The Website as the Backbone of Digitalization – Relaunch of
www.reflex-winkelmann.com
Industry
Building and Utility Technology
Project Period
2022–2023
Topics
Headless
Storyblok
agile Approach
Multi-Language-Rollout
Reflex Winkelmann is one of the leading providers of high-quality systems for heating and hot water supply technology. It is part of the Winkelmann Building+Industry (WBI) division, the largest of the four business areas of the family-owned Winkelmann Group, featuring the strong international Reflex brand. With over 1,800 employees worldwide, 7 production sites, and 25 sales companies, Reflex Winkelmann is a key player in the HVAC industry. Its extensive product range includes diaphragm expansion vessels, hot water storage tanks, plate heat exchangers, and systems for pressure maintenance, water replenishment, degassing, and water treatment.
Since 2022, UDG has been supporting this hidden champion in its digitalization journey.
Challenge
When Reflex Winkelmann decided to relaunch its website, the project was a central element of a digitalization strategy that involved much more than just redesigning the corporate website’s appearance.
Already serving as a product catalog for nearly 3,000 products, services, and system components, the website was to become the hub of all digital customer interactions – including pre-configured support for planned direct quotation features.
The project was conceptually and technically redesigned from scratch, independent of existing structures. A largely new infrastructure and a modern, future-proof software and CMS solution were chosen to provide a reliable and expandable foundation for the ambitious roadmap of the coming years.
Multiple website types for different international markets were also part of the rollout from the beginning, as was a comprehensive, target-group-specific contact routing system. This was to be integrated with other thematically relevant content services and software applications into the broader customer journey. The relaunch was thus just the first step and a visible representation of the broader digitalization strategy happening behind the scenes.
Approach
It was quickly decided to build the new central platform using a headless architecture, ensuring future-proof scalability, and to base the website relaunch on this foundation. The tool of choice was Storyblok, which met all the project’s requirements, including those stemming from a demanding UX concept.
This marked the project’s starting point, accompanied by UX research to derive technical requirements from a customer-first perspective. After conducting extensive stakeholder interviews and collaborative workshops, the requirements of various internal stakeholders – both national and international – were collected. A nearly complete user story mapping of all target groups along the customer journey was developed, prioritized for the MVP, and used to populate the agile implementation backlog. To this day, strategic actions can still be derived from this initial research and requirements assessment.
Based on this solid foundation, the user experience was redesigned around the journey. The corporate design also had to be reworked to meet digital standards, including accessibility and a consistent, web-compatible brand identity. A growing UI kit laid the foundation for a digital design system, supporting consistency across digital communication. UDG also assisted with text and content development.
The technical concept for the new website involved using Storyblok CMS as an AWS SaaS solution combined with a headless approach.
Implementation was completed within a year and included a global rollout in 24 language versions after launching the main website.
Implementation & Achievements
The result: an international web solution combining usability and clarity with a fresh, functional appearance. A digital platform that serves a wide range of target groups – from skilled trade professionals to architects, planners, and operators in both industrial and public sectors. A flexible and comprehensive technical solution that can be extended toward commerce features and personalization.
At the same time, the platform offers simple content management with a low learning curve and finely tunable role and permission management. Advanced content tools provide high control over publishing.
Since the relaunch, the website has been continuously developed in line with the roadmap, becoming part of a holistic vision: a digital information, product, and service portal for Reflex’s customers and partners.
Key Facts
Technical Highlights
Perspective
The right decisions in technical setup, a strategic approach during the project, and a consistent customer-first approach have led to a future-proof platform that is now being developed into a one-stop shop for all the needs of the company's widely dispersed target groups.
