About citizenM
In bustling cities across the globe, you’ll find the contemporary design hotels of the Dutch brand citizenM, renowned for its affordable luxury. The brand caters to a new generation of travellers who value style, technology, and a social environment. Its hotels are strategically located in popular city centres, offering compact yet cleverly designed rooms featuring cutting-edge technology, comfortable beds, and a focus on efficiency.
A unique guest experience is central, with technology playing a key role. For example, guests can control their room’s temperature, lighting, and curtains via a tablet, check in using self-service kiosks, and enjoy a lively social space in the lobby.
Founded in 2008, citizenM now has over 1,000 employees and continues to grow with its innovative concept that combines design, technology, and a unique guest experience.
The challenge: Growth demands structure
Organic growth with four distinct domains
citizenM had been using Atlassian Cloud products for several years, but this use had grown organically, resulting in four different domains within the organisation. The problem was that not all teams were strategically integrated into this way of working. This made it difficult for the various teams to work together towards the strategic objectives and thus use the tools optimally. This resulted in inefficiencies, and objectives were not always properly pursued.
The need for expertise
They noticed that there was a lack of alignment between the strategic goals and the work that was actually being carried out. To bridge this gap, they enlisted the help of Devoteam. Devoteam has the expertise to translate business needs into technically viable solutions that enable clients to grow further.
The solution: A clear view of the Atlassian Cloud environment
Insight and areas for improvement
Devoteam set to work with a clear objective: to give citizenM more insight into their current Atlassian Cloud environment and potential areas for improvement. The project began with a comprehensive ‘health check’, during which Devoteam conducted a thorough assessment of the current Jira Cloud environment. In this process, we assess the overall health of the Jira environment, with a focus on the configuration (such as workflows, permissions, and schemes), user management, and the identification of inefficiencies in automations. We also look at the installed apps and their applications.
Streamlined and strategic approach
Thanks to this health check, citizenM gained a complete picture of their Jira environment, including bottlenecks and opportunities for standardisation and optimisation. With the recommendations and best practices from Devoteam, citizenM was able to take steps towards a more streamlined and strategic way of working, leading to better alignment between their goals and day-to-day activities. In short, a strategy is used to determine which programmes this leads to and subsequently which operational teams are involved.
“Devoteam is a great engineering house and it is always a pleasure working with them on any technical project. We worked mostly around JIRA and several initiatives that we have around our company and big room planning. All the input that we received was always carefully assessed and properly addressed. Devoteam has a very good group of experts in this area and we were able to fulfil all our requests in a very partnering and meaningful way. I also appreciate the fact that each YES or NO to our requests is supported properly by facts and data. Response of the team is incredibly fast but very thorough and I can only say that when it comes to JIRA projects and similar we will always ask Devoteam first for their feedback.”
— Bojan Pavic, Director Technology & Digital at citizenM
The benefits: Greater control over projects and better collaboration
Implementation: Portfolio solution in Jira
Following the implementation of the portfolio solution in Jira, citizenM immediately saw noticeable benefits. Previously, they had struggled to maintain an overview of their many ongoing projects, particularly as teams were often working on several initiatives simultaneously. This sometimes led to miscommunication and inefficiency. However, with the portfolio breakdown in Jira Plans, they gained a visual and dynamic overview of all their projects, including dependencies, milestones, and progress per team.
The end result: Efficient agile transformation
The greatest advantage for citizenM is that they can now plan strategically in both the short and long term. Management can easily view the details of specific projects, while simultaneously maintaining a complete overview of the progress of major initiatives. This significantly improves their decision-making, as they can respond more quickly to problems and prioritise better.
In addition, it strengthens collaboration between teams, as everyone has the same goals in mind and clearly sees how their work contributes to the bigger picture. With the portfolio solution in Jira, citizenM now has the tools for a successful agile transformation and more efficient management of their innovative projects.