technical flagship of ikwilstarten.be: reusable API integrations. As mentioned earlier, this project was built with the future in mind. At the start, it was immediately clear that there was a need for a lot of complex integrations. Instead of looking at project by project, other future projects of Acerta were also reviewed. Based on the criteria and requirements of the various projects together, an overall basis of generic API integrations was built that can be used across the various projects. The benefit: cost savings through reuse, a smaller error rate in data, and less duplicate data.
1. Crucial for Acerta, satisfied starters who can get started completely independently: bundled administrative obligations, total worry-free management, and a barrier-free wizard with online payment.
2. A powerful, user-friendly, and intuitive basic platform in Drupal on which the reusability of the modules allows Acerta to develop customized digital onboarding for its business partners as well.
3. A solid basis of API integrations, with smooth integration in new and current projects.
4. A strong positive business case with new financial insights that serve as a basis for other follow-up projects.
