Z24
The company
Founded in April 2007, Z24 is a joint venture between Het Financieel Dagblad (largest financial daily newspaper in the Netherlands), Schibsted and RTL Nederland.
In June 2007, the company launched its new website www.z24.nl. Their goal is to establish this site as the pre-eminent web address for business executives in the Netherlands.
The situation
In October 2005, Schibsted launched its new website, E24, in Sweden. Within three months the new site became the most visited business website in the country. In April 2006, the Norwegian version was launched and within three days it became known as the business executive site in Norway. In addition to timely and prominent news, both websites feature a comprehensive section for investors.
In the first half of April 2007, Z24 contacted vwd group. The successful Scandinavian concept had to be rolled out in the Netherlands as well. The request proposed to vwd group was quite challenging: Can vwd group complete the website’s sector for investors and adapt it to the needs of Dutch investors, with the caveat that the site had to be operational by June 6th, a mere 6 weeks subsequent to the initial request?
The solution
Because of the short deadline, vwd group was acutely aware that this project could only be successful if both parties were committed. Losing no time, a project team was assembled from all ranks of vwd group. In addition to technical aspects there were also matters concerning content and agreements that had to be quickly specified and implemented within established deadlines.
vwd group created a stringent development schedule and was able to complete a state-of-the-art website that meets Z24’s requirements. It was vwd group’s knowledge and experience in disseminating market information in conjunction with Z24’s publishing experience that allowed the site to be completed without any significant problems.
Challenges concerning content, contracts and technical matters were handled simultaneously in order to gain speed in all areas.
Implementation
Because the time set for the project was so short, a specialist was immediately appointed to draw up a very detailed, functional design. Development of a functional design is necessary to describe all items to be included in the website, one by one. This enables our developers to make optimal use of their knowledge of databases and publication of information. During the development stage, a dummy site was set up so the customer could actually witness progress as it occurred. Additionally, a weekly status report was provided that contained the completed items, the items to be tested and the planned items for the upcoming week. Z24 was continuously informed of progress and the deadline was met without any problems.
The benefits
Z24 benefited greatly from vwd group’s experience. An entire website was operational in just under six weeks. Because TBM also takes care of hosting and housing of the website, Z24 could concentrate on its successful launch.
Z24 now maintains a section for investors whose content and technical needs are managed entirely by vwd group. As a result, Z24 can focus on growth of the website and realising their goal of becoming the renowned business site in the Netherlands.
Testimonial
Arend van den Berg, manager/editor-in-chief of Z24 on cooperation with vwd group:
Z24.nl aspires to be the pre-eminent business site of the Netherlands, offering high quality news and information. The website was completed in a matter of weeks, thanks to vwd group. vwd group took care of the section for investors. We, at FD Media Group, were impressed by vwd group’s professional and pragmatic approach, with short lines of communication and committed people. For now, we are very pleased with the end result: a modern high-quality website for investors. We say “for now” because a website is never done. Therefore, we gladly continue cooperating with vwd group.