In the spring of 2023, engineering consultancy firm Rejlers faced a challenge: its website needed an overhaul, but the key question was how to approach it. Rejlers enlisted North Patrol to help plan and design its new online service. The collaboration proved successful, with North Patrol supporting Rejlers through to the launch of the revamped site.
North Patrol is a consulting firm specialized in the design of digital services and information systems. We shape ideas into a vision and service concept, find the best architectural and technological solutions, design a functional user experience, and compete to find the ideal partner for implementation work. We do not sell implementation projects, nor do we sell licenses; we are genuinely on the side of the customer.
5 March 2025
Rejlers is one of the leading engineering and consulting companies in the Nordics, specializing in energy, industry, infrastructure, and buildings. The company is listed on the Swedish stock exchange and operates in Sweden, Finland, Norway, and the United Arab Emirates.
The initial state of Rejlers’ online presence was fragmented, with multiple websites—even within the same country. Some sites were built on Optimizely, others on WordPress, and managed by various partners, leading to significant technical challenges. Employer branding efforts were also split across yet another country-specific sites. The need for a comprehensive renewal was evident but Rejlers needed to clarify, what to do and how.
Clarifying the service concept is key
While updating tools and reducing the number of sites were clear development goals, it was equally important to define what Rejlers aimed to achieve with its online presence. Given that the renewal would require extensive resources, it was essential to ensure that these were used effectively, so that the new website would support Rejlers’ business goals and meet customer needs in the best possible way.
These questions were addressed through concept workshops involving representatives from all Rejlers’ operating countries and business areas.
A significant insight from these workshops was that the websites needed to cater to diverse target groups; both those exploring broad themes and those seeking specific services, while also serving potential employees and investors. Each of these user groups has unique information needs, and combining these into one site would not be easy.
While the old sites did describe quite well the offered services, they did not effectively convey Rejlers’ expertise or its vision, “Home of the Learning Minds”. Rejlers strives to support the transition to renewable energy and enhancing infrastructure, industry, and building sustainability through value-driven digitalization, simultaneously striving to grow and evolve. This needed to take center stage on the new website, while still ensuring that the services offered across various sectors remained easily accessible.
The new design included distinct sections for each user group to find content relevant to them. For operational-level users, services would be categorized by industry, while for strategic-level users, broader information on Rejlers’ mission and capabilities would be provided.
Potential employees would find a dedicated "Careers" section, and investors a dedicated "Investors" section. All sections would be connected, ensuring users could seamlessly navigate the site, even if they initially entered the "wrong door," and also enabling the users to discover information they didn’t know they needed.
A Big Small company even online
In addition to designing the service concept, we needed to determine how to implement websites for different countries in the best way.
It was clear that we needed to move away from a technically fragmented environment towards something more manageable and sustainable, but several options remained on the table.
During the workshops, we explored various implementation scenarios, utilizing concrete analogies, that made it easier to for all participants to understand different options.
At one end of the spectrum were separate sites for each country, similar to the old setup, with the only real difference being one technology and one partner. At the other end was a massive, multilingual corporate site. Ultimately, the chosen solution was a hybrid model nicknamed the "shopping mall".
In this model, all sites would be created within the same technical environment as separate sites, with a shared look and feel and a largely unified structure. However, each country would manage its own content and have the possibility to give it their own twist. This approach accommodated the differences in service offerings in each country while presenting Rejlers as a unified, large-scale entity online.
WordPress and KnowIt Experience emerges as the winner
With the site concept finalized, it was time to evaluate suitable technologies. The assessment went beyond the features of the platform, focusing on how well the planned concept could be implemented using a given technology. Other factors that were considered included costs, available partners and the organization’s existing knowledge of different CMS-systems as well as ways of working.
Rejlers already utilized both Optimizely and WordPress. While Optimizely is a highly capable and versatile platform, it was deemed too complex for Rejlers’ needs and ways of working. The company sought a simpler, more manageable solution, and WordPress was seen as the best fit.
Once the concept was clear and the technology selected, North Patrol’s consultants prepared the necessary documentation for the tender process and the request for proposals was sent to selected Swedish and Finnish WordPress providers. Ultimately, Finnish firm KnowIt Experience impressed Rejlers with its expertise and ideas.
North Patrol ensures a successful outcome
North Patrol’s consultant continued to support Rejlers throughout the implementation phase, aiding in planning and supporting content production and acting as the technical project manager, ensuring the success of the web renewal and a sense of achievement for all stakeholders.
The long project concluded in October 2024 with the technical implementation and the launch of the Rejlers.com site in English. Even though North Patrol has stepped down from the project, work continued and still continues for Reljers. In December 2024, Rejlers Finland’s site was launched as the first of all country sites launch, followed by the Rejlers Sweden site in January 2025, which also caters to investors. The new sites for Norway and the UAE are also in the making.
