Digital transformation at B&O will 
simultaneously optimize innovation,  internal processes, security and customer experience

After more than 30 years with a self-developed and widely branched IT system, B&O will now standardize. With Columbus as an advisor and sparring partner, B&O has set in motion a comprehensive digital transformation with solutions to match its new structure, business model, and vision for customer experiences aligned with the company's luxury products.

The objective of our digital transformation is to create a completely new IT landscape, which not only makes our own internal processes simpler and more efficient, but which can also provide the best possible customer journey across all our channels.

Bang & Olufsen (B&O) has pushed the boundaries of how streamlined and elegant the design of high-end hi-fi products can be for decades. This world-famous Danish company, in collaboration with Columbus, is now going back to the drawing board in a digital transformation that will result in change inside and out.

"The objective of our digital transformation is to create a completely new IT landscape, which not only makes our own internal processes simpler and more efficient but also provides the best possible customer journey across all our channels," says CIO Jonas Dan Jørgensen at B&O.

Proprietary software becoming too slow

B&O has been collaborating with Columbus since January 2022 to simplify, rethink, and streamline its processes downstream, i.e., for distribution, sales, and service, from when an item is picked at B&O's distribution center until it is installed at the customer.

"Up until now, we’ve experienced increasing problems with the fact that this vital part of our value chain has been supported by self-developed software dating back to 1991. It goes without saying that over time this system has become increasingly complex and difficult to work with," says Jørgensen.

B&O wanted to switch from its self-developed system to a standard system. The company chose Columbus and a solution based on Microsoft Dynamics after a thorough analysis phase, in which Columbus participated together with other potential suppliers.

Whole organization had to be involved

Industry experts and advisors from Columbus ran a series of seminars and workshops to help B&O in the initial phase. The aim was to tackle the major change management task of getting the entire organization to assume ownership of the transformation and reconfiguration of the IT system into standard processes.

In connection with the design of the new IT landscape, advisors from Columbus talked to employees from all parts of B&O's organization, explains Stig Birger Madsen, Market Manager Retail Solutions at Columbus:

"We noticed, for example, that employee perception of B&O's end customer varied depending on where in the organization we asked. It was important for us to deal with that variation in customer image. We worked to increase the degree of familiarity employees had with the individual end customer across B&O's own internal stakeholders, regardless of whether we’re talking distribution, sales, or service. That will enable us to give every customer a luxury experience.”

According to Madsen, organizational alignment is crucial for a digital transformation to be fully successful.

"B&O's digital transformation will not only optimize internal processes but will also directly influence and improve interactions with customers. So, we adopted an integrated approach to innovation and customer service, where new technology plays a central role in improving the customer experience.”

A roadmap has been created for the technology that will support the processes and power B&O's organizational transformation.

B&O ready to standardize

I’m not sure that they would have been if we hadn’t completed this major change management process with the help of Columbus. It was a really good result.

B&O has worked intensively to become what Jørgensen calls fit to standard.

"For us to have the luxury of being able to choose a standard system, we must be more than an 80 percent fit to that standard. Otherwise, we run the risk of still having to develop our own solutions on the back end. And it's just as much a mental process. Our colleagues in the business are starting to experience the consequences of our restructuring, and they’re very excited and supportive. I’m not sure that they would have been if we hadn’t completed this major change management process with the help of Columbus. It was a really good result.”

Partners included in simplified ecosystem

In the process, industry experts and digital advisors from Columbus have challenged B&O to take a fresh look at its organization and its many business lines.

In the review of the company's existing systems, B&O and Columbus identified a number of action areas where work could be done more efficiently.

They included B&O's legal setup, which no longer matched a new business model with significantly more partners and a focus on omnichannel.

"Previously, our self-developed system suited our business model and value chain. We had 2,000 stores, and we managed them by having legal entities to handle sales close to each store. That meant a very large number of intra-group transactions, resulting in increasing complexity and administrative overhead. The legal setup has now been greatly simplified, a major prerequisite for us to be able to implement new and more efficient IT processes," says Jørgensen.

There are now around 400 B&O stores globally, but B&O itself only owns 10.

"The rest are run by partners. The aim is also to develop an IT and process landscape in one unified ecosystem, where we can work as effectively together with our partners as we do with our own units.”

Field service: A total experience in the luxury class

The first parts of B&O's new service & retail platform are scheduled to go live in the summer of 2024.

Some field service solutions are already in operation, but a major and important milestone awaits when Columbus builds a new field service solution for B&O's own stores in Paris, London, New York, Hong Kong, and Copenhagen.

"We will then be in a situation where we can click a new store on the system for a fraction of what it used to cost, as we had to go in and recode in the old system each time."

The idea is to achieve greater transparency and closer cooperation with partners to ultimately be able to give joint customers an even better experience.

"When you buy a luxury product like B&O, there has to be a luxury experience associated with it. We believe in the value of a very close match between the online experience and the physical store. You can be inspired online and complete the purchase in a store – or vice versa. The important thing is that the customer gets a total experience in the luxury class, and our new, simplified IT system will support that."

New security model being built

In connection with the digital transformation, a completely new security model will be implemented, based around the partner landscape.

"Right now we have 4,000 individuals in 400 stores in 70 countries connected to our system. We need to have a secure model to be able to efficiently handle the many hundreds of consultants worldwide who enter and exit our system every day," says Jørgensen.

"You have to respect the task"

The goal is for the transformation to be complete when B&O turns 100 on 17 November 2025. Jørgensen believes the 18 months of analysis and preparation in collaboration with Columbus were well spent.

"You have to respect the task when you want to implement such a comprehensive IT project in such a venerable company with 100 years behind it. You can’t just impose a new system and buy a few licenses. I really believe that we now have the best possible design, having been challenged and advised by Columbus to ensure that our goals are achieved most effectively.”