Third-Generation EvertonianHardcore football fandom translates into an excellent member experience for Pure Gym

The Vision is ClearCIO Arvid Johansson leverages his experience in retail to merge SATS Elixia

It’s All In Your StoryGroup CIO Andy Caddy reveals his approach to Virgin Active’s digital transformation

And much more inside

Art Direction: MMM designStories: Snowball CopyPhotography: Magnus Omme, Getty Images, iStock

05 Checking in with RÉMI NODET,

Exerp CEO

06 President of the Fitness Industry

Technology Council BRYAN K. O’ROUKE discusses today’s biggest

CIO challenges and opportunities

12 Virgin Active’s Group CIO ANDY CADDY uses technology to create

an artful human experience

16 VIRGIN ACTIVE CASE:

Taking a no-nonsense approach to

change management

20 Exerp Projects Director PETER HONORÉ injects speed and

predictability into large-scale projects

26 Fitness entrepreneur RASMUS INGERSLEV reveals his winning

strategies for marrying fitness with

technology

30 Exerp COO LAURENT CZINCZENHEIM keeps his eye

on his customer’s long game

34 ANDY FORSYTH, Head of IT

at Pure Gym, translates his hardcore

football fandom into excellent club

member experiences

38 PURE GYM CASE: Shared trust and an entrepreneurial

spirit fuels the Pure Gym-Exerp

relationship

40 Exerp Business Consultant

JONATHAN MIDTTUN

moves his customers smoothly to-

wards their brighter, optimised future

42 CIO ARVID JOHANSSON

leverages his experience in

retail to merge SATS Elixia with its

total-fitness future

46 On the quest for simplicity with

Exerp Systems Architect

MARTIN LINDBOE

50 Exerp Supporter ANNE KRONBORG understands

what’s important to her customers

– she used to be one

52 GO HEALTH CASE: Partnering with technology experts

is key to creating a uniquely personal,

holistic training experience

75 Exerp Commercial Director JACOB HERBORG NATHAN on the

company’s plan to better serve North

American customers

3

Rémi Nodet

4

MEET RÉMI NODET, CEO AND PARTNER

CHECK IN WITH EXERP

The fitness industry has changed in dramatic and exciting ways since I joined Exerp as a developer in 2003. Never before has technology played such a major role in how fitness clubs serve the ever-changing needs of their members.

As providers of the leading club management system for large enterprises, we work with an array of exciting, boundary-pushing international health clubs, and we have a plethora of inspiring stories to share. That’s why we created Club Exerp, and we’re so grateful to our contributing clients for allowing us to tell their stories.

Packed with intriguing professional profiles and inspiring technical and commercial stories, this publication is designed to motivate you to change. Change is hard. It requires a huge commitment. Nobody understands that better than your own club members. But the benefits and results can be truly amazing. Read on to find out more.

Thanks for checking in with Exerp.

Yours truly,Rémi

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BR

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. O

’RO

UK

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6

CIOs everywhere are being thrust into new and increasingly strategic roles that enable reinvention of their business models via digital technologies. More often than not, they are required to advocate innovations that rely on emerging technologies and their associated investments. The complexity of this can be massive, as digital initiatives often include a cacophony of disconnected and unintegrated activities. It is a challenging new era, and in the highly competitive health club marketplace, the interplay between risk and reward has never been higher.

What does this mean for technology leaders in health clubs? There has never been a greater opportunity for CIOs to make an impact on both their organisations and on the industry as a whole. Major brands in particular have reached a precipice dividing those willing to seize tremendous digital opportunities, knowing there are uncertainties; and others who will take their chances and do little to nothing new or different. For those looking to make a significant impact, we share views on what CIOs can do to meet their potential as the drivers of change in their companies and in the industry.

CREATE A VISION-LED CULTUREA CIO can have great command of maintaining technology infrastructures, be cognizant of trends the future holds and even make contributions to some digital innovations. These efforts, however, are still inadequate to fulfil the promise of a CIO as a leader of change.

Transformations require inspirational leadership. Gartner’s 2015 CIO Agenda surveyed over 2,800 global CIOs, representing $12.1 trillion in revenue and public sector budgets across industries, and directly interviewed 11 leading CIOs as well. One key finding of the report was the benefit of flipping CIOs’ people-leadership orientation, from a traditional control-led perspective to a vision-led one.

Leadership is almost always about creating vision and inspiring people to believe in it, not about commanding and controlling. CIOs determined to be digital leaders must put their energies into teaching and inspiring those around them. In the survey, 75% of CIOs planned to change their leadership

Preparing for impactAs the health club industry enters a new era, CIOs face challenges and opportunities

By Bryan K. O’Rourke, President of the Fitness Industry Technology Council

7

style over the next three years, most commonly by amplifying their vision (47%) while reducing their command and control efforts (65%). Without an inspiring culture, the adoption of new thinking - which is required of digital initiatives - becomes very difficult to achieve.

DEFINE TECHNOLOGY’S POTENTIAL IMPACT IN TERMS OFTHE MEMBER EXPERIENCECIOs should build an understanding of both current processes around the customer and what could be possible via digital. This way the organisation can see the potential and make choices about what is most relevant from the viewpoint of the customer.

Creating cross-functional teams involving key areas like operations, mar-keting, member service and sales is a good place to begin. It can also be ex-tremely helpful to involve external partners in customer journey mapping. By defining existing business processes around the customer, along with a road map for the future based on a digital business model, innovation teams can begin to clarify the user experience they are seeking to create. They can also begin to process the implications, costs and priorities related to the new digital tools.

This is by no means a short-term effort. Project teams should become an in-tegral and ongoing means of establishing the specific technology initiatives, developing implementation strategies and measuring their outcomes.

ALIGN WITH THE RIGHT RESOURCESWhen faced with the significant organisational changes that digital initia-tives can create, there is a need for insights and experience. Unbiased guid-ance, to help contextualise alternatives and decisions around digital ini-tiatives, is critical. There is great benefit in having insight into what other industry adoption challenges and opportunities exist.

CONCLUSIONSThere can be no doubt that the seeds of change resulting from technology have already been planted in the health club industry. Digital experiences will make or break organisations, and thus exceptional digital experiences are now a necessity to compete.

For CIOs to impact their organisations, they must evolve beyond technical experts and become strategic leaders that bring forward-thinking vision, in-stil new disciplines, inspire others to see the potential and engage relevant perspectives and resources. The future of organisations lies largely in the hands of these special CIO leaders.

Recommended readingVision Led Leadership – How to lay the foundation for major organisational change• Change the Culture, Change the Game

(Roger Connors and Tom Smith) • Rapid Transformation (Behnam N. Tabrizi) • The Ten Faces Of Innovation: IDEO’s Strategies for Defeating

the Devil’s Advocate and Driving Creativity Throughout Your Organization (Tom Kelly and Jonathan Littman)

Customer Journey Mapping – How to design new or improve existing customer experiences • Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries,

Game Changers, and Challengers (Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur)

• The Experience Design BLUEPRINT: Recipes for Creating Happier Customers and Healthier Organizations (Gregory James Olson)

• What Great Brands Do: The Seven Brand-Building Principles that Separate the Best from the Rest (Denise Lee Yohn)

8

Bryan K. O’Rourke :Bryan O’Rourke serves as President of the Fitness Industry Technology Council, a consortium of leading companies working on technology standards for the fitness industry. Bryan is also cofounder and CEO of Integerus Advisors, CSO of Fitmarc and the Flywheel Group.

• Widely published and quoted in periodicals such as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times

• Named one of 13 to watch in 2013 by IHRSA• Has worked in fitness industry for 18 years as an entrepreneur,

investor and club owner • Serves on the American Council of Exercise’s Industry

Advisory Panel • Recently contributed to the book Essentials Of Motivation

and Behavior Change• Is a cancer survivor and underwrites a variety of causes

pertaining to cancer prevention • Has presented as a keynote speaker at industry and corporate

conferences on four continents

is defined as a sudden or momentous

change in a situation. From Latin

revoltus, past participle of revolvere,

to turn over. In life, relationships,

organizations, or ecosystems; any

total and complete change.

9

of the biggest Fitness brands in Europe run Exerp

Source: European Health & Fitness Market Report As Of 31.12.2014 By Deloitte

40%

10

N D Y C A D D Y, G R O U P C I O V I R G I N A C T I V E 11

In the late 1980s, soul and acid jazz were surging through the UK club scene. Andy Caddy was there with his turntables and mixer, immersing himself in the scene and experimenting with fresh new sounds. “I remember the first time I heard two records played together,” Andy recalls. “I immediately went out and bought myself a mixer.”

Today, he is fascinated by what technology has brought to the DJing arena. “Music has become so democratic. Now anyone can have a mixer on their PC, and social media has changed everything from the artist/fan relationship to the royalty system. It’s fascinating to see how quickly art changes through technology.”

HUMBLE BEGINNINGSWhen the 90s came around, house music and hip hop were beginning to dominate, and Andy became a grandmaster scratcher. At the same time he was studying electrical engineering at the University of Hertfordshire, and serious adulthood was looming. “I was never quite talented enough as a DJ,” he admits self-deprecatingly, “and I needed money, so I decided to give it up for a proper job.”

His first “proper” job was as an IT trainee, writing code for Argos, the UK cat-alogue retailer. “I got the opportunity from a woman named Isabel in HR. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with my degree, but she said to me ‘What you need is a job in IT’. She was right. I think I still owe her one.”

The soundtrack to his careerDJ Superstar turned CIO, Andy Caddy, uses technology to create an artful human experience

Andy’s musical recommendations: • Laura Doggett, UK • Gavin James, Ireland • Chvrches, UK • Foxes, UK

12

CIO TRAINING GROUNDAndy says the best part of working for Argos was that he got to try 6 or 7 different roles, spanning everything, from coding, to working with big main-frame systems, to client services. “I developed a very rounded view of the business and I was trained to think through the business impact of every-thing I did.”

Andy’s career trajectory, from Argos through to easyJet and Virgin Active, has always centered around a unique customer experience. “I’ve always been an empathist – trying to use technology to match great products and services with the right customers. With IT automating everything for businesses today, I think you have to be good at this to succeed.”

INSPIRED BY REAL LIFEToday Andy is applying this same philosophy to the fitness industry. But it’s no accident – on top of being a music fan, he is also an avid footballer and runner. “Just as technology has changed music, it is also creeping into the health and fitness arena. I have been eager to become a part of this evolution since 2008.”

13

In 2008, Andy had a heart murmur. After a tense period of countless hospital visits and cumbersome tests involving limited technology, doctors concluded it was simply due to too much caffeine. “Luckily, I could easily take care of the problem. But during this whole process, I kept thinking ‘There must be a better way to use technology.’”

A MORE INFORMED FITNESS EXPERIENCEAs luck would have it, in 2013 Virgin Active had decided to pursue a new dig-ital strategy and needed a new CIO to lead the transformation. They called Andy. “I count myself very lucky. I wanted to work on merging fitness with technology, and I wanted to work for a great brand. This job offers both and I love it.” Now Andy is leading the creation of a digital experience that gives Virgin Active’s members better insight, more control, and more choices when it comes to their fitness.

KEEPING IT REALDespite his high-level, high-profile position in the world’s biggest interna-tional health club, Andy stays in touch with his musical roots. “I try to keep current on music and follow the industry. I like to go to Kickstarter and back young new groups. There are loads of talented people out there who can make a living in music with the right backing. Helping them out keeps me young – and I don’t accept ageing.” Andy also plays football weekly and runs an annual half marathon to stay fit.

Catch Andy at one of his upcoming speaking engagements or follow him on twitter @Cadmeister.

What’s your most critical lesson from your first IT job?Be aware and critical of yourself. Work to align your job with the goals of the business.

What’s the best thing about the fitness industry? The opportunity to use technology to improve people’s health.

What is your favourite football team?Milton Keynes Dons

14

ARCHITECTURE

JAVA Industry-standard platform based on Jave EE

JBOSS Deployed on JBoss Enterprise Application Platform

ORACLE Oracle back-end database server

DEVELOPMENT & TESTING

JIRA Development & Testing

GIT Version control integrated with de-velopment planning tool (JIRA) and continuous integration platform (Jenkins) provides full immediate audit trail of changes and context

JENKINS Open-sourced Jenkins used for continuous integration and auto-mated testing of new releases

TESTRAIL TestRail by Gurock is used for weekly release testing

CUSTOMER SERVICE

ZENDESK Zendesk helpdesk system, making it possible to provide support on multiple channels (email, web inter-face, tablets) while keeping track of every communication

Integrated with internal develop-ment and defect tracking solution

Our technologiesThe Exerp Platform is built on proven industry-standard technologies.

15

C A S E : VIRGIN ACTIVE

Andy Caddy has been working in the UK IT world for over 20 years, for a number of leading companies, including Argos, Royal Bank of Scot-land, Cable & Wireless and easyJet. Currently he is Group CIO of Virgin Active, where he’s in the midst of a massive, transformational business project, from three legacy membership systems to one standardized system, that will reduce cost, promote simplicity and fundamentally change the way Virgin Active interacts with their mem-bers.

“Having three different membership systems for over 100 clubs made it impossible to service our customers seamlessly,” Andy reveals. “We knew we needed to merge them into one system. But as the largest international health club in the world, we have a tendency to want to do things in a big, unique way. But that was failing us. We realized we needed a membership system that worked in a standard way – and that meant fun-damentally changing our business processes.”

Because the level of business change is so sig-nificant, Andy works closely with Virgin Active’s COO. “When you’re dealing with this level of change, it’s important to have the right leader-ship involved from the beginning. We’re not just talking about IT, we’re talking about changing our offerings, our workstreams and the way we communicate, which affects our staff, our mem-bers, our clubs, finance processes and opera-tional delivery. We needed to get organisational buy-in, but we also needed to prepare our entire company for the changes we wanted to make.”

It’s all in your storyVirgin Active CIO Andy Caddy takes a no-nonsense, narrative approach to change management

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VIRGIN ACTIVE facts

• The world’s largest

international health club

• 1.4 million members

• 270+ clubs in 9 countries

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WHAT’S YOUR STORY?“You start by getting your story together,” Andy continues. “Mine was simply that we were not differentiating when using three different busi-ness systems. In order to keep growing, our strat-egy is to differentiate by offering a digital fitness experience. But for that to the happen, the core underlying system just needs to work.”

While Andy was focusing on spreading this story like gospel and preparing the business internally, Exerp was preparing the new membership sys-tem for rollout in all 118 clubs. “After looking in the market and narrowing it down to three pro-viders, we chose Exerp because of their proven track record – they have never had a project fail-ure. They were knowledgeable, experienced and believable.”

THE CHANGE FACTORYThe project started in March 2014 and was com-plete by May 2015. “I think that’s testament to our factory approach to the project. We want-ed to roll out about 10 clubs per week and we didn’t have the resources for one team per club.” So Andy’s team developed a six-week pre-launch program that included e-learning videos, web-inars and a central knowledge desk for club employees to contact when they had questions. They did the actual integration overnight, and placed one person in the club the day after to help troubleshoot; but only for 24 hours.

“We needed to achieve all of this change while minimising the impact on the club and the members. Exerp were key to making this hap-pen. They were willing to talk openly about issues, and brought a wealth of business process experience that helped us simplify our own processes. Exerp are great believers in sim plicity – and removing complexity. When em-barking on a business change of this scale, that is exactly the kind of partner you need.”

INCITING TRANSFORMATIONAndy says the most important part of his role is inciting and enabling Virgin Active’s digital

transformation. “I see it as my responsibility to change the way we think about Technology and Digital – from a disconnected afterthought to a complete digital member journey. I’m on a mission to use very clever technology, combined with very smart people to help our health club on its journey to be loved by its staff and by its members.”

With the streamlining of business processes and integration of the single membership system complete in the UK, next on the agenda is rolling the new system out in the other seven Virgin Active territories.

Andy’s change management adviceUnderstand and visualize what success of the transformation really means.

Ask yourself:1. What’s the impact on the business?2. How will you measure that impact?3. How does the change become a part of the

business flow?

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Peter Honoré

2020

MEET PETER HONORÉ, PROJECTS DIRECTOR

When a customer engages with Exerp, they are introduced very early on to Exerp’s Project and Account Management (PAM) team. The team, seven people strong, represents a wide range of IT disciplines, from coding to consultancy.

Peter Honoré is Projects Director and head of the team. “Our broad experience with large multina-tional clients in the Fitness Industry is our main strength,” he explains. “On top of our technical abilities, our people understand the importance of planning, the unique capabilities of the Exerp platform, and the needs of the fitness industry.

By combining all of this with extensive experi-ence developing and migrating systems, we can act as a strong single point of contact for our customers throughout the entire implementa-tion process.”

GETTING INVOLVED EARLYFor some customers, the system implementation process can seem daunting. But the PAM team has a very structured process and expert tools for guiding customers through it. “Our involvement usually starts in the sales process. We help po-tential customers review the different modules

of the system, and we demonstrate how they can be used. We then get involved with the gap analysis and scoping to make sure we are tight-ly aligned with the customer on any business process and development requirements.”

Peter says early involvement of the PAM team is critical to an efficient implementation. “The closer we work with the customer in the “discovery” phase, the fewer surprises we will have in the development and configura-tion phases. And this makes for a faster, more predictable rollout.”

THE MIRRORING APPROACHExerp’s Project and Account Management team calls on heavy industry experience to inject speed and predictability into large-scale projects

“ Our team needs to be very flexible. No matter how big or how agile our customers’ organisations, we need to be able to support them in a way that makes sense for them.”

21

WIDELY VARIED NEEDS Exerp’s customers are very different, both in terms of their needs and their access to resources. “Our team needs to be very flexible. No matter how big or how agile our customers’ organisations, we need to be able to support them in a way that makes sense for them.”

Senior Project Manager Jonathan Clein of Virgin Active can concur. “At Virgin Active, we have a unique internal methodology when it comes to IT projects. The PAM team were very flexible and adapted quickly to our approach. Everyone on the team brought invaluable

industry experience. Their style is collaborative, structured and pragmatic.”

Once the Exerp system has been fully imple-mented, the project transitions from project phase to business as usual. At this stage, all Exerp customers have a dedicated account manager who will liaise with them on a regular basis. At the same time, day-to-day support issues are handled by the Exerp Support team.

For more information about project imple-mentation or the PAM team, contact Peter at PH@exerp.com

“ At Virgin Active, we have a unique internal methodology when it comes to IT projects. The PAM team were very flexible and adapted quickly to our approach.”

Jonathan Clein, Senior Project Manager, Virgin Active.

22

tips for successful project implementation

Peter’s top

1. Make sure the scope is clear and committed to by all parties.

2. Both sides should dedicate sufficient and empowered project teams with clear objectives.

3. The key resources should have a strong under standing of the business and its needs, as well as the Exerp system’s capabilities.

4. Make the progress visible and tangible for both parties. If possible, provide product demos of development.

5. Ensure daily or frequent dialogue between the key project resources, so that progress is guaranteed and deviations from the plan are made visible.

6. Ensure sufficient management attention on both sides so that escalation is easy if necessary.

623

Predictable planningTo bring speed and predictability to the implementation process, Exerp employs some of the industry’s most accomplished Project Managers and Business Consultants. Despite the scope and complexity of the projects, Exerp maintains a 100% successful project track record. 

24

Exerp rollout framework – 50 clubs

25

A S M U S I N G E R S L E V, F I T N E S S E N T R E P R E N E U R26

Future-proofing your businessOvercoming the tech challenges of the fitness industry

“ Welcome to the club, Rasmus. Your program for today has been transferred to your selected device. We have added 5% on all leg exercises since you did so well last time. Your friend Dave came in five minutes ago and he is also doing cardio today. Enjoy your workout”, says the robot as I enter the club.

BEING A HEALTH CLUB MEMBER IN 2025If I imagine myself as a health club member 10 years from now, I believe the three most remarkable changes from today will be: 1) The services offered are more flexible and independent of the four walls of the club; 2) The services offered are more individualised; and 3) Training has become social again.

All of these changes will be technology-driven, and my club will know me better thanks to their extensive data mining. My club will know my interests and goals, and can track my past performance and activity through

my wearable device (or clothing), which acts as the foundation of their communication with me. In addition, they know my DNA, and accordingly, how I should work out and eat to get the best results. They also know how I should work out to prevent life-threatening diseases.

Based on this data, I am getting individually-tailored suggestions for what I can do, when I can do it, and who I can do it with, which can be personal trainers, my friends, or other members with similar goals – even a virtual trainer on my mobile device. I can do the classes I want, whenever I want, with the best instructors in the world. Either with a “live” instructor in

By Rasmus Ingerslev, Fitness Entrepreneur

27

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the club, by following a class streamed over the Internet with a thousand other people following a celebrity trainer, or by doing a pre-recorded class. If I want to do an outdoor activity, I can easily team up with the “gym-buddies” I have been introduced to through the club’s member management system. In short, the offering will be more personalised, more flexible and more social – and more importantly for operators, the four walls of the club will no longer be what defines them. They will be defined by how they engage with their members.

THE FUTURE IS ALREADY HEREThe rapid advance of smart technology is giving consumers more choice and convenience than ever before, and members want freedom and control. Wearable devices, health and fitness apps and streaming exercise classes are brilliant examples of the new consumer-centric and tech-driven way of delivery, which is also impacting the health and fitness industry. The four walls of the club are being broken down from the outside by all of these emerging technologies and services.

Studies have shown that robots can already diagnose and treat patients better than doctors in many cases. By comparison, there will obviously come a day where personal training, group exercise and a lot of other functions in a club can be done better by robots than by real people. Technology is not developing linearly but exponentially, so there is good reason to believe this will happen sooner rather than later.

But what about the human touch? Well, do not be too sure you can tell the difference. In 1950, the British mathematician Alan Turing (portrayed in the movie “The Imitation Game”) created a test of a machine’s ability to exhibit intelligent behaviour equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human. A machine passed that test for the first time in June 2014.

NOT IF, BUT WHEN...Assuming the question is not “if” technology will change our industry dramatically, that leaves us with “when”. A lot of pieces to this puzzle are already out there. There are over 200 million wearables in the market.

Several club groups offer DNA analysis and Under Armor alone has more than 120 million users on their health and fitness tracking apps. The latter is more or less equal to the total number of people holding a gym membership globally today.

The challenge for any club operator is that these pieces do not co-exist in the same ecosystem. My prediction is that the big “when” will be when these pieces are connected. That does not mean that there is no value in the various technology options in the market today. On the contrary, I believe there is a lot of value in being among the early adoptors if you choose wisely.

LESSONS LEARNED BY DOING AND PAYINGA few years back when I was starting up an online gym, I was sure that I had seen the light in terms of technology. I pushed forward hard and invested significantly, only to learn that the idea was right but the timing was wrong. I was ahead of the market, and even ahead of what was technically possible. The good thing was that I learned a lot, and enough to keep the company afloat and reinvent it to a successful global supplier of virtual classes.

My key take-aways from those years of hardship, which I believe apply to the current challenge of the industry, are: 1) Do not reinvent the wheel; and 2) Time to market is essential. With regard to reinventing the wheel, again using my own start-up as an example, I was so focused on creating something that was unique that I decided to do all the developing rather than using an existing platform and tweaking my idea to match that.

Assuming the question is not “if” technology will change our industry dramatically, that leaves us with “when”.

Rasmus E. E. Ingerslev:Experienced fitness entrepreneur with an international foot-print. Has built and run two of Denmark’s largest health club groups from start up to exit. Executive Vice Chairman of Wexer Virtual, who supplies virtual classes to the majority of the global top 25 health club groups.

• Fitness World, Vice Chairman (2014-2015) • Scilife Clinic, Board Member (2014-)• IHRSA, Board Member (2013-). Currently serving as Vice

Chairman• Fresh Fitness, Founder and CEO (2010-2014)• Wexer Virtual, Founder and CEO (2008-2014). Currently

Executive Vice Chairman• Fitness dk, Founder and CEO (2001-2008)• Exerp, Chairman of the Board (2009-2010)• Anti Doping Denmark, Board Member (2006-2008)• The Danish Fitness & Health Organization, founder and

Board Member (2006-2014)

The thing with developing is that you never know exactly what you end up with, nor does it end up costing what you expected. It will always cost more – and it will always take longer than anticipated.

LEAVE THE DEVELOPING TO THE EXPERTSBasically, you have to ask yourself what you are. Are you a developer or a club operator? You could build your own treadmills, but you do not. You could cre-ate your own spreadsheet software, but you use Excel or something similar. Why? You know what it costs, you know when it is available, and you know that it will continuously be improved and that the products are supported.

But what about the competition? I don’t believe it’s the uniqueness of the tools you use that makes the difference. I would suggest choosing proven, robust and scalable services, and putting all of your effort into how you apply them. Time to market is so much more important than anything else. In today’s mar-ket it is not the big who eat the small. It is the small and agile that eat the slow.

Having said that, it’s important to remain critical with regard to time to market. Being ahead of the market can be as costly as being behind. Luckily, you have people to ask when it comes to this critical question: your members and the market. Today it is so easy and inexpensive to conduct surveys. Do it. It will help you understand whether you are premature, spot on, or too late in terms of the services you are considering adding.

CHALLENGE IS ALSO OPPORTUNITYThe fitness industry has seen significant changes over the past few years. It will continue to change, like so many industries do – and technology will be a key driver. If you are not convinced, look at accommodation. The biggest provider today is AirBnB, who own no real estate. The largest taxi company in the world is Uber. They do not own a single taxi. The most popular media owner is Facebook, who own no content – and to stay in our industry, one of the largest suppliers of classes is ClassPass who has surpassed the value of several major gym chains, without owning a single studio. Adjusting to this new market and competitive landscape is obviously challenging, but also exciting - and in every challenge lies opportunity.

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MEET LAURENT CZINCZENHEIM, COO AND PARTNER

Laurent Czinczenheim is the COO of Exerp and a data migration expert. He oversees all of Exerp’s daily operations including Support, Host-ing and Technical Consultancy. He gives each of his team members the objective of helping their customers optimise their businesses on a daily basis.

This starts during the process of migrating new clients from their legacy systems. Laurent has a unique understanding of the complexities asso-ciated with migrating large volumes of data, and a unique ability to identify dependencies and anticipate consequences of certain system changes. “With data migration, every second counts and costs, so we focus on being extremely efficient and agile,” Laurent explains.

AN ADVANCED MIGRATION FRAMEWORKOver nine years at Exerp, Laurent has overseen the migration of almost two million club mem-bers. His extraordinary migration skills are partly the result of his engineering degree from Ecole des Mines Paris, one of the most prestigious engineering schools in France.

“Several years back, we realised we had to devel-op a more advanced data migration framework, to put some speed into the migration and make processes less fragile (to decrease the number of manual errors to correct afterwards),” Laurent adds. Today, the Exerp Migration Framework, which is the result of several past conversion experiences from heterogeneous systems, allows Exerp to safely roll out chains of over 270,000 members in just five hours.

“The framework works incrementally,” Laurent explains. “If it is stopped during execution, it will immediately restart where it stopped, making it extremely robust against both data-related and unexpected problems, such as network failures.”

PERMANENT SOLUTIONS TO ISSUESTo minimise in-house IT dependencies and relinquish clients from hosting and operating, the Exerp platform is offered as a SaaS solution. “We basically control the whole technical stack. That means that on the client side there is no need for a department with specific technical knowledge,” Laurent says.

Comprising nine Supporters, four Technical Consultants, six System Administrators including two Oracle-certified professionals, Laurent’s team manages close to 1000 clubs, which he admits sometimes gets his adrenalin pumping. “When issues arise we need to be extremely precise and quick in solving them. And we don’t just slap a bandage on the issue and go home. We work to get to the root of it, and afterwards, find a permanent solution that improves the system as a whole. That’s just one way we keep evolving the system around customer needs, with their business operations and strategies in mind. ”

Get in touch with Laurent at lc@exerp.com

EVOLVING AROUND CUSTOMER NEEDSWith a unique mind for migration dependencies, Exerp’s COO keeps his on eye the customer’s long game

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“ When issues arise we need to be extremely precise and quick in solving them. And we don’t just slap a bandage on the issue and go home.”

Laurent Czinczenheim

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Exerp in numbers

1171 M EUR

M+2.5In annual collection (Direct Debit, Credit Card etc.)

Active Members Hosted

215M

K

K

Check-ins in January 2015

Group Exercise Classes in one month

Check-ins in just one day (January 12th, 2015)

10.7500

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N D R E W F O R S Y T H ,

H E A D O F I T AT P U R E G Y M

Third-Generation EvertonianSports and fitness fandom runs thick in Andrew Forsyth’s blood

Everton has competed in the top division for a record 110 seasons and has won the League Championship nine times.

Born and raised in Liverpool, Pure Gym Head of IT Andy Forsyth began his career working for Everton Football Club – just like his father and his father before him. “I had been an Everton fan since I was a small kid,” Andy reveals. “My dad and granddad both worked at the stadium (Goodison Park) so going to football games and supporting the team was just a way of life.”

When it was time for young Andrew to join the workforce, it seemed like a job at the stadium was a natural next step. “A lot of people there already knew me through my father, so I guess they thought they could give me a shot at operating the scoreboard.”

Andy soon went on to manage Everton fan club membership worldwide. “Everton has millions of fans all over the world. I became the administra-tor of the fan club, enrolling people, sending newsletters and answering mails. It was great having so much interaction with fans like myself.” Andy then went on to manage the sales staff of 50 people – selling tickets and fan paraphernalia at the games.

LOOKING AFTER FANSAndy says working for Everton was fantastic training for his current role at Pure Gym. “The common thing between the two jobs is looking after mem-bers. The goal is to provide the best services – the safest environment and greatest atmosphere possible – for the football fans and gym members alike. And to make it easier for them to acquire these services.”

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From Everton, Andy went on to work in national membership services for the UK sporting goods and apparel sector. He started at Pure Gym in 2012. “At the time, Pure Gym was beginning to make a big play in the affordable fitness market, and wanted to do something fairly radical in terms of mem-bership and IT. It seemed like it could be an interesting challenge – and it is.” Andy says he aims to make Pure Gym’s IT system the best in the market.

EVERTONIAN FOREVERJust because he no longer works for the club doesn’t mean Andy’s support for Everton has wavered. “I’ll always be a die-hard Everton supporter – the only football team in Liverpool,” he laughs cheekily, referring to the fierce and dramatic rivalry between Everton and neighbours Liverpool. The Forsyth family football tradition has also been passed to Andy’s eight-year-old son, who plays for South Liverpool.

What’s you’re favourite thing about working in the fitness industry?Providing a service that helps people stay healthy.

What’s the best IT decision you ever made?Bringing our direct debit and online member services in house.

Any advice for other fitness brands?Stay true to your offering and your company values.

Words to live by?Trust and earn trust – and everyone can be more effective with what they bring to the table.

Everton Football Club, LiverpoolLeague: Premier LeagueNickname: The ToffeesFounded: 1878 as St. Domingos F.CStadium: Goodison ParkChief rival: Liverpool

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Pure Gym is the UK’s leading affordable gym chain, serving 450,000 members. With no swim-ming pools, saunas, racquet courts and no fixed contracts, the company’s gyms typically employ just two people, supported by up to 12 self-em-ployed trainers.

Pure Gym was formed in 2009, when the founder saw a gap in the fitness market. Until then, the UK market had been dominated by mid-market and top-end chains. The vision was to make fitness more affordable, by stripping away the expensive optional facilities and offering many of its member services online.

“What Pure Gym set out to do at the time was quite revolutionary in terms of IT,” explains Andy Forsyth, Pure Gym’s Head of IT. “Fitness centres were mostly analogue operations. Pure Gym was the first to take memberships and class registrations online, making it possible to keep the monthly fees low.”

GOING FOR HOLISTICPure Gym’s original bespoke-developed IT system was designed to support just six or seven sites. But as the company grew, so did the need for a more holistic IT system that could better support both their members’

needs and Pure Gym’s plans for expansion.

“When I started with Pure Gym in 2012, I wanted to look at how we could simplify things,” Andy says. “With multiple systems and multiple out-sourced suppliers, it was difficult to track mem-bers and get to know them – and it was holding us back from our potential to be agile and to grow.”

TRUST IN A FAST-PACED ENVIRONMENTAndy and his team set out to analyse the market for software suppliers. After meeting with sev-eral companies, he flew to Copenhagen to meet

A Match Made in DataShared trust and an entrepreneurial spirit fuels the Pure Gym-Exerp partnership

C A S E : PURE GYM

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Jacob and Lars from Exerp. “My gut feeling was that these guys were trustworthy, competent and skilled. They never over-promised and were really transparent as we reviewed the system.”

Andy went with his gut feeling and he says it re-ally paid off. “Pure Gym is a group of fast-paced decision makers. Exerp developed a unique roll-out plan to suit that – they rolled out 55 clubs across the UK and Ireland in just four months.” He also says it was easy to work with Exerp. “They are great data debaters and good brainstormers, and that built a lot of trust between us. Once you have that trust, you can be very entrepreneurial and agile together.”

DATA-DRIVEN FUTURENow that the system is fully implemented across the chain, Andy’s plan is to continue to rely on data to improve member services. “It’s all about listening to members and helping them achieve their fitness goals. With Exerp’s help, we will continue to work on a micro-level with individ-ual member data to discover purchasing and exercise patterns. Not only will this help us im-prove the member experience, it will also help us make better business decisions in terms of when, where, and how we expand.”

Today, Pure Gym has 92 clubs, with another 30 scheduled to open by the end of 2015. Pure Gym’s target is to have 250-300 clubs by 2020.

PURE GYM facts

• 450,000 members

• 92 clubs

• 2014 Financial Results:

Membership up 66%

MEET JONATHAN MIDTTUN, BUSINESS CONSULTANT

Jonathan Midttun is a Business Consultant at Exerp. He started as a trainee, fresh out of techni-cal school in 2008, providing tech support to 400 individual clubs around Denmark. This gave him a very broad and deep introduction to the fitness industry.

“Tech support back then meant being onsite and working on individual PCs in the clubs,” says Jon-athan. “It gave me a unique opportunity to meet a lot of people working in the clubs and get an understanding of what was important to them.”

Jonathan’s role later evolved into project man-agement, where he focused on the start phase. Today he helps develop unique solutions for Ex-erp customers, including leading systems migra-tion and user training on the customer side.

“The Exerp system gives customers the opportu-nity to understand their members so much bet-ter,” explains Jonathan. “I see it as my job to help customers visualise how far their data can take them in terms of meeting member expectations and improving their business processes.”

ESSENTIAL TRUSTSince September 2013, Pure Gym UK has been one of Jonathan’s main customers. An ambitious and fast-moving company, Pure Gym achieved the fastest rollout in Exerp’s history: from 1 to 60 clubs in 4 months. Jonathan says it would not have been possible without a really high level of trust.

“It is no small endeavour to change IT systems. A certain level of disruption is necessary and

expected. But if we work closely together, listen to and trust each other, we can move through the development and migration processes really quickly and with minimal disruption.”

MIGRATORY ANIMALSIn the case of Pure Gym, that meant being onsite at the head office in Leeds for several weeks of scoping and preparation, working with their web development team based in Manchester, and traveling around the region educating new staff and top management on the benefits and use of the new system.

The actual migration happened on a cold Febru-ary night in 2014. “I remember feeling a bit like an orchestra conductor, waving my virtual wand from my little flat in Copenhagen. We had the

THE ART OF DISRUPTIONExerp Business Consultant reveals his approach to moving customers smoothly towards their optimised future

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conversion team, website agency, the gate control system, and payment processing teams working through the night. By 7 am, 340,000 members were converted to the new system.”

Now that Pure Gym is running at full speed with plans to add 50 more clubs this year, Jonathan’s role becomes less about minimising disruption and more about helping them optimise their data to enhance member engagement.

“It’s been a very satisfying journey working with Pure Gym.” Jonathan concludes. “I found that by really listening to and understanding their goals I was in a better position to provide the unique solutions they needed. And they were really open to our ideas as a result. I think we brought out the best in each other – and the business results speak for themselves.”

Contact Jonathan at jm@exerp.com

Jonathan Midttun

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R V I D J O H A N S S O N , C I O S AT S E L I X I A

Before taking on his current role, SATS Elixia CIO Arvid Johannson worked for seven years helping a German supermarket chain expand across Sweden. “During my time there, the company went from 0 to 150 stores,” Arvid says. “It was a fun journey at a very big, but agile and exciting international company.”

It was also a journey that shaped Arvid’s perspective on how IT can be mis-sion-critical when it comes to expansion. “When you’re a chain business, you need standard IT systems and protocols across the organisation. When you make changes in the system, you need to think ahead to the implications on each individual store and each individual customer in order for the changes to be successful.”

This experience came in handy when Arvid, a fitness fan in his own right, took the opportunity to join SATS, one of Sweden’s leading fitness brands, in 2009. “The fitness industry was not very IT-mature. There seemed endless opportunities to improve the business by leveraging IT.”

ENTER ELIXIAIn 2013, SATS’ parent company, Health and Fitness Nordic, began merging SATS with Elixia, Norway’s leading fitness brand. “The biggest challenge from an IT point of view was time,” Arvid reveals. “The merger was approved in June and we needed to launch as one brand by August – that meant all systems needed to be migrated within a few months.”

The Vision is ClearCIO Arvid Johansson leverages his experience in retail to merge SATS Elixia with its total-fitness future

“ Going forward, SATS Elixia will focus on communicating with individuals and crafting total wellness solutions for them, instead of pushing mass solutions up market.”

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Luckily, Arvid says, there was plenty of time for preparation. “My team did a fantastic job keeping an overview of all systems, integrating them into one portfolio, and working closely with our suppliers to keep some solid momentum.”

As SATS Elixia continues to expand across Norway, Sweden and Finland, their strategy is to stay focused on making Nordic people healthier and hap-pier. Arvid says that means offering a total fitness experience. “The Nordic people are very in tune with their fitness needs – they want to combine nu-trition and fitness for a total-health experience. Going forward, SATS Elixia will focus on communicating with individuals and crafting total wellness solutions for them, instead of pushing mass solutions up market.” This will require SATS Elixia to take an ambitious approach to its digital and online services, currently in development.

Together with its sister brands in Health & Fitness Nordic, SATS Elixia currently has 500,000 members and about 200 clubs across Norway, Sweden and Finland.

What’s the best IT decision you made during the SATS Elixia merger?To do a proper pilot before rolling out the wider systems migra-tion.

Advice for other CIOs embarking on mergers or acquisitions?Make time to involve your suppliers closely – so they under-stand every implication of the project and can staff up properly to support you.

Greatest passionGym training, skiing, golf and my three kids (ages 3, 9 and 11).

Words to live byBring your gym bag with you every day – so you never have an excuse not to train.

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– Audit in 2014 by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)

Throughout 2014 Exerp has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to comply with the International Standard for Assurance Engagements (ISAE 3402), formerly SAS 70, to produce a formal report on the design, implementation and operating effectiveness of the hosting environment.

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MEET MARTIN LINDBOE, SYSTEMS ARCHITECT

The Exerp platform is based on a standard set of building blocks – that’s what makes it easy for companies to adopt. But it is also very flexible, making it easy for clients in all segments (low-budget, mid-market, or premium) to custo-mise with the exact functionalities they need to run their businesses. Whatever the customer needs, the Exerp Development team works to deliver the simplest and safest solution.

Martin Lindboe is Systems Architect at Exerp. “When customers come to us, they always have a business case that is painfully complex. Our job is to simplify it. Just like with your car, you want a smooth, safe ride, but you don’t want to think about what’s happening under the hood. The everyday user of Exerp should not have to worry about these complexities.”

“The user interface is simple and intuitive, and it’s easy to get a good overview of your business activities – no matter what your role in the company,” says Martin. “We hide the technical details of the transaction or activity to make usability as simple as possible. And you can choose the level of simplicity you want for each role in your company. “

BUILT-IN SAFETY AND SECURITYSafety and security measures are built right in to the standard system. “We’ve made it so that different employee roles are assigned certain functionalities in the system. This reduces the risk of wrong entries or a slip of the finger causing chaos in the business – and brings our customers peace of mind.”

“We put a lot of effort into improving reliability and network security,” Martin continues. “Our latest application detects network problems and can switch to an offline system for certain functions. This is particularly useful in regions where IT infrastructure is not very robust. We accept responsibility for all areas of the system – including infrastructure resilience and network challenges.”

MOVING THE PRODUCT AHEAD FOR EVERYBODYExerp works with a wide network of global health clubs. Martin says the experience and knowledge they gain from working across this network gets channelled directly towards moving the system forward for all their customers.

SIMPLICITY – TO THE LEVEL YOU WANT IT With a focus on each customer’s individual needs, the development team works to keep the Exerp system simple and secure for every user.

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“No two customers can get the exact same bene-fits out of any feature we develop – it depends on how they run their business. Basically, we take relevant elements of the new product developments and apply them to the system in a way that benefits everybody – and our customers really like this.”

Every week, Exerp releases a new version of the system. Customers are made aware of the exact changes each week so they can make an informed decision on whether to upgrade to the new version. Martin says they are careful not to add huge features, and to ensure the features they do add fit seamlessly with their customers’ current business processes.

“ When customers come to us, they always have a business case that is painfully complex. Our job is to simplify it.”

Martin Lindboe

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COPENHAGEN CALLINGA mecca of Scandinavian design, fashion and architecture, Copenhagen is one of Europe’s trendiest destinations. It’s also the breeding ground for some of the world’s most successful IT innovations. Companies such as Zendesk, Endomondo and Navision originated in this city. Come to Copenhagen to meet Exerp and learn about the company – and the world’s leading club management system for large enterprises. Contact Jacob at Exerp to hear more. jn@exerp.com

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MEET ANNE KRONBORG, SUPPORTER

For nine years, Anne Kronborg worked as Sup-port Manager at Fitness dk’s Copenhagen head-quarters. She was responsible for membership support in all 41 clubs, managing their central call center. She was also responsible for the Exerp system and was an Exerp superuser. “I was in close contact with Exerp on a weekly basis, asking questions about what the system could do and what functionalities were possible to add,” Anne explains.

After working with Exerp for so long on the customer side, Anne decided to join the Exerp support team in January 2015. “There are so many great opportunities within the system – I thought it would be a fun challenge to work with it on a daily basis. Plus I already knew and liked the people on the team, so I felt pretty confident I would fit in.”

QUALITY OVER QUANTITYAnne has a Bachelor of Commerce degree and a mini MBA. To her support role, she brings a strong understanding of business and an in-depth knowledge of the financial functions in the Exerp system. She says she likes the team approach to customer support. “Each of us has our own unique competencies, but we approach every ticket as a team and decide who is best equipped to handle each request. We definitely go for quality over quantity and ensure there is enough time to handle each request thoroughly.”Anders Olsen, Head of Support adds, “At the same time, the Supporters need to be methodical and motivated to self-diagnose and find the best solutions – even under pressure.”

BUILDING CUSTOMER BONDSThere are eight people on the support team.

Anders continuously strives to deepen the knowledge and keep it on the quickly-growing team. He thinks it’s important that the Support team is introduced to new customers early, so they can get an understanding of their businesses before they start providing day-to-day support. “Ideally, we like to get involved during the project implementation and training stages,” he explains. “It gives us an opportunity to build a bond with the people we will later be working with on a daily basis.”

Anne will soon head to South Africa to embark on her first customer training session. “I’m excited to introduce the system to people with absolutely no experience with it. I know what’s important to new users because I’ve been in their shoes, and I can easily help them trouble-shoot.”

IN HER CUSTOMERS’ SHOESExerp Supporter Anne Kronborg understands what’s important to customers – she used to be one

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Anne Kronborg

USING THE SYSTEM TO DIFFERENTIATEWith the industry continuing to rely more heavi-ly on IT, Anne foresees continuous opportunities to learn and develop in her role. “IT is spreading further and further into the clubs and every-thing is connected. That means Exerp will never stop developing the system, and on the support team, we will never be stagnant or bored.”

Anders adds, “It’s an exciting time for our customers. There are so many opportunities to use IT to differentiate. No matter how our customers decide to do this, we will be there to help them use the Exerp system to drive their business forward.”

Contact Anne at ak@exerp.com or Anders at ao@exerp.com.

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Rory Sweetlove and Eddie Swinnen have known each other for decades. Both lifers in the fitness industry, they’ve worked together in South Afri-ca and abroad – on various projects in different capacities, but always sharing the same philoso-phy: that fitness should be affordable, personal, and a part of everyday life.

One day, back in Johannesburg, the two sat down for coffee and Rory pitched to Eddie his idea for GO Health. “I already had a major investor by then, so I knew the venture was realistic.” Rory

explains. “I said, ‘Eddie, I have a project for us.’” That day, the two joined forces and have never looked back. Today Rory is Managing Director of GO Health, and Eddie is CIO. Their value propo-sition and fitness mantra: “It’s not a health club, it’s life.”

MAKING IT ABOUT THE MEMBER“We are passionate about personalised training,” says Rory. “Fitness should not be an isolated ac-tivity that stays in the club. We want the club’s holistic health philosophy to follow members

into their lives. At the same time, we want it to be convenient, affordable, and to feature a unique, world-class member journey.”

Rory explains that South Africans don’t have time to get to the gym as much as they would like to – and they sometimes prefer to hike, run or walk the dog on the weekends. “We want our members to consider all of these activities as part of their regimens. When they get to the club, the calories they burnt on those outdoor activities should also count on their personal programs

C A S E : GO HEALTH

Slick and PersonalFrom the Ground UpGO Health Club partners with technology experts to help create a uniquely personal, holistic training experience

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“ The beauty is that we’re starting with a clean slate. We have the freedom to create solutions from the ground up.” Rory Sweetlove (MD) and Eddie Swinnen (CIO)

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towards rewards in the club. Everything should sync so they can think holistically about their overall health and fitness.”

TECHNOLOGY IS KEY TO MEMBER CENTRICITYTo help create this unique experience, Rory and Eddie have assembled a team of leading-edge technology partners. “Our vision was to create a very slick single-member ecosystem,” says Eddie. “For that we needed to find partners that best fit this vision.”

They chose Technogym, leaders in fitness equip-ment, Gantner for top-class access technology, and the Exerp enterprise club management system. “The beauty is that we’re starting with a clean slate,” Eddie continues. “We don’t need to force new solutions into an existing rigid sys-tem. We have the freedom to create solutions from the ground up.” With that, they gathered their partners around the table and offered the unique challenge of creating a personalised member experience together.

“In our experience, the best, most uniform mem-ber journey comes from collaborating with oth-er technology providers,” says Jonathan Midttun, Business Consultant at Exerp. “Technogym al-ready has a great tracking system called mywell-ness® cloud. With this system, they hold all the

data on member activity, while the Exerp system holds all the other member data. We worked with Technogym to aggregate all the data in one place. We also worked with Gantner to sync ac-cessibility of the club and its offerings into this system, creating the slick member ecosystem GO Health was looking for.”

PERSONALISATION IS THE FUTUREThat means that as soon as you join GO Health, you get a single access device that gives you access to the club. This tool also allows you to load your personal exercise program into any machine you may use, as well as record your out-door activities. This way you can track your over-all performance and burnt calories, whilst getting rewards for your efforts in and out of the club.

“We believe this is the future of fitness, and we are proud to be creating this niche in the South African market,” Rory says. “It has been such a privilege to watch our visions become a reality,” adds Eddie. “This has been one of the top bene-fits of working with technology leaders like Tech-nogym, Gantner and Exerp.”

The first of GO Health’s chain of clubs is set to open in Johannesburg 15 May, with four more opening by the end of 2015. By 2019, 38 high-qual-ity affordable clubs will be open across South Africa.

Exerp in collaboration with:

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Exerp is offered as a SaaS Solution.

Exerp manages and takes responsibility

for the entire hosting infrastructure.

That means there are no “man-in-the-

middle” issues.

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Helping Fitness World growThe Exerp platform seamlessly scales, making it easy for health clubs to expand. Since 2007, Exerp has supported Fitness World (Denmark’s biggest fitness chain) as they acquired several clubs in Denmark and Poland.

Contract signed with Exerp

Acquires Equinox and becomes the biggest gym

chain in Denmark

Acquires Enjoy Fitness and Fitness One and reaches

300,000 members

Acquires SATS’ clubs in

Denmark

Acquires Fresh Fitness and reaches

400,000 members

Acquires Condizione in Poland and reaches

450,000 members

2008(38 clubs)

2007(7 clubs)

2009(55 clubs)

2010(70 clubs)

2011(89 clubs)

2012(100 clubs)

2013(116 clubs)

2014(128 clubs)

2015(155 clubs)

Contract signed with Exerp

Acquires Equinox and becomes the biggest gym

chain in Denmark

Acquires Enjoy Fitness and Fitness One and reaches

300,000 members

Acquires SATS’ clubs in

Denmark

Acquires Fresh Fitness and reaches

400,000 members

Acquires Condizione in Poland and reaches

450,000 members

2008(38 clubs)

2007(7 clubs)

2009(55 clubs)

2010(70 clubs)

2011(89 clubs)

2012(100 clubs)

2013(116 clubs)

2014(128 clubs)

2015(155 clubs)

Niclas Pedersen, IT Manager, Fitness World

Exerp has delivered an extremely reliable IT solution with superior reporting capabilities. Even as we add new branches, Exerp Platform seamlessly scales with us making it cost effective to expand.” “

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BE PART OF THE BIKING CULTURE

In greater Copenhagen there are more bikes than citizens. 36% of its 1,263,698 citizens commute to work and school by bicycle. That means 1.2 million kilometres (0.75 million miles) are cycled in the city every day. Come to Copenhagen and explore its distinct neighbourhoods and intriguing architecture from the cool, breezy comfort of the bike lane.

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Our global reachBased in Copenhagen, we currently serve fitness clubs on two continents and are establishing offices in North America in 2016. Get in touch to find out more.

EXERP SUPPORTS LOCAL DIRECT DEBIT SCHEMES IN THESE COUNTRIES: United Kingdom – BACSFrance – SEPA Core Direct Debit Germany – SEPA Core Direct DebitAustria – SEPA Core Direct DebitSwitzerland – LSV Plus and PostFinanceNetherlands – SEPA Core Direct DebitCzech Republic – ABOPoland – ELIXIR Denmark – BetalingsserviceSweden – AutogiroNorway – AvtalegiroFinland – E-invoiceSouth Africa – Debit Order

IN PIPELINE FOR 2016: USA, Canada, Italy, Spain, Portugal

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I V E I N T O T H E D E TA I L S

The Exerp Platform is a standard club management system for large enterprises. With highly configurable features, the system allows each of our clients to use the product in their own unique way.

Exerp acts as the centralised information source and member database for the purposes of payment collection, reporting, business analysis and customer relations management. Dive in to see which features could work for you.

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OPTIONAL FEATURES

BASE PACKAGE

SERVICESAdd-on servicesBundled productsGift cardsClip cardsMicro paymentsStart-up campaignsGroup membershipsCampaign codes

CORPORATECorporate agreementsCorporate sponsorships

BOOKINGBook a seatChild care (Creche)Class bookingNo-show sanctionsResource booking

Staff bookingBook friend

CUSTOMER RELATIONSAutomated messagesData cleaningQuestionnairesSMS servicesTask management (CRM)Mobile App

FINANCEDebt collectionExpense voucherRecurring credit cardGeneral ledgerInventory managementPayment PlansBI (2015)

HARDWAREE-signatureGate controlIntegrated chip and pinVending integration

SELF SERVICEOnline servicesOnline salesSelf-service terminal

INTEGRATIONSAutomated exportAPIMobile APIPush API

MISCELLANEOUSKPI trackerEscrow service

SubscriptionsProduct catalogueRole system

Target groupsAccess controlPoint of Sale (POS)

ReportingDirect Debit (EFT)

I V E I N T O T H E D E TA I L S

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get groups can be drawn from any data available in the Exerp platform to segment the target groups for your special offerings, such as person types, training frequency, relations or historic purchases.

GROUP MEMBERSHIPSAllow additional users to be signed up on specific membership types. Members with group mem-berships can add family or friends as secondary users on their membership, either included in the monthly fee or as a charged monthly add-on service.

ADD-ON SERVICESDifferentiate your offerings and optimise sec-ondary revenue with complementary services in addition to the base membership. For example, members can choose to subscribe to privileges to use PT, Child Care, towel/shoe service, golf, squash etc.

BUNDLED PRODUCTSIncrease secondary spend with product bundling (package deals) of all types of products, includ-ing retail and memberships. Allow for advanced bundles, such as combinations of ‘two items from this product group’ and ‘three items from that product group’. Your staff will be prompted to ensure additional suggestive sales.

GIFT CARDSSell and issue gift cards (vouchers) using your barcodes, magnetic or RFID cards. Sale and re-demption of gift cards are managed completely

CLUB SERVICESSUBSCRIPTIONSThrough subscription products, your members (students, seniors, corporate etc.) will obtain var-ious privileges, i.e. rebates and access rights. Our unique Privilege System allows management to centrally define strict offering policies regarding rebates and access rights. The privileges can be temporally and geographically scoped and ap-plied to products or subscriptions in any combi-nation conceivable.

PRODUCT CATALOGUEStreamline your product offerings across your organisation while still allowing for controlled local deviations. Manage all product types; retail, subscriptions, add-ons, services, clip cards, gift cards etc. from one single product catalogue to eliminate product duplicates and ensure correct price changes and phase-outs.

ROLE SYSTEMEnsure safe and effective control of what staff can do, when and where, through a fine-grained role system. The role system allows for configu-ration of multiple composite roles, each compris-ing a set of allowed actions. The scoping in the Exerp platform allows employees to hold mul-tiple composite roles, i.e. ‘Club Manager’ in one club and ‘Receptionist’ in another.

TARGET GROUPSUse target groups to provide offerings and cam-paigns to a selected group of members, giving discounts or special access to facilities. The tar-

by the Exerp platform, which keeps track of the amounts used on each gift card and ensures that gift cards cannot be used once the full amount has been spent.

CLIP CARDSManage session packs with clip cards for PT, sun beds, group training etc. Clip cards are managed electronically using the member cards and can be used for both access rights and retail purchases. All clip usage is logged in the member’s profile for easy access of usage history.

MICRO PAYMENTSDifferentiate your revenue by charging members for the use of various services or resources such as showers, group exercises, VIP facilities etc. The Micro payment is automatically processed when the member hovers his/her wristband at a touchless sensor. The Micro Payment is settled via Direct Debit or instantly subtracted from a pre-paid amount in the member’s account.

START-UP CAMPAIGNSUse start-up campaigns for your selected mem-bership types. The start-up campaign gives dis-counts on the start-up period for new members signing up, for example, half off the firstmonth. The price is automatically increased once the discounted start-up period expires with no addi-tional administration overhead.

CAMPAIGN CODESCreate campaigns that are limited to customers with a predefined campaign code. The campaign

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codes can either be reusable codes, such as QR codes, or individual codes that can be used only once. The campaign code option can be applied to both start-up campaigns, bundle campaigns and general campaigns, giving discounts on re-tail products and services.

BOOKINGBOOK A SEATLet your members choose their preferred bike in the cycling studio (or other equipment used for various classes), and have Exerp confirm their booking. Payment for the booking is in the road-map for this feature, so members can be charged for this individual service. Note: this feature is only available through the API and in the Exerp Client application. It is not available in the Exerp Standard Web Solution and Kiosk.

CHILD CAREStructure and manage your child care service with the Exerp Child Care feature. It handles staff scheduling, child and parent relations, bill-ing, booking and child check-in and pickup pro-cesses. A special child care view gives you instant overview of all children present.

CLASS BOOKINGManage your group activities with flexible con-figuration of rules for participants, cancellations, bookings, activity recurrence, automated waiting lists, reminder messaging triggers, cost budget-ing, instructor requirements etc.

NO-SHOW SANCTIONSUse no-show sanctions to automatically add a fee on the next Direct Debit of members who do not show up for their bookings. Alternatively, you can sanction no-shows by automatically limiting the rights to make new bookings for a period.

RESOURCE BOOKINGAllow you or your members to book resources like rooms or equipment in the resource calen-dar. Rooms can be defined with pre-defined time slots to enable booking of sun-beds or courts like squash and badminton. Rules ensure that the bookings of your resources are optimised at any time.

STAFF BOOKINGLet staff define the work hours and booking availability, so they can be booked for personal sessions. The central configuration ensures that only the right staff is booked for specialised activities like personal training or intro tours by restricting activities to specific staff groups.

BOOK A FRIENDLet your members book each other for classes and add their training buddies in Exerp. When adding a training buddy, the member can allow their buddy to book classes on their behalf and vice versa. Upon a booking, both the member and the buddy will receive a booking confirmation message. This feature also allows members to sponsor their buddy using clips from a personal clip card, if the booked buddy does not have priv-ileges, or to use personal clips to bring a friend.

Note: this feature is only available through the API and in the Exerp Client application. It is not available in the Exerp Standard Web Solution and Kiosk.

CORPORATECORPORATE AGREEMENTSEnsure safe and effective managing of your cor-porate agreements throughout the chain. All corporate prices are enforced in the clubs when corporate members sign up for a membership. The corporate discount can apply to all products including subscriptions, joining fee and retail products and can be defined as fixed price, price discount or a percentage discount on the normal price.

CORPORATE SPONSORSHIPBill your companies for the sponsoring of their employees. The sponsored part can be a percent-age, a fixed amount or a fixed price. Sponsorship can be both on signup and on the recurring monthly membership price. Corporate members will pay the non-sponsored part on sign up or by monthly Direct Debit.

CUSTOMERRELATIONSACCESS CONTROLTo strictly control who may enter the facilities, members obtain access privileges to activities and resources through various service prod-ucts; subscriptions, campaigns, corporate agree-

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ment etc. In case of any outstanding issues with Direct Debit, frozen or terminated subscriptions, undelivered messages, debt etc., front desk staff will be alerted when members swipe their card at the turnstile.

POINT OF SALE (POS)Allows front desk staff to quickly execute sale of subscriptions and goods. To ensure that mem-bers always receive the right price of any prod-uct, the price is given by the system, taking into account rebates stemming from campaigns, stu-dent offerings, company agreements etc. In other words, the front desk staff never inputs a price, which reduces the risk of mistakes and fraud.

TASK MANAGEMENT (CRM)Define task types and workflows to manage your prospects and member retention activities. This feature includes a highly configurable workflow engine and support for messages, notes and appointments. For all tasks and workflows you can report on the steps and actions you have defined in your workflow.

AUTOMATED MESSAGESLet the Exerp platform automatically send debt reminders, booking reminders, membership ex-piration reminders etc. automatically through the members’ preferred channel. The feature supports more than 40 automated message types that can be sent either by email, SMS or deliv-ered through the member self-service interfaces.

DATA CLEANINGKeep your member data updated using external data cleaning services and let the Exerp plat-form automatically handle the processes related to personal data retention and protection law compliance by removing personal data that no longer needs to be kept.

QUESTIONNAIRESKnow the trends in your member base by is-suing bulk electronic questionnaires. Let your members answer online or by the aid of front desk staff and use the answers for statistics or targeted campaigns etc. Besides bulk question-naires you can also include entry and exit ques-tionnaires to capture information at the right time to learn why people may be signing up or cancelling.

SMS SERVICESSend SMS directly from the member profile or use SMS as channel for the automated messages sent by the Exerp platform. The service includes integration to a professional, international SMS Gateway Provider. Setup, maintenance and ad-ministration are all taken care of by Exerp and our partner.

MOBILE APPExerp Mobile App is a white-labelled app for mobile devices that can be customised to your brand. It includes class booking, push notifica-tions to members and QR codes for campaigns and access control. The App is made in Apple swift and Android native code, and integrates

directly into the back end of Exerp for easy man-agement of, for example, class schedules, book-ings and member profiles.

FINANCE & REPORTINGREPORTINGInstant overview for your CFO and back office. Perform chain-wide reporting across clubs, re-gions and countries and take out standard, time-safe reports on sales, deferred revenue, subscrip-tion evolution, aged debt, attrition, Direct Debit, campaigns, bookings etc. Or use the Easy Extract Wizard to take out your own extract and apply these to campaigns, newsletters, staff to-dos etc.

DIRECT DEBITAutomatic billing of recurring subscription fees guarantees correct and timely deductions on a chain-wide level. Direct Debit (EFT) is fully supported in UK, FR, DE, SE, NO, DK, and FI. A robust framework for implementation ensures that any additional EU countries are seamlessly integrated using SEPA Core Direct Debit.

DEBT COLLECTIONEnsure automated and consistent handling of members in debt. Based on your setup, the Exerp platform will automatically block access, send out emails, SMS, physical letters and add reminder fees etc. Members with overdue debt can also be electronically transferred to a third-party debt recovery agency.

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EXPENSE VOUCHERLet staff register minor expenses and manage petty cash in clubs using the Exerp expense vouchers. An easy step-by-step wizard ensures correct registration and mapping to your finance accounts, giving you a day-to-day view of expens-es paid out in clubs and reduces your back office administration.

RECURRING CREDIT CARDLet your members create Direct Debit mandates for credit cards and deduct monthly, weekly, or daily membership fees and retail sales using the credit card instead of bank deduction. The solu-tion provided together with Payex is easy and se-cure, and allows members to manage their own credit card details in the online member portal (transaction based pricing apply).

GENERAL LEDGERManage your organisation’s own chart of ac-counts and setup schedules for automated ex-port to your external finance system. The export-ed finance data is automatically aggregated and ensures a complete audit trail between the Exerp platform and the finance system.

INVENTORY MANAGEMENTKeep complete track of the financial and phys-ical flow of your retail products. This includes management of your suppliers, deliveries, inter-nal usage, faulty products, and write-offs. The Exerp platform will provide an instant overview of stock values and keep your finance system up-dated daily.

PAYMENT PLANSAllow your members to split payments of large sales amounts, e.g. personal training sessions, into an upfront payment followed by monthly installments of the remaining amount by Di-rect Debit. The feature gives you full control of the business rules for allowed installments and amounts to ensure that the payment plans fol-low your corporate business policies.

BI (2015)Use the Exerp integration with Qlik Sense to get your reporting figures on all the required di-mensions, and make the figures accessible on all platforms throughout your organisation based on roles and security levels. Qlik Sense is a data visualization and analysis application that em-powers you to easily create personalised reports and dashboards with drag-and-drop simplicity. The integration allows you to explore and break down the numbers as well as tracking the evolu-tion of the slowly changing report dimensions.

HARDWAREE-SIGNATURELet your members sign contracts and receipts electronically and have the signed documents stored in the member profile as PDFs. This way you always have easy access to the contract and other signed documents in both clubs and in head office. You can also allow your members access to the signed documents including their contract in their online profile.

GATE CONTROL Integrate your doors and gates with the Exerp platform using Gantner relays or the Barionett relay provided by Exerp. This allows you to set up access rules in Exerp, ensuring that only the members with the right privileges can access the resources and facilities in the club.

INTEGRATED CHIP & PIN Avoid problems of reconciling your cash registers by integrating Exerp with your credit card termi-nals. Exerp automatically sends the requested amount to the terminal and reconciles with the terminal at the end of the day.

VENDING INTEGRATION Integrate your vending machines and allow your members to make cashless purchases over their membership account using either a pre-paid amount or deduction by Direct Debit with a monthly micro credit. Prices are controlled in the Exerp platform and allow you to give target-ed discounts through the vending machines. No coding of vending machines needed.

SELF SERVICE ONLINE SERVICES Give your members access to online services through the customisable Exerp member portal. Various options and services can be made avail-able like online booking of classes and courts, freeze and termination of membership, and view and edit personal data.

ONLINE SALES Add the online sales channel to your website by offering subscriptions and online credit card payment enrolment processing. New members can sign up and refer to existing members for discount (optional). Existing members can renew their membership, cash up their account or pay debt.

SELF-SERVICE TERMINAL Use self-service terminals with touch interface for fast and convenient fitness class check-ins and staff bookings. In addition members can view messages, print their booked classes and make new bookings of coming classes.

INTEGRATIONS AUTOMATED EXPORT Schedule exports of custom extracts of data from Exerp to other systems like gate systems or BI systems. Schedules can be set up daily, weekly or monthly, reducing manual processes for back office staff, and can include any selected data from the Exerp platform. API

Exerp offers an Open API allowing you to easily integrate third-party systems to the Exerp plat-form. The Open API allows external systems to read and update almost all member related data, and includes functions for booking of classes and staff. The integration is based on the stan-dard Web Service called SOAP.

MOBILE API Build your custom mobile apps using the Exerp Mobile API. The API is designed according to REST principles on top of an HTTPS protocol and using JSON data interchange format, which is supported in all mobile development frame-works: it allows direct calls from the mobile app to the Exerp back-end with a secure token-based authentication. Push notifications are also built into Exerp’s automated communication feature.

PUSH APIPush member data changes instantly to third party systems based on events and triggers in Exerp. Messages can be pushed when member profile changes, bookings are made or when a member buys or makes changes to memberships. Messages are pushed to external service using

http requests with information on the changed data.

MISCELLANEOUS

KPI TRACKERSet up your own custom Key Performance Indi-cators (KPI) and use the Exerp platform for set-ting and monitoring specific operational goals within sales, retention, attrition, classes and much more. The KPI’s are made available based on user roles, so you can provide different user groups with their own set of KPI’s.

ESCROW SERVICE Exerp offers Data and Source Code Escrow Ser-vice in partnership with the National Comput-ing Centre (NCC) in Manchester (UK). The ser-vice is exclusive to enterprise clients. The Escrow Service includes monthly transfer of the clients data in Exerp (Oracle), the Exerp Source Code and Exerp Executables.

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ClientsVirgin Active

Pure Gym

Sats Elixia

Holmes Place

Fitness World

Actic

Fresh Fitness

Fitnessdk

GO Health

Pulse Fitness

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The Exerp Platform has been developed over more than 10 years with input from our entire customer base. It integrates a wealth of industry best practices and is built with enterprise clients in mind. Here you can discover the parts that make up the whole.T

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ARCHITECTUREThe Exerp platform is a tiered application built on the industry-standard Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) deployed on JBoss Enterprise Application Platform (JBoss EAP). The production environment consists of Oracle back-end database servers, clustered application servers and front-end servers for web and gateways. On the client side, users access the system using the Java Web Start appli-cation that can be launched from any browser. Members can access through a web portal that also supports mobile phones.

HOSTINGThe Exerp platform is delivered as a hosted service managed by Exerp with two physical data centres located at EasySpeedy.com (Denmark) and EasySpeedy.de (Germany). All hardware setups are redundant including standby data-base servers, clustered application servers and standby front-end servers. Our two data centres offer redundant network/internet connectivity and all servers have dual power supply with A/B feed, UPS and diesel backup generator. The back-end servers are running JBoss EAP and Oracle Database on Linux CentOS.

BACKUPAll server operating systems, programs and files are backed up on a daily basis. The Oracle back end is continuously backed up with Oracle’s Backup and Recovery Manager (RMAN), with daily local backups. Besides this, all user data is exported on a weekly basis and stored off site. Exports of production data are regularly restored on the test system on request of the customer. The backup procedures are managed by Exerp as a part of the hosted service and are not configurable.

ISAE 3402Exerp’s hosting services have been thoroughly audited by PwC to comply with the International Standard for Assurance Engagements (ISAE 3402), formerly SAS 70. The aim of the report is to provide an independent entity’s opinion and management assertion on the design, implemen-tation and effectiveness of controls within the Exerp organisation. The ISAE 3402 compliance report is available on customer request.

DISASTER RECOVERY PLANExerp’s disaster recovery plan has been reviewed by PwC as part of the ISAE 3402 audit. Among other things, it addresses the following major possible incidents: hardware failure, intrusion, network connectivity loss, data loss and data centre loss.

INFORMATION SECURITYAccess to different application areas and to reading and writing data on the Exerp platform is controlled with more than 200 fine-grained actions. The actions can be used to configure and customise the organisation roles that are assigned to users. Each role is composed of a set of actions and can contain other roles as well. Roles are granted to users for a specific scope (a club or group of clubs) and for each specific report. For example, this allows a user to be receptionist in one club and club manager in another.

AUDITINGAll platform configurations and platform-wide changes are logged within the application to ensure the audit trail of changes to the sys-tem setup. Tools are available for auditing user actions and roles assigned to different user groups. Log files of calls to the application servers contain a unique session ID that identifies a specific client instance. All calls to the application server with the originating work-station and user name are stored for a minimum of 20 days.

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DATABASE - ORACLEThe Exerp platform database entails a produc-tion Oracle database server with an additional standby server. The application servers are using JDBC to connect to the database. Monitoring and managing the content and structure of the data-base is a part of the service provided by Exerp. Users do not have direct access to the database. Custom extracts of data not already available in the system are provided through the client application using the built-in SQL-based and parameterised query engine.

PERFORMANCEThe Exerp platform is a solution built to handle the largest multinational chains and is proven to scale up to more than 500k members and 150+ clubs. As of March 2015, Exerp’s plat-form is helping manage more than 2.2 million active members. The Exerp Operations Team continuously monitors and reviews the operational performance and scalability of the environment to anticipate growth issues by either scaling up the hardware setup or improv-ing the software itself.

INSTALLATIONExerp is delivered as Saas (Software as a service) so the only software to install is on client computers: client computers require Windows 7 (or above) with Java SE 7 (or above) installed and a well-functioning Internet connection. New computers can be prepared with images for quick installation. When the application is launched the first time, a simple step-by-step wizard takes the end-user through a confirma-tion of the settings. Once the client application is installed the peripherals not already installed can be configured and installed remotely if needed.

PERIPHERALSThe Exerp platform supports several device types including barcode scanners, card read-ers, credit card terminals and relays. Some are integrated directly while others use OS drivers. Two types of printers are supported: ordinary printers for contracts and normal documents; and receipt printers for Point of Sale. The under-lying technology (laser, inkjet, thermo printer) is not relevant as long as the printers are supported by Windows.

LOGINUsers can log in by swiping their employee card or by entering their employee ID, followed by the user password for authentication. Inactive users are logged out of the Exerp platform auto-matically, and can quickly log in again by swiping the employee card. A second longer time-out can be configured, which will force the user to enter the password to log in again. The last login date is stored for each user and can be used to deactivate unused logins.

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PAYMENT CARDSThe Exerp platform supports integration with several Payment Service Providers and the different terminal types they provide. To ensure a high level of service and maintenance of the integration, generally only one payment service provider is supported per country. All integra-tions are PCI and PA-DSS compliant. Card processing and communication of card data are done by the integrated chip and pin termi-nals towards the payment service provider or by using the external integration of the online card capture pages supplied by the provider. Exerp does not handle, process or save any payment card data.

THIN CLIENTSThe Exerp client application is optimised for desktop and laptop computers, with key front-desk processes, e.g. Point of Sale optimised for touch input. The application can be launched natively on any Windows 7 (or higher) computer or Windows 8 Pro tablet over the Internet, using HTTPS to communicate with the back end. The initial installation requires a one-time code to establish a trusted certificate for the client. The client can also be run though thin client solutions like Microsoft remote desktop or VMWare view, to make it available on a wide range of thin clients.

NETWORKThe Exerp platform is delivered as a service with connections made directly from sites and the head office to the Exerp hosting centre through the Internet. For a site we recommend a dedicated bandwidth of 2Mbit/s downstream and 512kbit/s upstream for up to 10 clients. Because today’s networks are used for many purposes (IP telephony, web browsing and other corporate applications), we also recommend a network with QoS capability (Quality of Service). The communication between the Exerp client and back end is using the HTTP protocol with SSL encryption and authentication, also known as HTTPS. The client-server communication is using the standard HTTPS port 443.

SECURITY WITHOUT VPNVPNs are all too often a single point of failure or a performance bottleneck. In order to provide the highest level of security without the need of a VPN, client computers communicate with the server exclusively through an HTTPS protocol with client authentication using certificates. Only authorised clients with certificates generated and signed by the back end can establish a connection. Client certificates are tied to a hardware identification of the computer to avoid misuse by copying them on to another computer. Client certificates can also be managed/revoked very easily using the built-in client administration tool. Besides this, normal password-based user authentication is performed within the application. The Exerp platform is using the standard authentication mechanism Jaas for access permissions and passwords are stored encrypted in the database. Password change policy can be enforced auto-matically to enable minimum complexity and to force users to change their password on a regular basis.

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DOCUMENTATIONExerp provides comprehensive system documen-tation in English, targeted to second-level support: IT and super users. The documentation help pages, when relevant, are available through deep links from the user interface. Client-specific processes and end-user documentation can be written and maintained by our clients within the same documentation system called “Confluence”.

CODE MANAGEMENTThe Exerp Development Department uses GIT for development and code maintenance. The system includes full revision history and audit trail of changes to the system source code. Different releases are maintained in branches to ensure remedy builds can be created for all existing production versions, independently of code changes made in later versions.

RELEASESA new version of Exerp is released every week. Through weekly releases, Exerp continuous-ly adapts to the needs of its clients with an unmatched time-to-market in the industry. New releases include new features, support for new business processes, bug fixes and general enhancements. Each client gets access to a test environment similar to the production environment, which can be used to review and test new releases.

TESTINGExerp is using the Jenkins tool as a continu-ous integration and build system. Every change to the code base triggers a build on the devel-opment servers, which comprises a test suite of more than 3000 automated tests. Every release undergoes a regression based on the areas that have been changed in the system. The regression test is managed with a system called ‘Test Rail’, where the functional test cases to be executed are selected among a list of more than 800, and then executed by Exerp staff with in-depth knowledge of the Exerp platform processes.

UPGRADESInstallation and upgrades of the servers are part of the service provided by Exerp. The installation is fully automated from a distribution file produced by our build system. The same automated installation procedure is used for transferring the build from the test environment to the production environment. Client computers are automatically and seamlessly upgraded when a new version is deployed on the server. The client upgrade happens when the client application is launched and usually takes between 5-10 seconds of download time. No user actions are required to perform client side upgrades.

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WEB INTEGRATIONThe Exerp Platform comes with a standard web portal for members and provides extensive member self-service functions including sign-up, booking, messages, account and contract access. The standard web portal can be seamless-ly integrated in the client’s existing website and can be fully customised using cascading style sheets (CSS) and templates (XSLT). An Application Programming Interface (API) is available for clients who wish to extend the online services beyond the standard functionalities delivered by Exerp.

FINANCE INTEGRATIONThe Exerp platform includes a core general ledger system and all finance transactions are booked according to the chart of accounts configured on the platform. Accounts can be mapped to external finance systems and exports can be set up daily, weekly or monthly. Files can be configured by scopes to separate different legal entities. For export to an external finance system, the Exerp platform comes with a set of standard export file formats. It is also possible to imple ment new file formats to support specific finance systems not already supported.

SYSTEM INTEGRATIONSThe Exerp platform includes several options for integrating to external systems. You can set up automated file exports of data to third-party systems such as BI systems or gate-control systems. System integration, which uses export files (CSV format), is scheduled and uploaded automatically to an SFTP server. Other types of system integrations can be done using the Exerp platform API, which is based on standard SOAP web services with WSDL service descrip-tion files. This interoperable standard techno-logy is supported by all leading development platforms like Java, .NET and PHP. For real-time updates of external systems you can use the Exerp platform Push Messages system for posts of XML data to a URL to instantly keep data synchronized in third-party systems.

DATA MIGRATIONExerp has many years of experience in data mi-gration from legacy systems. The Exerp data migration framework ensures that only valid member data are migrated. Filters allow cleaning invalid data as a part of the migration if neces-sary to accommodate the validation rules on the Exerp platform. The Data Migration framework will convert according to rules defined with the client if data is inconsistent or incomplete. For large data migrations, dry runs are executed for quick iterations and verification of the migration rules agreed with the client. Just before migra-tion, Exerp recommends performing a complete migration on the test environment and running a full billing cycle in order to compare results between the legacy system and Exerp.

reasons to check out Exerp

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1. PROVEN TRACK RECORD – 100% successful. 20 Years of uninterrupted business. Over 2.5 Million active members hosted

2. PROGRESSIVE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT – Driven by the needs of the world’s most recognised fitness operators

3. CONTINUOUS WEEKLY RELEASE MODEL – With high development pace, which means Exerp quickly adapts to the needs of its clients

4. FOCUS ON LARGE OPERATORS – Where streamlining, control and scalability are essential

5. UNIQUE GEOGRAPHICAL REACH – Exerp is available on two continents (Europe and Africa) and will be available in North America in 2016

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It’s an incredible time in the health and fitness industry, and it’s been an incredible year for Exerp. Having completed several transformational projects with new and existing clients, we have expanded the capabilities of the Exerp platform and watched it help our clients’ businesses grow. We’ve seen that one of the keys to our clients’ growth has been a strict focus on system functionality, which has an impact on margins, either through savings, enhanced service or secondary income generation.

Thanks to our broad client portfolio, we have a vast knowledge of the business requirements that underlie the operations of some of the world’s largest chains. We work to solve our clients’ challenges around streamlining processes in the clubs and HQ, and we develop the system to ensure that business policies are enforced throughout the organisation.

Now we are planning to bring the Exerp platform and our unique client experience to North America. We have dedicated internal teams to serve this market and we plan to open offices across the pond by 2016. No matter where your company is based, we are here to help you innovate and transform the industry.

On behalf of all of us at Exerp, thank you for browsing our magazine. We look forward to welcoming you soon to our European or North American offices. Get in touch with me at jn@exerp to discuss the possibilities.

Sincerely, Jacob

MEET JACOB HERBORG NATHAN, COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR

Jacob Herborg Nathan

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